Then they made olaf!

"Get inside Ruhi! You will catch cold." I told my 7 years old daughter who have been persistently opening door in every five minutes to see if her Daddy have come from the office. We have a flight to Srinagar in 6 hours and she have been on her toes non-stop.

We have been planning a family vacation for long but due to work or some other reason it would get postponed and this time Ruhi is making sure that nothing comes between her and this trip. Seeing the spark of anticipation in her eyes is scaring me a bit... What if this trip doesn't turn out to be as great as she expects! Then I looked at Sid, my 5 years old boy watching Doremom on television, carefree in his own world and wondered will they have their vacation of dreams!

SRINAGAR

Ruhi and Sid both were very fascinated by the traditional dress of the local people.
"Don't they  feel cold?" Sid asked.
"Their robe is woven of woolen yarn so it's very warm." I told him.
"I want one dress just like that girl." Ruhi said pointing towards a little girl who was wearing their traditional attire Pherans.

"This is just like the Little Red Riding Hood's cottage but more dreamy! " Ruhi hopped up and down clapping as soon as she entered the boat house cottage.

"Do people really live on boats... in this dreamy cottage? Do I get to live here!"She beamed at me and Sid tried to calm down his excitement too.

"Yes princess, we all get to live here." And just like that all my worries vanished. Now all I have to do is make sure they enjoy the best.
"It will be alright." My husband smiled at me clutching my hand in assurance.

Early morning we went for the excursion of Dal lake, it's hard to describe the serene allure in words. The vast mountain range surrounding the lake seems like jewels over eternal beauty. 

"Mommy do people really transport vegetable in boats?" Sid quizzically looked at the man who was sailing his shakira loaded with fresh vegetable in the deep green lake across the vast spread of lotus.
"He is taking his vegetable to the other side of the lake where he will sell it in the market." One of the attendants replied.
"You can transport almost everything in a boat little boy." He smiled at Sid.
"Wow, I never know they can use boats to transport vegetables too." Ruhi said. "Mommy Daddy look at that boat!!" She pointed towards a shakira filled with beautiful enchanting flowers. "This is heaven!" My little princess finally found her fairy land in this beautiful urban lake.

We had a fabulous time in Srinagar and after a few days we left for Gulmarg. It's winters so snowfall is expected and as soon as we reached, it snowed. Snowfall is a lot more messy than pretty. We couldn't go out the whole day, locked up in the room waiting for it to stop.
"Don't worry dear, They at least having some rest." My husband told me. My kids are sitting in front of room chimney soaking in the heat. These past days they looked happier than ever, Sid absolutely was surprised by the maiden nature, not disrupted by the skyscrapers.
"Mommy I am in frozen!" Ruhi squealed.

"You are in what?" I asked walking towards her.
"Frozen movie! Mommy it's all frozen outside!" she said gazing at the falling snow like it's some dream.
"It's all white... see mommy trees are clad in white shwal! It's just like the Disney movie Frozen." She kept humming the song "Will you make a snowman" twirling in front of the window. The moment so magical that I almost had happy tears.
Thankfully the snowfall stopped and we went out to play in the snow.
"Let's make Olaf!" And we all made a snowman named Olaf. "You remember Olaf from Frozen movie.Right?" Ruhi asked Sid in her signature matron voice, she takes full benefit of being the elder sister and Sid being a lovable brother follows her order everywhere.
Sid and Ruhi enjoyed so much, they haven't laughed this much in months. These is something magical about having a family time away from home amidst nature, it brings all together. It makes a family happier family.
It is not very hard to ensure that your kids are happy on their vacations, all they need is a family time, they just need to find that connection with the location, you simply need to take them to a place that fascinates them and there you will have one happy perfectly memorable vacation.

This is what I wanted for my kids, to have a vacation of their dreams where they not only enjoy but learn too and I could see my kids living their dream.

To read more such interesting travel stories of kids, visit :  http://membership.clubmahindra.com/TeddyTravelogues/index.html