Hello friends, let’s welcome this month with a travel post where I will be sharing a day from our Andaman Trip. We visited the Andaman Islands in January to celebrate Nemit’s 2nd birthday. And the place which we chose to spend the most special day was the Ross and Smith Islands, also known by the name of Twin Islands.

Check out this Google Satellite image below to know why these are known as the Twin Islands. These are one of the most pristine and secluded Islands of Andaman. And are connected to each other with a thin strip of the white sandbar. Just imagine the feeling of walking on the white sand from one island to the other.

Aerial View of Ross and Smith Islands

The best thing about this trip was not just Nemit’s birthday but also the company of both his grandmothers. Also, we had 10 days to cover most of the parts of this beautiful Indian Island. That too without burning a hole in our pockets. How we planned this budget trip? Hmm…it’s a secret! Naah, well I will share all the details in another post. This post is dedicated only to Nemit’s special day. Sharing a map of the Andaman Islands below. We visited all the places mentioned in green.

The Andaman Islands are divided into 3 parts as South Andaman, Middle Andaman, and North Andaman.

Map of Andaman Islands

Middle and Northern parts are the least traveled by the tourists. Hence, these parts have the most pristine untouched beaches with crystal clear waters. Ross and Smith Islands are one of those and offer a unique experience to its explorers.

How to reach?

First, one has to reach Diglipur in the North and take a speedboat from the Aerial Bay Jetty to reach the Twin Islands. The boat ride to Ross and Smith costs around INR 3000/- per boat for a capacity of 5-6 persons and it takes around 20 minutes to reach the destination.

Nemit with Nani on boat to Twin Islands

Click on this link to watch a video of our transfer from Aerial Bay Jetty to Twin Islands by the Speedboat.

There are few beautiful huts near the Ticket counter at Aerial Bay Jetty. We spent some time there while arranging for the permits and the boat before taking on the further journey. Make all arrangements beforehand as there are no shops at the Ross and Smith Island. We had to carry the eatables as well as drinking water with us. When we visited, there were no arrangements for water sports as well, so if you wish to do snorkeling, take your gear along.

Wooden Hut at Aerial Bay Jetty

You may want to read – Top 5 travel essentials when traveling with a toddler.

What to do?

After the boat drops at the Island, take a walk on the white sand trail to reach the Smith Island. To cross the sandbar and reach the Ross Island, one has to take a separate permission from the officials at the Smith Island.

Nemit with Papa after getting off the boat

Entrance to Smith Island

Dadi and Nani walking towards Smith Island from the boat drop

Once you reach the Smith Island, you will be surprised to see how beautifully it has been maintained, there are wooden huts to take shade, loungers to bask under the sun, beautiful swings and bathing & changing huts too. You will be mesmerized by the beauty of this island, spend time taking long walks on the beach, swim in the clear waters, do snorkeling or just bask in the sun. Each moment spent here feels like a moment of the lifetime.

The Eco Hut at Smith Island

Nani Dadi enjoying the swing

Sandbar connecting the Islands

There are 2 things which Nemit likes a lot and these are water and sand. And that is why we were so sure to take this trip for Nemit. We left him free to explore the beach on his own, only keeping an eye on him from the distance. He was so excited to see sand and water all around him.

Happy to see the sand all around

Running around

Nemit with Mumma

We could have never planned his birthday better than this. He had his parents all to him, without any gadgets around, giving him complete attention and their time. His grandmothers were there to shower their love and blessings on him. And he had the whole paradise island for himself to enjoy his day.

Nemit and Papa enjoying the water

Nemit playing with Nani & Dadi

We reached the Island at around 11 am and were asked to head back around 3 pm. We were told that we can’t stay there once the high tide starts. During high tides, the sandbar connecting both the islands get submerged in water separating the two from each other.

Walk on The Beach

After spending some time walking along the beach and taking lots of pictures, we decided to go get drenched in the water. We noticed that swimming was allowed only on the other side of the sandbar and it was getting some tides too. While the opposite side where the boat drops had calm waters without any tides but swimming was not allowed.

Time to enjoy the waves

We all had a great time playing in the water with Nemit. I think it’s time that we get him enrolled in swimming lessons. Once the waves started getting bigger and harsh, we came out. After taking a bath and changing into dry clothes we decided to have some snacks while lying down on the sun lounger placed along the beach.

Nemit enjoying in the water

Basking in the Sun

We didn’t realize how fast time was running there and soon our boat driver came looking for us. It was time to head back to our Resort in Diglipur. We clearly didn’t want to go back. Hence, decided to come back again the next day.

Birthday Celebration

Our trip to Ross and Smith Island came to an end but the celebrations were not over yet. A day before we had ordered a cake for Nemit, which we picked up on our way back to the resort. We were back by 4 pm and thought of taking some rest before planning for the evening. After spending an awesome time at the twin islands, Nemit was also exhausted and soon slept.

Nemit’s Birthday Cake

In the evening we cut the cake and had a little party in our room only. It was amazing to watch Nemit sing his birthday song and cut the cake on his own. It was messy but full of enjoyment. Nemit’s day and all the fun was almost coming to an end.

Happiness

Cake Cutting with Nani and Dadi

Birthday Selfie

But before retiring for the night, we had to walk to a nearby Kalipur Beach which is famous for Turtle Nesting. Our guide told us that to spot the turtles we need to spend some 3-4 hrs at the beach late at night but that was not possible for us. So, we just did a quick trek to the beach, checked the place where officials collect the turtles’ eggs to keep them safe and headed back to the resort.

Where to Stay?

We stayed at the Pristine Beach Resort, in Diglipur. The distance from the Resort to the Aerial bay jetty is about 8 Km and takes around 20 mins to reach there. Kalipur beach is nearby and at a walking distance of 10 mins. The resort has options for rooms and villas. Since we were on a budget trip, we settled for 2 Deluxe rooms, which were quite cozy and comfortable.

Villas have 2 connected rooms, spacious, luxurious and with all the amenities. If we had to spend our time in the resort, we would have chosen the villas.

 Day Ends

What a day it was, full of fun, excitement, and adventure. And we made awesome unforgettable memories on Nemit’s Birthday. Few years down the line, when he will look at these pictures and listen to the stories about his Andaman Trip, I am sure he will have a big smile on his face. And then we will once again plan a trip to this beautiful island, maybe spend more days in Diglipur and make some more beautiful memories and stories for the lifetime.

This is how we celebrated Nemit’s 2nd Birthday. Hope you liked reading this post and found the information helpful to plan your next trip to the Twin Islands. If you have any questions related to this trip, please leave a comment below or send me a direct message on my Instagram or Facebook and I will try my best to answer your queries and help plan your trip.

Next post on Middle Andaman covering Baratang Caves coming up next. Stay tuned. Love!

The post Plan a Birthday trip for your child – Andaman Islands appeared first on Growing With Nemit.

Hello Friends and Readers,

As many of you know, and many others who don’t know, let me announce that Growing with Nemit – A Mother’s Experience & Expedition, (yes this Blog), has been nominated for Indian Blogger Awards, 2017.

I waited for 15 days to get nominated on Indiblogger as my blog was lacking the minimum number of posts required to get approved. Now that the blog is up there, how could I miss submitting links to my best posts in various categories? A blog can be nominated under a maximum of 5 categories.

The categories for which this blog has been nominated are –

• Fitness and Health (Lifestyle)

• Parenting (Lifestyle)

• Self Improvement (Lifestyle)

• Memoirs (Literature & Personal)

• Personal (Literature & Personal)

#IBA2017

All the entries will be judged on quality, and on the testimonials received from the readers and the followers on the NOMINATION PAGE. However, the weight-age is different for both, 80% for Blog’s Creativity, Originality and Quality and 20% for Testimonials.

This Blog post is especially dedicated to all my lovely readers, without your constant motivation and love, it was impossible for me to take such a big step. It’s time to shower some more love and show a little more support by leaving a testimonial/comment on the Nomination Page.

You can click here to leave a comment.

Guys, please share this post with your friends and family. I really appreciate the overwhelming response I get from you all. Love!

The post We are nominated for IB Awards, 2017 appeared first on Growing With Nemit.

Hello Friends, hope you all are finding my posts good to read and I am sure some of you can relate to them too. The series I am doing ‘September Challenge-My Weight Loss Journey’ is very close to my heart, the efforts I am putting in my workout sessions are genuine and I really really want to leave my old self and see myself as a Happy, Healthy and Fit mommy at the end of this month.

I know the fact that losing weight is not easy especially when you are a mom having a baby who needs your attention 24 hours 7 days a week, when you are a woman and have to deal with quirky hormonal issues every now and then and above all when you feel like a hungry lioness all the time even after getting all your meals on time.

This is getting difficult and more challenging as the second week of my journey has ended; I want to take a moment rather I would take this whole post to reflect on what is going on behind the scenes of this journey and what else I am doing to make it work. Hope to get lots of positive vibes and motivational comments to pump up my weight loss journey.

We have this beautiful Floral Yoga mat from Strauss, you can check it here for more details!

To start with, I want to share my routine and what changes I have made in my diet to complement my work out regime.

Routine

• My work-out week starts from Tuesday, yes because Sports Complex stay closed on Sundays and Mondays.
• Tues/Wed/Fri/Sat – Morning 45 mins swimming session.
• Tues/Wed/Thurs/Fri – Evening 60 mins Aerobics class.
• Rest of the days I stick to 15-45 mins of Walking. These days are my rejuvenation days and I prepare my body and mind for the next week.

Diet

I am not dieting; I can’t as I said earlier I feel hunger pangs all the time and my toddler still breastfeeds.

• Before and after work-out meals play a crucial role, pre-workout snack is important to fuel the muscles and provide enough energy to stay on your toes through the session. What snack to choose and the portion size depend on the intensity of the workout. Similarly, post-workout recovery snack is as important to replenish the lost carbohydrate stores of our body and proteins for muscle recovery.

• Swimming is considered a light low impact workout; hence I stick to a banana only, 30 mins prior to my session. After a 45 min swimming session, I take a glass of skimmed milk without sugar, and after an hour indulge in light breakfast.

• Aerobics is more intense cardio; I take handful of mix nuts and a serving of any fruit 30 mins prior to session. After a high intensity workout one should take carbohydrates and proteins within 30 mins after finishing the session. I take a glass of milk shake with 3-4 Threptin biscuits.

To know more about about these high calorie protein supplement, Click Here!

• I am going really light with my breakfast and dinner but take a good lunch which mostly includes 1 chapatti, 1 small bowl of rice, 1 small bowl of dal, 1 serving of vegetable, salad and yogurt.

• Keeping your body hydrated is equally important to bring the best out of your workout. Don’t eat snack and drink water simultaneously as that can result in some nasty enzymes develop in your stomach and make your body feel bloated or can result in acidity. Always have water at least 15-20 mins after your pre and post workout snacks.

That’s the routine and diet I am following. Now that I have already shared some facts and tips about walking and swimming in my previous post – Story behind the weight, it’s time to know more about Aerobics- my hectic evening workout sessions.

Aerobics

• Any activity which is done more than a few minutes while heart, lungs and muscles work harder and lots of sweating is there, is known as ‘Aerobic exercise‘, also known as ‘Cardio‘.

• Aerobic exercise can help prevent or reduce the chance of developing some cancers, diabetes, depression, cardiovascular disease, and osteoporosis.

• An aerobic exercise plan should be simple, practical, and realistic. Specific equipment (such as cardio machines) may be used but is not necessary for successful aerobic exercise.

Below is the snapshot I took from my trainer’s diary, the day when I almost fainted from the exhaustion of 5-minute high intensity fat burning ‘Tabata Workout‘.

Let me share some tiring facts about HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)- Tabata Workout-

• This is the hardest exercise to choose where one can experience symptoms like passing out after being repeatedly punched by someone, yes that’s what I felt during a 15-minute session.

• ‘But that’s worth it‘- as exclaimed by my trainer. The results you can get from 5-minute of Tabata are equivalent to an hour of running.

• The trick is to choose 5 different cardio activities and go as hard as you can, one activity for 50 secs and then rest for 10 secs, then second activity for 50 secs and rest for 10 secs, continue same with all the 5 activities.

• Beginners can start with 5-minutes of tabata twice a week, but as my trainer is quite strict and know that we have stubborn fat and during a 5-min workout we will work for only 2-3 min and will spend rest of the time pulling ourselves up, she started with a 15-min workout.

So, the 15-min workout had 3 sessions of 5-min each, having different set of exercises.

Session-1 (5 exercises to be done for 50 secs each with 10 secs break in between)

1. 50 secs- Jumping Jacks –> 10 sec rest
2. 50 secs- Jumping Squats –> 10 sec rest
3. 50 secs- Plank –> 10 sec rest
4. 50 secs- High knees –> 10 sec rest
5. 50 secs- Wall sit –>10 sec rest

Source- Google Images

Session-2 (5 exercises to be done for 50 secs each with 10 secs break in between)

1. 50 secs- Burpees –> 10 sec rest
2. 50 secs- Sumo Squats –> 10 sec rest
3. 50 secs- Bicycle Crunches –> 10 sec rest
4. 50 secs- Climbers –> 10 sec rest
5. 50 secs- Lunges –>10 sec rest

Source- Workoutlab.com

Session-3 (5 exercises to be done for 50 secs each with 10 secs break in between)

1. 50 secs- Jump rope –> 10 sec rest
2. 50 secs- Knee push ups –> 10 sec rest
3. 50 secs- Plank twists –> 10 sec rest
4. 50 secs- Climbers –> 10 sec rest
5. 50 secs- On the spot jogging –>10 sec rest

Source- Pinterest

Now let me share the truth also, I was almost dead in the last session and couldn’t stand even for 2 mins. So, I will say start with only 1 session of 5-minutes twice a week and then 2 sessions of 5-minutes twice in the next week and increase it so on and as per your capability. BUT….

Always Listen to your Body, The Body never Lies.

Stop and take rest if you feel like dying…I mean don’t over-exert yourself at any point of time, push your body to the limits you can handle.

And do you want to know what Nemit & Nani do back at home while I sweat it out at the sports complex? Scroll down…

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Happiness is…….doing nothing still having so much fun!

I am gearing up for next week’s workout session, hoping to see some weight loss in the 3rd week of September Challenge.

If you like this post, please comment and share to show some love. Thanks!

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The post Hectic workout sessions – September Challenge appeared first on Growing With Nemit.

Today, I feel so happy and satisfied, the reason is not something that big but I have found my purpose as a Mother..as a Woman..as a Human! Read my experience of starting a blog – mommy turned to blogging.

I clearly remember the first month after Nemit was born, I was feeling the pangs of depression mostly because I was not sure how am I going to handle this whole motherhood thing. I was completely not prepared for all this, nobody mentioned about the sleepless nights to me, not even my mom told me how the post-delivery period is going to be.

Each day was an overwhelming surprise for me.

As the months passed, I started regaining my sanity but there was that feeling of sinking deep into the so-called ocean of motherhood, I was happy to see my baby growing and achieving milestones but the girl in me was getting suffocated with each passing day.

Occasionally, I was having meltdowns and was questioning the purpose of my life.

I would stay awake whole night and ponder about the course my life will take the next moment. Have you ever had the feeling where you want to run away from all the responsibilities and that includes baby too but immediately start feeling guilty about your decision? How could a mother think of running away from her child and her duties as a mother?

Oh God! I am such a horrible mother.

Soon Nemit turned 6 months old and I started thinking of joining work. But then came the devil of thoughts who would pull me back and cloud my mind with thoughts like how can I leave my baby alone when he needs me the most?

Who will be responsible if something bad happens while I go to work?

Will I get the job after a break?

What if I would not be able to manage job and home?

Will my mind work as sharply as it used to work before baby?

Will I be able to justify my role as a mother and as a working woman?

And all these confusing thoughts made me believe that it’s better to stay at home and spend time with my baby. Because not all are this lucky to get the chance to witness each moment of their baby growing.

There was never pressure on me to work and earn. I think I come under a special category of women who just can’t sit still. And their mind is so complicated that first, they come up with some target. Then keep working their butts off to achieve that so-called target.

I was never a great cook and neither interested in being one. But I tried to learn cooking and baking just to satisfy the devil in my mind that I am doing something and not just wasting my life. Yes, I know this skill can’t get its place in my CV but definitely, it was one big target which I set for myself and achieved.

And then followed many similar targets and the race to achieve them.

After my boy completed his 12 months, I was wondering what next? Is it time to leave him in a daycare and go out and actually start hunting for some work. But at the same time, I came across many of my friends who had started taking their passion and hobbies very seriously. And they were working on them and earning some bucks too.

Like a friend, who paints really well started working on her paintings and was selling them. I was impressed! Then found a friend who used to bake really well started her baking classes, that was enough to motivate me. But I soon realized I didn’t have any such talents in me.

To be continued…

Click to read PART-2

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