Hurricane Ridge, WA

I still have tons of pictures from our Malaysia trip that need to be updated. But for the time being, here are some pictures from our recent visit to the mountain. 

Aug 31, 2013

I woke up to a beautiful morning today. The weather was perfect and it would be such as a waste to just stay inside and do the packing. We're moving in 18 days and there are so many things that haven't been packed up yet. I told Daniel that I wanted to go to Hurricane Ridge just because it was on my mind for quite some time since I saw some pictures of it on my friend's Facebook. We did go there in 2011 during winter and it was so pretty. But it was too cold for us back then. We didn't properly dressed for the weather and thus didn't explore the place at all. Unfortunately, Daniel already had some other plans so he didn't want to go. So it was just me, Sarah and my dad. 

It took us approximately 2.5 hours to get there. But with nice views along the way it didn't feel that long to me. I think my dad enjoyed it too. As for Sarah, she slept for the most part on the way there so that was such a relief. Being stuck in the car seat for a long time is not something she looks forward to. 

My dad has a thing for old stuff so when I asked him if he wanted to stop and look at this flea market, he right way agreed to it. The sign said the flea market is held every Saturday from 8 am - 4 pm from May to September. We got there around 2.30 pm so there weren't many vendors left. But still it was a fun thing to do. 

Breathtaking view of the Olympic Mountains from the parking lot. We got here probably between 3.30pm - 4.30 pm. There was quite a crowd but we didn't have any problem finding a parking space. 

Tok Wan and Sarah, on the way to the visitor center.

Enjoying her cracker amidst the great view

The visitor center from afar

We had a quick snack at the Snack Bar inside the visitor center. The fish and chips was pretty descent albeit on the expensive side.

Love the different shades of blue.

She got a teddy marmot from Tok Wan from the souvenir shop. 

My Abah aka Tok Wan

Photo: http://www.liftopia.com/ski-resort-info/resort/999988375/WA/Hurricane_Ridge.htm

I decided to just do a short hike and thought that the Big Meadow Loop was the perfect one. We headed to the Overlook and then continued to Cirque Rim trail, passing the start of Sunrise Point trail and back to the parking lot. These trails are paved and easy, perfect for children. I really wanted to go to Sunrise Point but it is a dirt trail and it would be quite challenging with the stroller. 

The view on our way to the Overlook.

We met some of the meadow's residents. 

She loves her marmot.

View of of the Overlook. From here you can see part of Port Angeles, the Straits of Juan de Fuca and Vancouver Island, B.C

We can see ski lift from the Cirque Rim trail.

The Cirque Rim trail

Abah is reading some information about the trail

The Big Meadow

Going back

Saw a couple more  these guys

Malaysia Trip Part 1

After almost 4 years, we finally made it! We FINALLY went back to Malaysia. The bonus part was Daniel's mom was able to go back with us and that made it so much better. 

It was a quick trip. Two weeks was a really short period of time. But we did manage to see most of our relatives, thanks to my parents. They held a family gathering a day after we went back to my hometown, Alor Setar. And that was awesome, just to be able to meet (almost) everybody. Plus having everybody together at one place was really a time saver as we had quite a busy itinerary. 

July 30th 2013

We had a 4 hour layover in Taipei. I was so glad when we landed. I'm not a fan of flying, especially a super long one. It took us 12 hours to get Taipei from Seattle. The boys did really well. Sarah cried quite a bit on the plane and just wanted to nurse all the time. She did however sleep for a few hours.

Morning

Great Weekend

We had a great time staying at a cottage in Kaneohe Bay last weekend, thanks to Daniel's friend and wife, Joe and Lin, for inviting us over. And I got a new camera (early anniversary present :-) thanks D!) - I'm turning into a shutter bug instantly and loving it. So please bare with me as this is going to be quite a long entry since I took hundreds of photos this time and I had a hard time selecting them to put on here. 

Some of the food that we had. The cottage is well equipped -  fridge, oven, stove, pots and pans and cooking utensils - I love it! I'm glad to do the prep at home though. And I had a great time with Lin helping me in the kitchen.

Dinner time at the patio.

The gentlemen played Uno before bed time.

 View from the patio early in the morning. Lovely!

 Breakfast with some goofy kids.

Some interesting things we found during our low-tide adventure. The last picture on the bottom right, I don't know exactly what that is, my guess is that it's a huge sea cucumber.

Mr.Emir

 Mr. Farhan

Mr. Ezzat

Some sea creatures

The cottage

The beach and the water

 Ready to snorkel 

Love the color of the sky

Looking for hermit crabs

Silly

Getting ready

To sail

On the way to the boy's secret hideout

And they took it seriously by guarding the entrance. 

And this is it!

Fun time was over :-(

Well, maybe not.

Then it's lunch time.

Which consisted of leftovers from the night before - vegie burgers, curry puffs and peach cheesecake.

One the way, we stopped at a lookout with this nice view of the Kaneohe Bay.

Kaneohe Bay

Good bye K.Bay...