Hello there ! How was your weekend fun or fun? Guess what I am listening to these days on my morning walks? *she means when she’s not on the phone talking to friends, which is really never ever ever* . Let me give you some hints, – It’s a podcast and no it’s not The House of Dragon, it has something to do with a piece of news that made waves a couple of weeks back here in USA.

Here is one more, a big one, this podcast unfolds one story – a true story – over the course of a whole season! And yes I am hooked on to it like how?! I am on to my second season as I type this.

I am not giving you any the deets, not yet. While you are raking your brains to figure it out *We got better things to do lady. I refuse to open google and look for trending podcast that is relevant to what happened recently in USA. Uh nope, not doing that😏! On second thoughts we could just ask Alexa for the trending news stories😆.!

I will reveal the name of this podcast maybe by the end of this post or perhaps next😜, but I promise I will. *Oh man, is this one of your ways to get us to read your posts now? Do you really think this will work? Nope we are not falling for this trick!*

Belgaum

Moving on, after spending a glorious month in Bengaluru with family and our trips to Mahabalipuram, Mysuru and meeting friends, we left for Belgaum on the 13th of July via road. It took us literally 2 hours to get out of Bengaluru despite having left early in the morning *aha there it is ! How could she let it be!! I applaud her friends, they sure have some patience to deal with one nagging person here! Traffic again?? *

While it was the 13th in India, it was the 12th in USA and guess what’s was so special about the12th? It was our cuteness overload of a puppy’s first birthday! We sang her birthday song, my mom and dad 😂included while S presented her with a birthday bone!! *and this one didn’t want a pet for the longest time. Singing a birthday song to a dog on Facetime!😄*

Family in Belgaum

Our visit to Belgaum can be summarized in three words – Family, Food and Fun*oh come now, this post is going to be a repeat of last post! We need something more here!!*. It literally was just that and perhaps maybe let’s add in the shopping too*of course!! that too. I am bored already*

Meeting family, near, far and dear ones was honestly the highlight of our stay in Belgaum and let’s not forget Goa and clubbing *one day at the dance club does not categorize as clubbing!* , all the self care pampering , N’s saree function and V’s 10th birthday celebrations. *Are you done already?! 🙄*.

V’s 10th birthday post will be out soon, so I’ll skip the details here *haha, who are you kidding?! You are not even half way done with your posts on Summer yet😏* .

After all the traveling that we did in Bengaluru, I was ready for the second part of our vacation, that second part included put your feet up and chill, just enjoy the remaining days doing nothing.

Renuka

Wait, did I mention that Renuka was here for the entire summer too? Yup! The three cousins Mr V, Miss V and Miss N had a blast this year. Having connected just last year when Renuka visited us in Seattle, the three kids kept each other company while we did grown up things *namely eating and oh..I don’t even want to say the Sh.. word here. I am so done with reading this on repeat !!!*

Being first cousins we practically ended up spending most of our time in Belgaum together. This vacation Renuka and I had a lot of time for ourselves, and we made the best of this time, connecting just like we did when we were little girls, it was soo much fun!

Of course thanks to our mother’s who were happy to take care of them while we went places.**like you didn’t just do that in Bengaluru!! *

And day’s we weren’t eating, Renuka and I spent it in tons of self care and partying with Suman in the evenings 😂 *I have just have to say this to you lady “🙄 “*

N’s Saree Function

As I have mentioned in the previous posts, my mom comes from a large extended family of cousins and by virtue of being her daughter, I come from a large extended family.

That is why in Belgaum we spent good number of days hopping from one home to another meeting and eating and invariably always ending up in Fabindia or ManoResh’s boutique afterwards 🤪.

Amidst all this partying and growing by inches weekly, mom and dad threw a small party for all their close friends and family. We called it N’s saree function! Ok I will admit I don’t know exactly what is Saree function?

The way I look at it is that it’s just another reason to celebrate with friends and family and the kids loved wearing traditional Indian wear . Also entire family, the Chikodi clan was together again in Belgaum and so that’s a win for everyone!

---

What I didn’t say but is true always is – the kids have a blast in Belgaum. Eating ice creams every day, meeting cousins, playing on Nintendo, getting pampered rotten by their grandparents, specially Naani who kept dishing out delicacies after delicacies, the girls started missing home only at the end of our vacation.

My girls love visiting India, specially their grandparents and as they are growing up they are enjoying spending time with their first cousins. This vacation was a win win for me! I could go on and on about our second half of our vacation and well fill this space with photographs, but I’ll stop now. *Finally! Damn, she made us read all the way to the end! So let’s hear it now? What’s the name of that podcast?*

I’ll see you on the fourth and final post of this vacation *Hang on!! Are you serious right now?!*. As promised, I will reveal the name (if you haven’t figured out already) in the last post. Until then enjoy the pictures.

There are no perfect parents and there are no perfect children, but there are plenty of perfect moments along the way. ~ Dave Willis