Friday, May 30, 2008

Bronson's favourite music video:

It contains 3-tailed monkeys.




"I lived on the Moon" by Kwoon, video by Yannick Puig.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

A cupcake after lunch and lasagna for dinner...and Canada details as a mid-morning snack

Sabrina makes a good point. Here are the details of our Canada trip:
June 16 - July 2 in Manitoba
July 2 - July 16 in Port Alberni
with a camping trip to Rathtrevor July 7th - 12th.







Even after all this food he woke up @ midnight hungry!!! In daddy's words "He's about to grow a mile."


Wednesday, May 28, 2008

We've all been so sick.


Well, I'm still sick. Bronson is now over his Viral Infection which included random vomit fits (as we're crossing the road) and reduced hunger. We know that he's better because now he has GREATLY INCREASED hunger habits. The kid's eaten more today than Matt & I combined. Last night he ate his lasagna, then his yogurt cup, then as I was getting him an applesauce he grabbed my lasagna and shovelled that in too.


I have been pretty much bed ridden for the past 5 days...yay Memorial day weekend...yeah... waste of a holiday for me. I went back to work today and am feeling better, though I still can't hear out of one ear and I am quite stuffled and coughy. I'm copyrighting that saying. Stuffled and coughy. Anyhow, we upgraded our hotel computer system last week and it's been a nightmare and I have so much work to do that not doing it is making me more uncomfortable than I am going to work sick.


So... I guess you're all probably sick of hearing about Matt and I and really just want to see some cute Bronson pictures. Well, here are a few to tide you over until I am well enough to take more.


Only 19 more days until we visit Canada!!!

B quickly send Grandma a text message "luv u grm, c u l8tr...g8tr...lol"

(Grandma calls Bronson's hip aunty and asks her to translate)

Did you wear your towel on Sunday?!? If you don't know what we're talking about then you should read the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Bronson and his dad took their towels with them to watch the Mars Landing at Beckman Auditorium. Funny, eventhough they were surrounded by the geekiest of the geeks, they were the only ones with towels... hmmm.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Wow!




Or, to borrow a phrase from Bronson: "Wowowow!"

This image was taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter yesterday afternoon. It is a picture of the Mars Phoenix Lander descending towards the surface of the red planet. You can clearly see the inflated parachute, the lander, and the cables connecting the two. The dark grey background texture is the surface of Mars.

Edit: See here an even more amazing version.

This is the most remarkable image of space exploration that I've ever seen. It's just incredible.

Caltech had a live feed of the landing at the big auditorium on campus. Bronson and I went to see it yesterday. It was very exciting to be there during the flawless landing. Bronson became very excited and started shouting.

Image credit is NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona. That's my school!

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

The OASIS annual cultural show

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Yes, it's true. I am a member of the Organization of Associated Students of the Indian Subcontinent (OASIS). How is it that a Canadian who's never even visited India has become a member of such a group? Well, our friend Varun said I could sign up. So I did.

So, I was in a play in the annual cultural show which this Indian student society holds each May. Here is a link to the OASIS website, it has videos of many of the acts from the show. I was in the play called 'STUMPED!', if you want to check out my acting talent (or lack thereof). At the times when the crowd laughs loudly and you don't know why, it's because the joke was in Hindi, just laugh along. Also - it helps to know that 'Saachin' is a famous cricket player and the Saachin character in the play is mimicking him.

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Here is the link to my play:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8591598235075919363&hl=en

Here is the website in case you want to see some of the other acts:
http://oasis.caltech.edu/pravaas/


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Thursday, May 15, 2008

Picnic at Caltech & Baby's got Croup

***We won! The (Caltech Housing) Lottery! We get to keep our apartment for another glorious year!!***

We had a nice picnic @ Caltech on Tuesday. We hadn't had time to shop, so we went through the Vegetarian drive thru in town and took our vegan cheeseburgers and air fries to Caltech. We tried a new grassy spot, which had a tiny hill near it and Matthew taught Bronson how to roll down.




We asked Bronson "Where's the moon?" and he pointed to it. *sniff *sniff, we're so proud :)

So, yes, Bronson apparently has croup! I thought my big tough baby would never catch it, but here he is coughing like a seal. Matt took him to the doc this morning and the doctor said "Croup!" So, now we give him steroids and keep him away from other kids. That's right, we hype him up and then do not let him out to play. It sucks. He should be better tomorrow or the next day. Aside from the coughing and labored breathing, Bronson isn't really bothered, he's just taking it all in stride.
Anniversary, Mothers Day and ... hmm, am I forgetting something?
Oh, right, Matthew's Birthday!


On the 7th we celebrated 3 years as husband and wife. We enjoyed a dinner in Little Ethiopia to celebrate on Sunday, which Bronson enjoyed thoroughly as well.


On Saturday we had a birthday party for Matthew. The theme was "Pirates of Catan" and I made a replica Settlers of Catan cake for Matt. We played board games all afternoon and fun was had by all.

On Monday family called to wish Matthew a happy birthday and Bronson enjoyed talking to them as well. Here is Bronson having a conversation with Aunty Teri. He took the phone from dad and went over to sit on his couch with it. I guess he knows how the Bazinet women talk and decided to get comfortable for the duration.

Bronson also enjoyed opening dad's presents "with" him. Matthew received an assortment of board games and geeky t-shirts, as well as a book from Bronson called "I want to be an astronaut", though I suspect Bronson enjoys the book more than his dad.

In other news, I am in a play with the Indian Student Society tonight. Our friend Varun roped me in and I have spent many hours this past week rehearsing with them. It's a neat show, full of dancing and beautiful sari's and an Indian feast at the conclusion, and samosas in the intermission... I am also having fun acting. I play an American on the Caltech softball team which is competing versus the Indian cricket team at cricket and softball. I am also learning much more about the Indian culture.

Bronson's newest occupation is trying on mom and dad's shoes. He tries to walk with them, but doesn't get far.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Bah Owwhhaaa

Just goofing around...









Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Sunday at Cabrillo Marine Aquarium (with the Chileans)



Our friends Walter and Laura are both recipients of the prestigious Fullbright Fellowship. As such they are constantly invited to special outings and parties at rich peoples houses. This past Sunday was a Fullbright outing to the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, they asked us along with them... and so we went.


It was a full day adventure, first we drove to the aquarium in San Pedro and had a tour of the facility by the director, Mike. The aquarium, though housed by a Frank Gehry creation, is pretty grass-roots. They specialize in the Southern California habitat and local wildlife. It's fairly no-frills, they do not charge an entrance fee, and it's neither heated nor air conditioned, but it was a really neat place to explore. One of the few tourist attractions that Hollywood hasn't gotten to. Not that that's necessarily a good thing. It's just much more "fish hatchery" than "Disney".





Matthew with the baby fish he helped to hatch (by swirling the water around to simulate a wave)








Guilty Bronson "Can I touch this?"







Next we had lunch on the beach and went to the nearby tide pools for some hands on exploration. Bronson touched his first sea anenome and held his first crab.









Then we drove up to the coast to Rancho Palos Verdes, a shore based whale study facility and visitors center. The grey whale census is taken here and they'd seen 4 whales that day. Total we saw: Zero. With a Zed. But they did have some neat exhibits and nice lawn to get our energy out on, take a look.








Mommy's tired!


Next we got lost, and eventually found our way to the Caplan's (the day's hosts) house for a wonderful mexican fiesta. Well, an enchilada dinner. It was neat to meet so many other people from various lands studying in southern California. I was especially interested in Mrs. Caplan's small garden which included 2 artichoke plants, brussel sprouts plants, strawberries, an avocado tree, a guava tree and a lumquat tree, among various usual garden variety. Bronson enjoyed pretending to water her garden with her watering can, and petting their cement cat sculpture.


It was much fun, thank you (Gracias!) Laura and Walter for letting us tag along.

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Here's an interesting video that I found on parenting. The story is really good and makes you think. The end gets a tad preachy, and the website it's associated with isn't worth the visit, but this is the best visuals to the story "Animal School" that I could find on the web, lest I create my own video, but I do not have the time right now.

Watch at least until the part that says "Do you know a bee or two?" then they deviate from the original story and, I feel, it loses the beauty of the wording and tarnishes the message.


http://www.raisingsmallsouls.com/wp-content/themes/179/aschool012008.html
Lemons and pool

Last Saturday was the Lemon festival in Upland, CA. We drove the 40 minutes to downtown Upland. It was neat, we got ourselves some lemonade and authentic mexican (if it doesn't come from a window in the side of the van, it ain't real) and enjoyed the heat. Until it got too hot and then we didn't enjoy that anymore. They had a neat little petting zoo with pot-bellied pigs and goats and ducks and a rooster and a chicken and an alpaca and a donkey and a wallaby. We shelled out the 4 bucks to get us all in. Unfortunately I spilled water on our amazingly resilient camera so it did not work for any pictures, sorry! (It's working fine again, now, though).



On Sunday the heat wave continued and we played outside in our kiddie pool. We had alot of fun, here are numerous pictures and video to make up for the lack of pics from the Lemon festival :)