Nov 15th,  2008 - Our first stop was to Sam Walton's 5 & 10 store in downtown Bentonville. This was the very first the Sam Walton opened, well now there are thousands of Wal-Marts all over the world and Walmart is the largest retailer in the world now. 

The original store front still remains but now the inside is a museum. The museum has many things including

• A History of Walmart from the 50s until today
• A history of International growth of Walmart
• Sam Walton's chartitable causes
• Information about his family

Nov 14th,  2008 - My parents decided to take a trip to Rogers, Arkansas this weekend. Apparently the Fall colors in this part of Arkansas are very nice and my dad has been meaning to go for the past couple of weeks. We started off at around 9 AM and were hoping to reach there by sunset stopping along the way. It was a long drive as we went through Texas, Oklahoma before finally reaching the Rogers/Bentonville area in Arkansas. 

The Fall colors were just about going away and we got to see some of it. All day long, I was very excited in the car because we were going to "Arkansalt". We were staying at the Hyatt Place which was very nice. It had a nice big bed and a big TV. We took a break at the hotel for a while and then headed out to see the town. 

Bentonville/Rogers is the birhtplace of Walmart and its a nice small town. You can see many Walmart buildings around the town. There were lots of restaurants but we decided to go to Aroma, a new opened Indian Restaurant in Rogers. The food was very nice and I sat down and ate my dinner quietly (for a change). 

After a long day, it was time to go to bed. Tomorrow, we will be visting some of the local attractions. 

Nov 11th,  2008 - Going to school is a lot of fun for me. I get to spend time with other kids and also spend time playing with puzzles and doing other fun activities. Today we creatd a spider using a paper bowl and some strings. Looks pretty cool huh!!!!!

Nov 8th,  2008 - I have a friend at school by the name of Siddharth and he is also an Aamchi. His parents thought that it would be a good idea to meet for dinner and  get to know each other. We decided to meet at an Indian restaurant close by called Our Place. We reached that at around 6:30 just before the main dinner crowd got in and both Siddharth and I were super-excited to see each other. Fortunately for our parents, we decided to sit in our high-chairs.

We sat through most of dinner and then began to get restless. Towards the end of dinner, another classmate, Arjun and his family also came in for dinner. We all started jumping in the middle of the restaurant. Our parents decided that it was time to head home. 

Oct 31st,  2008 - Today is 31st October and its Halloween here in the US. Its the day when everyone will dress in strange costumes and have a lot of fun throughout the day. Our school also celebrates Halloween and we were all asked to come to school in our costumes. My parents had bought the pirate outfit for me and I went to school as a pirate. My other classmates had also come in their costume. Ria was a friendly witch (I called her Hat), Manav was a dinosaur, Khushi was a butterfly and Amey was Spiderman.

We had a lot of fun in school, ate some candy and at the end of the day, Ms Humeira gave us a goody bag with lots of small things like stickers, bubbles, erasers, coloring pencils. What a great way to end the month. 

In the evening, we will go trick or treating. 

Oct 31st,  2008 - As today is Halloween, my parents wanted to take me trick or treating. Instead of going to the homes in the neighborhood, we decided to go to the Grapevine Mills Mall which had Trick or treating between 6 and 8. I think it was a good idea to go to the mall. Most of the stores had someone sitting outside with lots of candy and as we went to each store, they put a little candy in my pumpkin. We went around the mall and I wished everyone "Happy Halloween" and collected my candy. There were so many kids in the malll, it was a lot of fun. Some grown-ups were also dressed in their Halloween costumes.

This is a fun holiday and a great way to end the week. Can't wait until next year to go trick-or-treating. 

Oct 25th,  2008 - Today is our school Carnival and its a big event for the school. All the kids from the school will be there and so will their families. After my nap, my parents dressed me up in my Bucaneer costume and we were ready to go. We reached the school around 3:30 and the whole area was crowded. There was no space to park and we ended up parking away from the school. 

All my friends from school were there, Ria was a friendly witch, Manav was an alligator. There were princesses, astronauts, doctors, supermen and more pirates too. There were lots of games for us to play. We had ring toss, cupcake walk, obstacle course, basketball, fishing, face painting and many other games. After we finished each game we also got a prize. It was a lot of fun. My dad was a volunteer at the Obstacle course game.

By 5, I was really tired and it was time to go home. It was fun. Thanks to all my teachers at school for making this a fun event. 

Oct 25th,  2008 - One of my father's office friend, Ramesh Uncle had a baby girl a few weeks ago and we went to meet her this morning. Her name is Dhatrisri. It was a nice drive to Southlake and we saw all the car dealerships on the way and I was very excited. 

When we got there, she had just finished her bath so she was sleepy. I said Hi to her. Babies are so small and quiet. Ramesh Uncle gave me a few toys to play with. I had some cookies too. Since we were there around lunch time, they served lunch. I had rice, dal and potato curry. I really liked the potato curry. It was very tasty. 

We left at 1 and I saw Ramesh Uncle's grey Toyota car. I am going to take a nap now and then its time to go to the carnival at school. 

Oct 19th,  2008 - Every once in a while, my dad and I go to the nearby Krispy Kreme to get some donuts. Its usually on Sunday mornings. Today when we went to the store, my dad picked special donuts for us. Since it was Sunday, they were offering the "Football"shaped donuts and since Halloween is also at the end of the month, they were also selling "Pumpkin" shaped donuts. A double treat for me.

Don't they look tasty. They were....you should try some. 

Oct 18th,  2008 - The Hindu festival of Diwali is at the end of the month and there is a large mela at the Texas Stadium in Irving. There are many families of Indian origin in the Dallas Fort Worth area and this event brings them all together. We live in Irving too so the stadium was very close to us. We left home around 5 in the evening and reached there in 15 minutes. It took us another 15 minutes to get in and find parking. 

Once we got in, there were maybe a hundred booths mostly of local Indian businesses. The Salaam Namaste booth gave me a balloon. I met the ladies from the "Show Me the Curry" website. They gave me a packet of spices. Most of the local restaurants had their booths and they were  selling Samosas, Dosas, Biryani among other things.

There was a play area for kids with inflatables and I got very excited and wanted to go play there. Unfortunately there was a long line and I was pretty impatient (I don't quite understand the concept of lines yet). My parents decided that it was time to leave. On the way out, we met Tejas and Vikram uncle and their families.