Day 1 in Italy

On day 1 I went to the Rome Airport and I went into an airplane picture. We were having fun in Seattle and pretty sad to leave, but also excited to go. When we arrived, we got to walk over the Tiber River.But when we got to Rome, we found out it would be more fun than we thought. (Luca says, "I already knew it would be very fun.")

I got too hot there! So, I went to this thing called an acquafir and put water on myself. We also went to get some good ice cream. The only thing we didn't like about it was that it melted too quickly in the sun.

Also in the middle of the day we took a little cool shot in the bathtub. (Mom: It was over 97 degrees that day!)

What We are Worried About Italy

By Luca, I am worried that people will think I am weird because I don't speak Italian.

By Nico I am worried I might get really hurt. (I might scrape my knee)

Seattle Indochine moves to Italy!

We are going to Rome!  Luca and Nico are going to record their memories on this blog.
To begin, they are going to answer a round of questions:

Q: Why are we going to Rome?
Nico: Because we are going to have fun in summer and see lots of friends.
Luca: Because we want to have fun in the summer and explore with our friends. But that's pretty much the same thing Nico said.

Q: What are mom and dad doing in Rome?
Luca: Exploring.
Nico: Exploring with us and doing work, and working at the UW Rome Center
Q: Both mom and dad?
Nico: No, not dad.

Q: What do you think Rome will be like?
Nico: Very fun.
Luca: Very fun, cool, interesting, and a little bit embarrassing,
Q: Why?
Luca: some people are embarrassed when they go to a different place and they don't know how to speak there.

Q: What are you most looking forward to doing in Rome?
Luca: Seeing our apartment.
(Mom: We are staying in a 3 bedroom apartment in Trastevere with a rooftop deck!)
Nico: Playing with the Nanny, Emma.
(Mom: Luca and Nico will also be hanging out with the UW Rome Center Intern, a student who is fluent in both English and Italian, who is living in Rome for a year.)

Q: What's the Italian word you like saying the most?

Q: Anything else you want to say?

...for reading our blog!!

Nico Turns 1!

Our little boy is growing up and we can hardly stand it! He still looks like a baby, but watching this video made us realize how much has already changed. Nico, we are so happy that you joined our family and hope that your second year is even more fun than the first.

Untitled from Agnish Chakravarti on Vimeo.

Christmas in Miami 2010

We had a lovely time in Miami this year to celebrate Christmas with Gong-Gong, Po-po, Uncle Kevin, Auntie Christine, cousins Jules and Chloe, Bo-yei (aka Uncle Henry), and other family and friends. Very bummed to discover that we were having too much fun at our visit with Auntie's Andrea and Ana, and baby Natalie to document with pictures! But below are some memories in no particular order.


Luca hanging poolside with his sand toys. I think he looks like a little Thai boy in his towel sarong.


The Chakravarti grandsons (sized Large, Medium, and Small) on the Fong Throne. All three of them rocking the bed head look.



Daddy got to introduce his brother and sons to Coach Shula and take a picture with the Superbowl Trophies. Luca was much more impressed with their very cool ferris wheel and christmas decorations, Chloe was happy that she got cookies; Nico was annoyed that we wouldn't let him crawl around, and Rishi slept thru the whole thing!

Luca adores his cousin Chloe next to the Christmas tree at Indian Creek.

Nico palling around with Gong Gong at the greek restaurant:

Wisdom at the kitchen table from Uncle Henry,PoPo, Auntie Jackie, Uncle Bill and Gong Gong.

The very loud and hysterical turkey carve off.

An ill Nico shows little patience for one of his gifts from Bo-Yei.

This year, we gave out matching Fong Family Sweatshirts. Doesn't everyone look nice? And so practical for Miami!

Jules and Chloe looking all grown up...

Luca and Chloe on the airplane ride at Santa's Enchanted Forest. They schemed and planned together while waiting for the rides about how they were going to yell at each turn.

Running around at Bal Harbour Mall.
(isn't it weird how Chloe is always wearing pink, and Luca is always wearing green? Seriously, if you look back at old posts in this blog this is always the case!)

Christine's lovely family at Rustic Inn.

Nico hanging out with Bo Yei.

Luca Turns 3!

Our little boy is already 3 years old...he's had so much change in his life in the past year with a new baby brother and a new school and we are very proud of what a sweet little boy he is turning into. Here are some highlights of the past year.

Luca Turns 3! from Agnish Chakravarti on Vimeo.

Nico's Annaprashan Ceremony

We recently visited Papu Kaku in Chicago to meet L & N's new baby cousin. While we were there, we celebrated with Nico's Annaprashan ceremony.

This ceremony is a Bengali tradition that marks the first time that a baby eats solid food (Nico has already eaten solids, but this time he ate payesh, a rice pudding).

Here is a video of the ceremony - Nico's was short and sweet in comparison to his brother's. First, his uncle feeds him the rice pudding. Then he chooses from among several items out in front of him on a plate - a book, pen, some coins, and some dirt - that indicate his prospects in life. If he chose the book or pen, he is supposed to become a scholar; the coins indicate wealth, i.e. becoming a merchant or businessman; and the dirt signifies becoming a land owner. Watch to see what he picked...

Nico's First Solid Meal

Catching up on some old videos...here is Nico enjoying (sort of) his first solid meal. It's a zucchini that his Dad grew in the garden.

Holiday Photos from Judith!

I'm very depressed that the last post from us was 'End of summer" and now we are shooting straight into snowy pictures! But, nevertheless, here's a new gallery of great photos that Judith took of our family during the first snowfall. As usual, Luca loved the snow, but sadly, Nico doesn't like it :( he makes a very cold sound and was generally miserable...not that you can see from the photos!

http://fernstromphotography.com/viewing/?slideshowID=111657

The password to view the gallery is Nico. Enjoy!

End of Summer

Sadly, the end of summer is already here (actually, did we even have summer this year)? This was by far the shortest and least enjoyable summer since we moved to Seattle 7 years ago...at best we got 6 weeks of real sunshine this year and are already back to cool fall weather.

But here are some pictures of the boys from late summer...we'll continue updating...


Helping with the zucchini harvest.







That's a giant zucchini, not a tiny baby (mommy probably wishes it was the other way around).



Early morning jam session. Luca has started putting on one his baby Mozart toys, brings out a drum and then saying that "I'm going to play a Chinese song"....then starts another song and says "Now I'm going to play a Spanish song"...we have no idea where this is coming from...



As much as I would like to retire, something tells me that I don't exactly have the Jackson 5 going here...



Nico on lead guitar, with strangely apprpriate hair.