Happy New Year (2023)

The year 2022 was off too a quiet start with us recovering from COVID after we got exposed to it during the Holidays. But soon we were up and ready to celebrate Arhaan's 1-yr milestone, accompanied by Ria's mom who was visiting us. We went to Washington D.C. to celebrate the big day where Arhaan had a lot of fun playing with sand at the National Harbor and strolling down the streets of Old Alexandria. 

We welcomed summer by taking a trip down to Orlando where we explored the beaches and spend a day at the SeaWorld: 

Kids had a lot of fun camping this summer, first such experience for both of them. We also explored some local beaches around in New Jersey  and Maryland but the water there was too cold for our liking; the kids didn't mind as they were more into playing with the sand. We were joined by Ria's sister and her family for a few weeks and the kids had a blast with their cousin sister who is in between Riaan and Arhaan in age.

Later this summer we welcomed Aritra's parents as they came to see their second grandchild for the first time. We all went to the Lake George area in New York for a few days to celebrate the family reunion. 

We spent Ria's fall break at the Tygart Lake State Park, where we enjoyed the beautiful Fall color and a quiet time away from the city. 

A winter trip to Puerto Rico wrapped up the year for us. It was a nice escape from the winter as we experienced temperatures in the 80s (°F), or equivalently around 30s (°C). Beach was fun with the warm waters in Puerto Rico and we had some really awesome seafood there. 

With that we see the sun setting on 2022, ending a beautiful and a fun-filled year for us. As we see the sun rising on 2023 we hope for bigger & better things ahead of us, and we wish the same for you and your family.

Happy New Year 2023. 

Cheers,

Aritra, Ria, Riaan, and Arhaan. 

Happy New Year (2022)

The year 2021 started on an exciting and a happy note as we were expecting our second child. On March 5 we were blessed with our second son whom we named Arhaan. This year was all about Arhaan growing up from a newborn to almost a 10 month old infant who can now crawl, sit up straight, and stand and walk with support. 

Arhaan at birth

9 month old Arhaan 

While we were watching Arhaan grow, Riaan is all of a sudden one year older and we will soon be celebrating his 4th birthday. He is excited about his younger brother and loves bothering him most of the time.

Riaan with his little brother

This year has been an otherwise quiet one with a few trips in and around Pennsylvania. We couldn’t travel back home this year and Arhaan still has not met many of his closed ones. We hope that Arhaan meets them in 2022. 

Glimpses from 2021

On that note we bid farewell to the year 2021 and hope for a wonderful year ahead of us. 

Happy new year to you and your family.

Happy New Year

--Aritra, Ria, Riaan, and Arhaan

Happy New Year (2021)

Dear Friends,-

I hope this blog finds you and your family in good health as we still fight the global pandemic. The year 2020 was a pretty unusual one and I do not remember any experience similar to this one. When the year started, little did we know how it will unfold. It started just like any other year as we celebrated Riaan's second birthday in January. 

We went to Hawaii to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary during the Spring break week (first week of March). It turned out to be a perfectly timed vacation as the lockdowns started the week after.  

From around the third week of March, just like everyone else, we started adjusting to the so called "new-normal," and as you all can vouch for me, it was never easy. The daycare closed and ever since Riaan has not seen his friends from Kindercare; he keeps remembering them from time to time. We had to call off our much awaited trip to the Yellowstone National Park that was booked for this summer, and also our trip back home to India for this year. The Summer and Fall was mostly covered with a mask -- a few trips to some local state parks around us, a socially distanced train ride at Strasburg, an hour drive to see some Fall colors, and walking/biking around in the neighborhood. 

Having said all this, it would be unfair not to acknowledge the positive developments and the silver linings. By the grace of God, we all are doing pretty good health-wise and our parents back in India are all healthy as well. Work from home gave me an opportunity to spend more time with our son which would not have been possible otherwise. We also purchased a home in November and became first time home owners. 

Lastly, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all the frontline workers for all their hard work and sacrifices. As we see the vaccines around the corner, hopefully 2021 would be an year of a gradual and smooth transition from the pandemic era to a more normal world where we would be able to see our full family and all our friends in person once again, feel them and hug them, and travel to places without the fear of getting exposed to the virus. 

Wish you and your family a healthy and a happy new year, 2021. May this be the year of transitioning back to normal. 

Stay safe and stay healthy !!!

Cheers.

Aritra, Ria, and Riaan. 

Happy New Year (2020)

Hello Friends,-

As we reflect on the year 2019, last year has been a quiet albeit a fast-paced one. It has been a great year in many ways. The year started with Riaan celebrating his first birthday with his loved ones.

Shortly after he turned one, Riaan started walking and it has been a whole different story after that -- it has been a challenge to keep up with his energy. He is a happy baby and has a smile in his face most of the time.

We flew to Puerto Rico around the Memorial Day weekend which was our first major family vacation since Riaan's birth. Riaan enjoyed the beaches there and had a really good time playing in the sand.

The trip to Puerto Rico was just the beginning of an exciting summer. Following that we went to India for about a month --this was a very significant trip for us as this was the first time we went back home together after our marriage, and that too with Riaan.

We went to Columbus (Ohio) for a short time in August as we welcomed a new member into our lives -- Ria's sister became the proud mother of a baby girl on 14th of August.

During the month of September we had the company of Aritra's parents. They were visiting us for a month, mostly to spend more time with their grandchild. We went to the Finger Lakes region in New York, and to a couple of places around Philadelphia.

In November Ria's family drove down to Philly from Columbus. Ria's mom was also in USA visiting her sister. Riaan was super excited to find someone whom he could finally call "baby." (So far everyone around called him baby and now it was his turn 😃 )

To wrap up the year, Ria and Riaan went back to India during the winter break, and Aritra had the company of his childhood buddy who came all the way from India to visit him for a couple of weeks. While Ria and Riaan are spending quality times with their family home, Aritra took his friend to Vegas and Antelope Canyon for the Christmas Holidays. 

With that we wrap up our year in review and get ready to step into 2020. We have a lot to be excited about as we go into 2020. As we plan for an exciting year ahead of us we hope you have a great and exciting year as well.

Happy New Year !!

Lots of love.
Aritra, Ria, & Riaan. (January 1, 2020)

Happy New Year (2019)

Hello friends,-

It's yet another year coming to an end. As we welcome the new year and look for a fresh start to everything, it's a good time to take a pause and reflect on 2018: It has been a very special year for us in many ways. As I noted in my last year's blog, we welcomed Riaan into our lives on January 12, 2018. the year 2018 marked a new beginning for us as we started our journey of parenthood. The year saw the the transition from birth to 11 months for Riaan: he started rolling by month 4, sitting and crawling by month 6; now he is walking with support. He is a happy baby and smiles to the tune of the Bengali song "Maharaja Tomare Selam."

Timeline from 0 months to 11 months for Riaan (left to right, top to bottom)

Aritra's mother was visiting us since Dec 2017. She was here to witness the birth of her first grandchild. She stayed with us till the end of April. It was a pretty cold winter and a new experience for her as she watched snowfall for the first time through the windows. Even though she was pretty much stuck at home because of the cold weather, it wasn't too bad because she was able to spend more time with her grandson.

As Aritra's mother was about to leave for India, Ria's mother was here to visit her grandson. By the time she was here, winter took a back seat and it was Spring. During Spring and Summer we drove to a few places here and there, like New York city, Washington D.C. Downtown, Longwood Gardens in Philly, etc. In June, we took a short vacation and went to Canada to see the Niagara Falls from the other side of the border. Ria, along with her mom and Riaan, went to Columbus in August to visit her sister.

Aritra went back to India on August for a very short trip (roughly 2 weeks) to attend his sister's wedding festivities. When Aritra was in India, Ria had the company of her mom and sister.

With Fall came new challenges. Ria's mother left for India around the middle of August. Also, Ria was preparing to go back to school to teach in the Fall Semester, after nearly 3 months of summer break. Riaan was all set to go to daycare. The first few weeks of September were challenging, but things started to settle down pretty soon. We went to Columbus to visit Ria's sister during the Fall break. Thanksgiving holidays were pretty relaxing and boring. Ria and Riaan are currently visiting our families in India. They went to India on Dec 7 and will be there till Jan 12.

With that we wrap up our story for 2018. It was a quiet, nevertheless a very very significant year in our lives. All the groundwork has been done, and we look forward to an exciting year ahead of us. We wish the same for you.

Happy New Year !!!

Lots of love.
Aritra, Ria, & Riaan. (January 1, 2019)

Happy New Year (2018)

Hope you all had a great start to the year 2018. This time I purposefully decided to hold off publishing my new year blog till late in January so that our little Riaan can join us as we send your way our heartfelt wishes for a happy and prosperous 2018.

Aritra, Ria, and Riaan says: Happy New Year !!!

Riaan said hello to the world on 12 January, 2018 at 4:44 am. At birth he was 7 lbs.

We came to know about his arrival around the end of May, and the countdown started from then. It was quite an experience--all those doctor's visit, the ultrasounds, the baby shower events, and finally the labor room episode. Sharing some photos as we were awaiting his arrival:

Maternity photo shoot

Photos from the baby shower events

Among other things in 2017, Aritra traveled to India for a month and spend some quality time with his family. He went for a short trip to Shillong (in the Northeastern state of Meghalaya in India) with his parents and his sister. Here are some photos from that trip:

Ria had the company of her mom in Summer. She stayed in the US the whole summer and traveled to places like the Yellowstone National Park, Colorado mountains, Delaware Beaches, Atlantic city, etc. Sharing some of the highlights from our summer:

That kind of summarizes the year 2017 for us and with that we raise a toast to the year 2018. We are looking forward to an exciting year ahead of us as Riaan starts his journey. 

We hope that the year 2018 has in store a lot of joy and happiness for you and your family. 

Once again, we wish you a (belated) Happy New Year. 

Lots of love.

____________

Aritra, Ria, & Riaan. (Jan, 2018)