Hiking in Shenandoah

For our anniversary gift to each other, we chose to go hiking in the Shenandoah Mtns with Jai during the first weekend in November.  It seemed fitting since a rather harrowing hiking experience served as our first date!  But our hiking expert friends, Ben & Melissa, would be proud.  We did two fairly steep hikes with Jai in the bjorn all the way.  It was a joy watching him look up at the trees and colorful leaves in wonder.  He was very bundled up - it was freezing!  But we all had a great time- here are some of the highlights...

Peaceful Dragon

For those new to the U.S., Hallowe'en must seem like the strangest of traditions.  We take our cute, cuddly children, turn them into fearsome monsters and ghoulish creatures, send them to the homes of perfect strangers, and instruct them to come home with bags of sugary snacks.  And Borat makes fun of Kazakhstan...

But, being Vijay's first Hallowe'en, we were just as excited as the next parent to get in on the fun.  In case you can't quite make it out, Jai is a dragon.  A very scary, fearsome dragon that strikes fear into the hearts of villagers and sends knights running for the hills.

Well, maybe not.  The folks at daycare insisted that Vijay was a "peaceful dragon".  And I suppose that's a good thing, because it looked like he wasn't entirely thrilled about the propsect of suddenly having soft cuddly fangs and a tail.