First stop...UK

Another vacation week has come and gone too fast. As usual, we packed a lot into one trip. After another painfully long delay just getting out of the DC airports, we flew overnight to Heathrow. Jill had already been in the UK for two weeks at a summer program at Oxford, we really wanted to visit her there. But first we made a pit stop at my aunt and uncles home in Kingsbury. Last time I saw them neither of us had babies. I can't believe that this was the first time I could meet Raagini ("Ragu") & Vivaksha ("Viva"), who are now 6. Dylan had so much fun watching them and learning from them. Amazingly, my brothers family also happened to be in London house hunting, and they were able to join us too. When Victor showed up, the three of them ran upstairs to where the keyboard was, and all started playing songs for each other. Victor performed his bands song "underloaded" which included some air guitar and Michael Jackson dance moves. Shankar chased after Dylan, constantly making sure that she was ok. Jyotika prepared this amazing meal for us and the kids talked about the Hindu goddess Annupurna, and that food should not be wasted to respect this goddess of food. It was so nice to catch up with everyone. When my dad was sick, Jyotika (my dad's sister in law) stopped working and came to the US to stay with him and help care for him - she took the best care of him. My siblings and I were, and are still so grateful for all that she did for him and us at that time. 

After a too short visit, we jumped in the car to Oxford. The rental service gave us the biggest Mercedes I have ever seen!  I didn't know they made cars that big in the UK. David did an amazing job navigating the tight roads and busy roundabouts, all on the opposite side of the road! When we got to Oxford, we found a beautiful campus but more important than that, a really, really happy Jill!!! Jill was loving camp, being abroad, walking around town to her favorite sandwich shop. We didn't have a lot of time together, but we were able to have dinner together and spend some time walking around the Oxford yards - a beautiful park tucked in the middle of the Oxford campus. 

Jill got henna done earlier in the day, and greeted us as so... then we went to this nice restaurant around the corner and Dylan decides she's going to put her feet on the table. These girls...

More on our next stops to come...