Sept-Oct. 2013/ Ireland & Florida

October 31st, 2013 Posted in 2013, Florida, Ireland | Comments Off on Sept-Oct. 2013/ Ireland & Florida

Papi went back to Ireland on his annual golf trip, and this time we played a few new courses, Port Rush, which is unbelievably spectacular.  We also played the Island Club, Cork Country Club, Mount Juliet and returned to Old Head.   The daily schedule is:  tee time at 10 a.m., pub time at 3 p.m., dinner time at 7 p.m and pub time at 10 p.m.    It gives you a true understanding of how 4 million Irish people (that includes every man, woman and child) can costume 2 million pints of Guiness per day (and other beers and alcohol does exist in Ireland).   It was great to see Clark, Quinn, Dave, Tom, Andrew, Rick, Ron, Johnny and Brian once again.  We stayed in Youghal  (see July/August 2011) at Aherne’s once again, and Johnny was the consummate host.   On this trip, we mixed in a day of riding up the river and eventually, we have to combine some fishing with the golfing in Ireland.

Back in US, Rowan continued to work on his golf, and he actually made and contributed to the Varsity team this year.  He has to move up to a more competitive tour, which will be challenging for him over the next couple of years.  Jay is busy applying to colleges and running on the Cross Country team.   He is looking forward to the 2nd semester of his senior year, which is probably one of the most enjoyable and carefree times in life.   We are planning a big trip to the Galapagos for Christmas.

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The Majumdars

July-August, 2013/ Palawan, Philippines, Vietnam & California

August 31st, 2013 Posted in 2013, California, Palawan, Philippines, Vietnam-Cambodia | Comments Off on July-August, 2013/ Palawan, Philippines, Vietnam & California

When Papi returned, it was time to fly to California to visit a few colleges and work our way up from San Diego to San Francisco.  We started in San Diego and picked up Jay, who was competing at Math Nationals, and we went to the Zoo, of course.   Surprisingly, the Lowry Park Zoo, here in Tampa, which does not get as much press, seems just as good.  We worked our way through LA and visited our friends the Michels, and then we did some surfing off of Santa Barbara and stopped at the Hearst Castle, which was an amazing throwback to the Gatsbyesque decadence and splendor.  We stopped in Monterrey on our way to San Francisco and did some kayaking and saw the great Aquarium there.

In San Francisco, we walked the streets, took the trolley cars around and even managed to see the teams preparing for the America’s Cup.  We saw Sareet’s cousin Chetna and her husband Prasad and enjoyed the great ethnic cuisine in San Francisco.  We can highly recommend both Yank Sing (http://www.yanksing.com/home.php) for dim sum and Vik’s Chaat Corner (http://vikschaatcorner.com/).   Walking up and down those streets are essential to work off the great food in the city.

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May-June 2013/ Florida

June 30th, 2013 Posted in 2013, Florida | 236 Comments »

Another school year is winding down, and Shaun’s first year in college is over.   Papi was able to go on a weekend fishing trip off of a barge that has been put 10 miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.  The owners of the business have tried to make it a spectacular with special cabins, nice gourmet meals and a base for excellent fishing activities.   We actually had the entire barge to ourselves and went fishing for Kings and Grouper during the 2 days we were there.  We are not sure the business concept is viable, but it’s fun while it’s still out there.  Rowan took his own fishing trip with a classmate down to the Keys and was more successful than his his Dad in catching fish.

Jay was ready to spend the Summer hanging out with his good friends George and Theo.   Shaun is heading to Beijing for the Summer, and Jay will be competing at Math Nationals, go to Cross Country Camp in North Carolina, and will be visiting some colleges in California.  The Summers where all boys are at home are officially over, which is a bit sad, but Mom and Papi have to get used to it.  Rowan is busy playing golf tournaments, and he actually won his first golf tournament (a local US Kids event) and hopefully will be able to win a few more in the future.

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The Majumdars

March-April 2013/ Florida

April 30th, 2013 Posted in 2013, Florida, Washington D.C. | Comments Off on March-April 2013/ Florida

Jay’s junior year in High School is winding down, and he has followed his brother’s footsteps in being inducted into the Cum Laude Society at his School.  It will be hard to imagine that in a little over a year, we will be down to one Majumdar boy at home.  The end of school year also means its Prom time, and it’s one of the few times we actually get pictures of our kids in formal attire.  Those are the ones you tend to keep over time.

Sareet went to a conference in Washington D.C and was able to sneak off with his friend John  to play both Congressional and Bull’s Run, but we did decide to take in a bit of culture at the same time.  The history behind the Battle of Bull Run was very interesting, as we saw the spot where Stonewall Jackson earned his nickname.   The national park (http://www.nps.gov/mana/index.htm) and its engaging guides create a very interesting environment to spend half a day, and someday it would make an interesting trip just to visit the sites of all the major Civil War battles from Georgia to Pennsylvania.

Jay is really passionate about his acting and singing, and he got the part of Magaldi in the School musical.   He surprised both his parents with his acting and singing chops…… the acting, we knew about, as we are used to his daily drama……

Jan-Feb 2013/ Colorado

February 28th, 2013 Posted in 2013, Colorado | 2,589 Comments »

We broke our cycle of Spring Ski trips and went for the New Year, as with Shaun in college, the Spring Breaks are not going to always line up.  We went to Keystone, CO and on the way there, we listened to a very interesting book on tape named the Last Lecture (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo}.  It was quite moving for all of us as we headed west from Denver. Keystone was a great family resort and we also got to do some Cross Country skiing, which was fun but tiring.   As it was close to Brekenridge, we also checked out that for a day.   When we returned to Florida, Papi and his high school friends decided to check out a new golf course in central Florida called Streamsong (http://www.streamsongresort.com/) .  Mosaic has transformed a phosphate mined area into a very unique golf course.

At the end of February, ,  Papi visited Shaun in Chicago and watched him run in an indoor track meet.   How anyone even runs in that weather (and they practice outdoors) is incredible.  Finally, Sareet did meet his friends Jack and John in Las Vegas for their annual reunion, since we have left China and Jack and John do make it to the US at least once per year.

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Nov-Dec 2012/ Florida

December 31st, 2012 Posted in 2012, Florida | Comments Off on Nov-Dec 2012/ Florida

Deep Frying the Turkey

We had a memorable Thanksgiving this year at home, and we ended up with 20+ people at our home for Thanksgiving. All the Singh and Majumdar cousins were able to come from FL with over half now in college. We also welcomed the Lees, theHouses, Marianne and some Irish friends here this year. It was a very enjoyable break with great Florida weather. We even experimented by deep frying (video) one of our two turkeys, and 19/20 of our guests voted it the better tasting of the two turkeys we prepared.

We also stayed home for Christmas this year, and the boys and Tsar were able to relax, fish for bass and enjoy an unseasonable warm Christmas holiday. We intend to go for a short trip over New Year (see next post). Just before we left for vacation, Brad, an old friend of Rajjina and Sareet’s from Taiwan stopped by with his 4 children on their way to Disney. It was fun to re-connect with Brad and see all of his children.

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Sept-Oct 2012/ Wales & Chicago

October 31st, 2012 Posted in 2012, Chicago, Wales | 1 Comment »

August ended with a quiet celebration of Rowan becoming a teenager and of a new addition to the family, Arnav, Amy and Andy’s very alert young newborn. Arnav and Shaun’s age gap is basically the same as Sareet and Amy’s, The next generation has begun.

Sareet continued his annual golf tradition of going across the pond to play golf. Most years, it has been focused around Ireland, but this year the Group decided to go to Wales and played a few nice courses there including Royal St. David’s, Aberdovey, Nefyn & District and Bull’s Bay. Snowdonia was quite a treat for all of us, especially hanging out in the pub where Edmund Hillary finalized his Everest planning. However, I am sure we will be back to Ireland next year, as the Irish are truly the friendliest people on the other side of Atlantic.

Finally, it was time to drop Shaun off at University of Chicago. It was a bittersweet moment for the parents, but we are happy and proud of him. We got a great opportunity to see a bit of Chicago, while Shaun was meeting his new roommates. Papi and Rowan did a Segway tour of the city and we all fell in love with the Windy City. I am sure we will be back many times in the future.

Jay continued to compete with the Cross CountryTeam, and they qualified for States with a solid performance at both Districts and Regionals, after a strong season including a solid race at the Cary Invitational in North Carolina.

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July-August 2012/ Corning, NY and St. Thomas, USVI

August 31st, 2012 Posted in 2012 | 1 Comment »

This Summer the family split off in different directions. Shaun finished off backpacking in Europe, while Jay was in Corning, New York doing a summer internship and hanging out on the Finger Lakes with his good friend Miller. We headed to St. Thomas to visit Rajjina’s brothers and their families. Both her brothers are making an effort to make St. Thomas their hideaway from the hustle and bustle of NYC. We spent a great deal of time their paddle boarding, diving, golfing and doing some nice hikes on St. Thomas and St. John’s. It’s a beautiful spot with great weather year round and plenty to keep you occupied.

When we came back from St. Thomas, we celebrated Shaun’s 18th and Grandma’s 85th birthday. She is still keeping mentally sharp and still has a lot to teach the boys. Shaun was getting ready to go to college in Chicago, and his friend Brett and cousin Jeremy visited him for a week as a final celebration prior to heading off to school. This was part of his weeklong 18th birthday celebration. A week later, Grandma had a special dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant with many of her friends (“The Card Party”) in attendance.

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May-June 2012 / Florida & Baltimore

June 28th, 2012 Posted in 2012, Baltimore, Camden Yards, Orioles | 1 Comment »

Papi was invited by his friend Jack to go to Camden Yards and watch the Orioles.  The starting pitcher for the Orioles was also a player from Taiwan, where Jack and Sareet had met.  Jack was even interviewed on Taiwanese TV, since he wore Chen, Wei-Yin’s jersey to the game.
It’s hard to believe, but Shaun has finally completed his High School career, and his next challenge will be at the University of Chicago. He’ll have to thicken that blood to withstand those Chicago winters, but he is looking forward to it.  He’ll be headed to the Midwest, where his maternal grandma Mimi’s family has deep roots.  It seems like the last month is a month-long celebration, which Shaun continued over the Summer, as he went with 3 other friends to backpack in Europe as a graduation gift from the family.  Papi, as a tradition of the School inviting a parent who is a former graduate, gave the Baccalaureate address, and managed to avoid Shaun’s biggest fear, that he would be embarrassed.

We are all looking forward to a fun summer in Florida and hope that you all can stop and visit.

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March-April 2012 / Jackson Hole, Wyoming

April 19th, 2012 Posted in 2012, Jackson Hole, Wyoming | 1 Comment »

Shaun’s First Steeplechase – QuickTime Movie

We took our family Spring Ski trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.   It’s tough to get there, but once you do, the town and slopes were amazing.  Shaun brought a friend of his, Derek along to celebrate the end of the Senior Year in High School.  Shaun will be going to University of Chicago next Fall, and needs to get used to the frigid winters, albeit, it was not that frigid in Spring in Jackson Hole.  The Spring Skiing was temperate and almost a bit too warm, as we hit JH late in the season.
Shaun finished off his senior track season and had a great year with a lot of Personal Bests and finished as Track Team MVP.  He just missed qualifying for States, as he was pipped at the finish in the 3200m at Regionals.  He also tried his first steeplechase (video) which was very entertaining.   It may be something he can continue doing in college.   As a joke, we have included an old picture Sareet received from of a friend of his when Sareet snuck onto the Olympic Track in Munich to try the long jump pit.  As you can see, Shaun did not get his track prowess from his Papi. A few of Sareet’s college friends also came to town (Don, Geoff and Mike) and played some golf at the local clubs.  As they live up north, it was quite a treat.

We expect more of you to visit us in the coming months and years.

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The Majumdars