Ganesh Chaturthi...

Indians celebrate Ganesh chaturthi to celebrate the birth of Lord Ganesh the son of Lord Shiva and Parvati. I loved this Indian god the most of the many gods that we worship as Hindus.  Lord Ganesh symbolizes happiness and he is the god of wisdom, he is placed at the beginning of all the ceremonies or any auspicious events in hinduism. He is a chubby god who loves to eat, especially laddus(Sweet balls). His favorite sweet is Modak the pyramid shaped (sweet dim sum).
He is remembered at the beginning of all the ceremonies with this famous verse

Vakrtatunda Mahakaya suryakoti samaprabha,
Nirvignam kurumme deva sarva karye shu sarvada

This year we celebrate Ganesha Chaturthi on 29th August. It marks the beginning of 10 day long event in Mumbai, India where I come from. People build large Pandals(Tents) to host and display their decorations to welcome lord Ganesh. As a kid I would look forward to celebrate this festival as it gives the kids an opportunity to connect to god in a different way. Lots of kids get to perform in the cultural events held during this festival.
On the 10th day lord Ganesha idol is submerged in lake or rivers, and people bid adieu to him till the next year. For many of us kids its a sad day as we get back to the grind and end the celebrations.

I am posting some fun links for the kids ,

Birth of Ganesha:

Mahabartam - Ganesh:

The Story of lord Ganesha in Hindi
Part 1:

Part 2:

Humara Dost Ganesh:

You can visit the Indian temple in Berlin to pray on this auspicious day :

https://www.indiatemple.org

Shops at Ellisburg Cirlce

The Ellisburg circle has has few good things to offer for the Families with Kids..and it is very conveniently located at the route 70. This shopping strip recently also added a very famous food store chain Whole Foods.

I love to go this shopping strip as  can get lots of stuff at discount from Buy Buy Baby. Besides that they also match the prices for the products they carry with the discounts offered by their competitors.
you need to take with you the printout of the discount offered by any other store. Now that makes it interesting ...!!

Buy Buy Baby



I haven't been personally into this store but it surely sounds like a good idea. I hope to pull in few discounts as compared to the Barnes and Nobles.

The bargain books




For all you bowling enthusiasts, this could be one place for an action packed Family evening with some Pizza.

 Playdrome Bowling




This shopping strip also host 2 discount stores viz., Dollar Store and Five Below for a cheap art and craft material or many other activities with low budget.

Last but not the least if you had a long day at the shopping strip you can jump into the Dunkin Donuts  which is just next to the Playdrome or if you are up for a heavy meal then you could resort to Qudoba or a large selection of fresh prepared food items at the Whole Food Buffet.
For those burger enthusiasts, and some fun kids meals Macdonalds in within the strip.