Diwali Celebrations with Home Made Decorative Diyas

Festive mood, yummy food, sweets, fancy clothes, lights and diyas make Diwali an occasion to cherish and enjoy. This is the best time to spend with your kids and teach them about our culture and festival too.

Yesterday while doing preparations for Diwali, Gia and I totally enjoyed ourselves when we started decorating simple Diyas at home. We could not believe how much fun we had doing this activity. Loved it !!

Wish you all a very Happy Diwali !!  

Hershey’s Chocolate World, Pennsylvania

While on a recent trip to Lancaster while my parents were visiting us, we decided to change the itinerary and take a peek at Hershey’s Chocolate World. Everyone agreed, after all, who can resist the ‘Chocolate temptation’ !

The town of Hershey has streets named after chocolate and cocoa, and street lights that look like Hershey’s Kisses. Chocolate Avenue was one of the first two streets built by Milton Hershey, the founder of The Hershey Chocolate Company when he built up the town for his chocolate empire, the other was Cocoa Avenue. You could easily spend a 3-4 days in Hershey seeing all the attractions, including a garden, a museum, and an amusement park named Hersheypark. The admission for Hersheypark does not make it the kind of place where you spend only a couple of hours. If you want to visit Hersheypark, plan to make it a full day. If you only have a few hours and this is your first visit to Hershey, your
destination should be Hershey’s Chocolate World.

Hershey’s Chocolate World has several attractions, one of them is free and others have admission fee. We started with the free attraction: Hershey’s Great American Chocolate Tour Ride.

The tour gives a free 10-minute low-thrill amusement park dark ride appropriate for all ages. The tour shows a simulation of the chocolate making process. This ride is an original attraction, which opened on June 30, 1973, and has been updated numerous times. This ride/tour is both fun and informative, and should not be missed.

Not long into the ride, you will be introduced to three singing cows. They sing a catchy tune that will stay in your head for hours. Gia was ecstatic to see the cows peeping out of their barn

Living Our Values - Visiting the 9/11 Memorial with Gia

On a recent trip to the City we visited the 9/11 Memorial that was opened to the public on opened in May 2014. Bringing Gia to the 9/11 site is probably going to serve as her first memory of getting to know about the tragedy that struck America 13 years ago. Although at this age she would not understand the meaning or context of what happened on the tragic day but ultimately though, she will learn about the horrific events of September 11. Familiarizing her to the monuments of 9/11 significance will prepare her gently to absorb the events of September 11, 2001 in times to come.

The 9/11 Memorial opened on the 10th anniversary of the attacks. It consists of two pools set in the footprints of the original Twin Towers. Thirty-foot waterfalls—the largest in North America—cascade into the pools, each then descending into a center void. The names of the victims are inscribed in bronze parapets around the pools. The Memorial was designed by architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker. The design was selected through an international competition that received 5,201 submissions from 63 countries.

The nearly 3,000 names of the men, women, and children killed in the attacks of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993 are inscribed in bronze on parapets surrounding the twin Memorial pools.

There’s a lot of space near the pools with benches for sitting and trees for shade in the grove. We sat on the benches for a while and experienced somberness at that moment. Because of the tall walls around the fountains, Gia was not able to easily see into them and so her dad lifted her up to show her the view of the pools. Gia gently ran her fingers on the names over one of the names inscribed on the walls and with a curious look turned towards her dad.

Soon we as parents of a growing toddler will be faced with the challenge of exploring the hard details of this day with our children. We need to begin these conversations early on and discover answers together. Sept. 11 has become a date of reflection, remembrance and respect.

Toms River Hindi Class students present Ram Janam play

Indian parents in United states or any other part of the world are always striving to teach their children importance of their culture and language.

Being away from our land, we constantly try to find ways to get our children involved in activities which reflect significance of who we really are and the connection with our roots.

We at Toms River, New Jersey are fortunate to have a team of dedicated volunteers who are sharing their knowledge and time to teach Indian languages to our children and promote Indian culture.

This Saturday, June 14^th the students of Hindi School delivered a spirited performance in a play that highlighted the event of Lord Ram’s birth which was followed by essay reading.

  

This event was a perfect opportunity for students to learn about Hindu religion as well as get involved in extra-curricular activities which in time will help them become all-rounded individuals. There was not a dull moment in the show and as the play progressed we could sense the enthusiasm of kids expressing and enjoying themselves with each growing praise or word of appreciation.

It was heart-warming to see the teenagers from our community extend their support as well in organizing and managing the program.

In this day and age of busy schedules, this team of self-less volunteers and parents provided the community an experience that they will cherish for a long time and will look forward to participate in all the upcoming events.

Re-visiting Castle Park

New Jersey's bad weather this year has forced everyone to stay indoors as much as possible. Winter storm warnings seem to be like a weekly event this year leaving no room to make plans for outdoor play.

Our visit to the Castle Park in the beginning of March left poor Gia sick for days. Now that she is fine mom and dad are taking turns falling ill.

Arrival of March gives a hope of sweet spring's light foot-steps knocking on our doors soon. And with this hope begins another year full of fun and adventure.

Won't you say Good-bye Winter ???

Winter Winter Go Away, Don't you stay another day,
This bitter cold makes me say,
Soon must you arrive dear Spring,
Gia and Friends can't wait to play !!!

We've waited enough for Cherry Blossoms to bloom,
For beautiful roses to open so we can smell their sweet perfume,
The soft touch of fresh cool breeze upon our cheeks,
Flight of bluebirds and buzzing of busy honey bees.

Oh Spring, As we desperately wait for you to show us your face,
Run, hop, jump and speed-up your pace.
Less than a week left for winter to say formal adeui,
Start spreading your wings to show us your scenic view.

Our second visit to the Popcorn park zoo

As promised, we were back to the Popcorn Park zoo with friends this time. Our family friends from Atlanta visited us this fall. Anika, their young daughter was excited at the mention of the zoo by Gia and so we decided to visit the zoo again.

Being hardly twenty-five minutes from our house this place was a hidden gem until we discovered it a few months back. We grabbed our bags and off we went.

Looking at the zoo's rescue animals always reminds me of the goodness of people who care for these abandoned / injured / sick animals. It is a lesson that we all can learn and surely teach our own children - The value of empathy !

The once rejected animals are now a source of joy for all who visit the zoo.