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Super Seattle Trip

Got back yesterday from a fantastic Seattle trip. Kirti and I were there to celebrate Sidhya's 2nd birthday with Manni and Ganesh. The "Little Princess" has come a long way since we first saw her when she was 10 days old. We last saw her when she was 4 months old and it was at Newark Airport. This time around, all of 2 years, in the Pacific Northwest, we saw her again at Seattle-Tacoma Airport. She is the prettiest baby I have seen and one of the naughtiest too!!!

She got the scare of her life when she saw me for the first time and to make matters worse I jumped onto the backseat of the car to sit near her. All along the way from the airport to home (30 minutes), she did not leave Manni's hand clutching it as tightly as possible with her tiny little hands so that "the stranger" doesn't take her away from her "Amma and Dada". It was painful to hear her scream. Once we were home, it took her a good hour to come to me and start getting familiar with her Dada's brother. There was no turning back from that time onwards. The best part of the trip. The more comfortable she got, the better time I had there.

As Kirti was coming by a later flight and to avoid Sidhya crying we decided I would drive the car back home with Kirti in the front passenger seat. Sidhya (surpringly) did not offend to Kirti being in her car (Amma and Dada ensured that didn't happen). It took her less time to go to Kirti as compared to me. This hasn't happened for the first time though (me and kids not getting along together).

We went to Snoqualmie Falls on Saturday before the party and Miss Sidhya thoroughly entertained us with her dancing and antics on the way to the falls. She has this habit of shaking her head to a song and smiling & squinting her eyes at the same time. No camera can catch that moment. Pure joy!!!!

Had the party that evening with Manni's cousins Ajay (& Sweta) and Anita (& Ganesh) and Ganesh's Infy friends. There were around 40 of us. Manni had painstakingly prepared some delicious food for all of us on Friday and Ganesh was home to take care of Sidhya so that Manni could cook in peace. Dora was the theme of the party and Sidhya had a great time opening all her gifts and finding Dora in almost every gift that she received. The look on her face when she saw that the cake is also themed after Dora was super, that moment was pure bliss and utter happiness for her.

She has not figured out a way to say the letter "F" so far and it was quite funny when she said One, Two, Three, Sour, Sive, Six....Manni knows I am one up on her for this.

Sunday morning, Madam S was not willing to get up early uttering Sidhya Sleep, Sidhya Sleep repeatedly warning Ganesh not to wake her up. Unfortunately, we had the Downtown to see and Ganesh was having none of it. It didn't help us that Daylight saving began Sidhya didn't let us sleep till it was just 2 AM on saturday. Downtown was pretty and Ganesh took us to Pike Street Market, which apparently is the oldest marketplace in the USA. After a good couple of hours in Downtown Seattle, it was time to catch our flights back to Minneapolis and Chicago.

2 short days of great fun with Ganesh, Manni, Kirti and especially Sidhya. It would have been more fun to stay for a couple of days more. It wouldn't be too bad to go back in summer and re-live some of the memories of Sidhu's birthday and take our sweet little friendship further ahead.

By the way for those who care, I cleared the exam and now am a Certified Biomedical Auditor. Thanks to those who prayed. It surely helped.

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