Summer vacation!!

I know that we have left the hands of summer and are now in the arms of winter, but my clear and warm memories of summer are still alive.

We enjoyed the summer this year more than any other year .... or maybe, I say this every year!!

Since our complex pool was under repair, we took membership in the community pool. Going there every evening, me with a book, the kids and hubby swimming, it was so relaxing!! I read a lot of books that way this summer!

Our trip to Vancouver, Canada and Portland,Oregon was very good. Vancouver is such a beautiful place. We went there before and I remember writing about it before too. But this time, the excitement was different!! There is a hanging bridge there which is over a river, called capillano river. It is literally hanging and swinging from side to side and we had to cross that to take the kids to the tree-house. The kids were brave and so wasmy husband... but it took my breath away. I wanted to come back from mid way, but Soumya was with me, as Prasad was already walking way ahead with Shreya. Soumya is so considerate, that seeing me scared she said, ok lets go back... but I felt guilty and overcoming my fear, we walked through the whole one mile of the hanging bridge, holding Soumya's hand. I know it seems silly, but I have always been scared of heights and when I saw that we were so high above the water and the bridge was swinging..I was very scared. Of course, the tree house was good, the climbing the hill up and down was good too. Surprisingly I wasn't scared while coming back!!But I think such thrills are worth it as we remember those moments for a long time!

Portland is known for its waterfalls. there are a lot of them. We decided to visit three of them as we had to cover the rose garden and the kids' museum too in three days. The drive from Seattle to Portland seemed endless. We reached there right in time to see the Rose garden. Oh! what a beauty it was! So many colours of roses with their excotic smells were spread acroos acres, giving a relaxing massage to the eyes and the nose. I couldn't have enough of it... I crazily clicked pictures trying to capture the natural beauty, but believe me, none of the pictures are as good as the live show of the roses. Rose has always been my favourite flower and so many of them togather, it made my day!

Next to the Rose garden was the Japanese garden... it was a small green garden with little brooks of water and small man-made falls. Just walking there in the garden was so relaxing, a kind of divine solitude, I would say, with the sound of water in the background and the greenery all around!

The kids enjoyed the museum and learned some science too. But the best part was the long drive to the waterfalls. We drove on the mountain way which overlooked the river below, amazing scenery! I was reminded of the ghat road we went on, in childhood from Sunabeda,orissa to Visakhapatnam to catch a train to go to Nellore, to our grandparents' house.Everytime we went on he ghat we would think that this would be our last trip as the ghat road was so nausiating and tiring. I told my kids about our ghat road journeys when we were going on this scenic ghat road to the falls.