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Welcome back to part two of our Fall 2018 superpost! We figured that there was so much going on this fall that it would make sense to break the post up into two parts. We left off just after Swathi had completed board exams and we had moved to our new house at the end of October. Let’s pick up there:

Early November

Soren started his first day of pre-school at Montessori Academy at Spring Valley in Federal Way. Miraculously, his transition was perfect. I was bracing for the worst as he had hidden in my arms during his entire entrance evaluation (not sure what they were evaluating honestly). Despite my fears, he casually walked in and sat down for an activity like he belonged. Very impressive!

Swathi’s mother departed on November 2, leaving us to once again fend for ourselves on all fronts. The dates are a bit of a blur at this point, but the next two and a half weeks were a flurry of activity.

We began interviewing nannies and found one that we really love. Joana is a career-long caretaker from Brazil. She is a two-time grandmother, certified nurse and has a very quiet and loving personality. We are very excited to have her as our full-time nanny!

We found a contractor to build us a back-yard fence that will keep the children penned into our backyard when the weather is nice. We also get a solar guy to install solar power for the house and a plumber to install a child-size toilet in Soren’s bathroom.

We found a home chef to come by our house every couple weeks and cook for us. This is very necessary as cooking was real struggle for us in Pittsburgh when we were both working. So far Chef Anna has been very impressive and made our lives quite a bit easier.

Oh and we managed to fit in our first Diwali in our new home:

Late November

We did Thanksgiving this year at the home of one of Swathi’s senior partners, Sibel. Sibel and her husband are wonderful hosts with delicious foods. Soren was most impressed with the teenagers room where he somehow ingratiated himself. By the end of the night he was set up on the couch with teens eating Cheetos and acting like he belonged haha

Also, Soren had his first experience on stage. His pre-school put on a Thanksgiving show and feast, but he seemed to have gotten a bit of stage fright 😂

Hawaii

After Thanksgiving we took a week-long trip to Hawaii. Swathi’s sister is clerking for a judge in Honolulu and we figured that it would be best to visit before I started my job. Hawaii was either my last or second to last state to visit (not sure about you South Carolina).

November 24, we climbed Diamond Head crater. This is a popular and relatively easy hike to a crater peak overlooking Honolulu. Easy for the child-less, I should say. Somehow, our children were all-stars for the hike. Soren climbed/sprinted most of the way up and down. Meera slept quietly in my arms for almost the whole hike.

We celebrated at the end with pineapple freezes.

November 25, we rented a car and drove all over the Island. We went to the Dole Pineapple plantation and rode the Pineapple Express train. Soren was charmed.

Next we drove through the North Shore and observed a surfing competition. It was all fun and games until a rogue wave almost washed us out to sea with no warning.

We drove up to Turtle Bay and got some good beach time in before hitting up some local food trucks. Garlic shrimp (Giovanni’s) and roast corn were the orders of the day.

We finished up the day with a scenic coastal drive (found the Jurassic Park ranch) back to Honolulu. Picked up truly local fare at the Rainbow Drive in. Loco Moco was eaten.

We arranged a family photo shoot for the next day:

Most of the rest of the week was beach and pool days near the resort. We did get out and try some delicious shave ice. Very Hawaiian.

Also took Soren to his first “movie”. The hotel was playing Coco on a big screen in the lawn. We decided to do a picnic dinner and watch the movie. He spent most of the movie shaking in terror and hiding my arms. Nonetheless, it made a big impression on him and he now talks fondly of the movie.

And with that our trip drew to a close. We returned home with the weekend to prepare for my return to work and a return to life with both of us working full-time. For me, it was the end of almost 10 straight months of days spent mostly taking care of Meera and Soren. Very bittersweet, but excited to shoving off on the next adventure.

Hi all!! It has been a few (err…maybe more than a few) months since our last post. Although the blog has been quiet, our lives have not! In fact, life was blasting max stereo since we touched down in Washington almost 10 months ago. This is the first of a long 2-part post catching up on everything that happened after our world trip ended last August.

A few highlights from that time in no particular order:

• Swathi started her new job as an attending physician at NW Medical Specialties
• Bought a new house in Federal Way after a short (and tight) stint in a Tacoma apartment
• Soren had his first day of pre-school, and then another first day of pre-school after we moved
• Hired a full-time nanny for Meera
• Clark interviewed for and started his new job at the Washington State Investment Board
• Bought a new car
• Took a week-long vacation to Hawaii to visit Sruthi

Life has been so busy that I very well have may have missed an important highlight. Swathi’s board exams!!! Swathi had to study for and pass Oncology and Hemetology boards. See I forgot about that. Also we got solar panels, a home cook, cleaners, new washer/dryers and a new backyard fence. Forgot about those too.

Let’s take a step back and give you a quick timeline. We’ll cover August through early October in this post and round out with late October through November in the next post.

Late August/ Early September

We touched down in SeaTac airport August 29 from Hong Kong. After 3 hours at bag claim, they take refuge in a local motel and celebrate their return to the USA at the Cheesecake Factory. The next day we meet the moving company to unload our effect in an apartment in Tacoma. While the neighborhood was amazing (love that Farmer’s Market), the apartment was smaller than expected.

Also the downstairs neighbors complained about us twice! The building did have a nice rooftop garden for tenants though, so that was nice:

August 4 had Soren his first day of pre-school at Montessori in Motion. We found out he had lice the day before starting and had to shave his head. Despite much trepidation, he quickly made friends and became a teacher favorite. Apparently he is a goody-two shoes at school, if not always at home.

September 7, we bought a new car! It is a Volvo XC90 plug-in hybrid. We LOVE this car. Needless to say Soren threw up in it within 2 weeks smh. Still, it has been really nice and having a second car has been a necessary part of living in PNW.

September 10, Swathi had her first day of work. NW Medical Specialties is a private oncology practice with clinics around the Tacoma area. Swathi is in the Tacoma and Federal way clinics. She likes the new team and work, although it is very busy. We started to notice that her commute times were starting to add up, especially in the direction of Federal Way

Clark and Meera spent a lot of time bonding at home and picking up/dropping off Soren. Clark starts interviewing with the State Investment board. His final day with IBM was September 14 although he had emotionally and mentally departed much, much earlier.

Late September

Casual attendance of open houses matures into more active house hunting. We discovered Redfin (which is amazing) and started spending a lot of time on the app. We quickly discovered that most of the housing stock in Tacoma was built about 120 years ago with knob and tube wiring. Look it up if you are ever bored. We did find our dream home in Tacoma, but it only cost a cool two million dollars. Think we’ll have to wait.

September 22 we walked through a newly listed house in a quiet corner of Federal Way and had a very good feeling about the place. On September 24, Redfin notified us that they were closing to new offers at the end of the day. We scrambled to put a bid in and quickly found ourselves in a bidding war. After some smooth negotiating, we emerged victorious!

September 26, we pick up Swathi’s mom from the airport. She joined us for most of October to help smooth the transition, especially while Swathi prepared for board exams. She couldn’t have come at a better time as we had a lot to do with the move. We couldn’t have gotten through the month without her!

Early October

October 4 I had my first in-person job interview. The role would be to lead the Investment Analytics team at the Washington State Investment Board (WASIB). WASIB manages the $120B investment portfolio for the state, and my team would provide data and insights to the investment officers in the organization. October 11, I had my final round interview and received an offer to start December 3!

Mid-October was a lot of prep for our house closing on October 24 and studying for boards. We were all sick with colds for most of the month as well. Despite all the craziness, we managed to see our friends …. Soren has befriended their son and they even spent one day together at Chuck-e-Cheeses!

Meera was her usual sweet self, but had a few really sad days when he bottom teeth we coming in. She also had a self-improvement project to figure out how to stand. She still hasn’t totally mastered it, but perseveres nonetheless

October 22 to 27 was marathon week. Swathi took her board exams on Monday and Tuesday. We closed on the house on Wednesday. We proceeded to move for the next three days and finally moved ourselves in on Friday. By the end of the week, we were proud homeowners!

Soren liked the house too