Diamond Head (Le'ahi) State Monument

We went hiking at this place somewhere in mid Feb (**googled the 2 pics above =)). It was totally a sunny day but for once, I didn't complaint about the weather (when I first got here, all I did was whining about how hot it was although I knew it was in fact summer time), in contrary I think it was perfect! It was breezy all the way and the boys had fun running all the way to the summit. The two older boys reached the top probably 15 minutes earlier than the rest of us. The trail length is about 1.6 miles round trip and it took us less than 2 hours to complete the hike.

A little background information about this place - The name is Le'ahi, an ovoid-shaped crater believed to have been formed about 300,000 years ago during a single, brief eruption. It covers 350 acres with it's width being greater than its height. The trail to the summit of Le'ahi was built in 1908 as part of the U.S Army Coastal Artillery defense system. Diamond Head Fire Control Station was also built at the summit between 1908-1910. The word Le'ahi Hawaiian means fish forehead since the summit resembles the forehead (lae) of the 'ahi' or tuna fish (now that reminds me of fresh poke - yum!) Nowadays Le'ahi is more commonly known as Diamond Head as in the late 1700s, Western explorers and traders who visited Le'ahi mistook the calcite crystals in the rocks on the slope of the crater for diamonds.

Pretty blue sky. See the mountain? That's where we went. The place where we parked our car, the trailhead is located on the crater floor at an elevation of about 200 ft.

One of the pretty views on the way up.

Walking on concrete portion of the trail is much easier. The dirt trail is much steeper but is not difficult since the boys could handle it. Ezzat was slower than his brothers though and was with us all the way up. By this time, Emir and Farhan were no where to be seen since they were so much faster.

The first tunnel - we had to climb steep stairway to get to this point. It's a narrow one, about 225-foot long according to the information leaflet we got.

This is the second stairways - 99 steps! The cross-beams above supported camouflaging as this place was used as a site for coastal defense of O'ahu.

At the top of the stairs is another tunnel which is the entry to the lowest level of Diamond Head Fire Control Station.

There is also a spiral staircase that we had to climb to get to the exit of the crater.

And this is the beautiful view we came upon once we're out! Thank god for that coz I began to feel a bit claustrophobic with the small narrow spaces.

See the space in between the ground and rock/concrete? That's where we exited. The slit is pretty narrow in height and we had to bow really low to get in and out.

Look closely to see the light house.

Going to the uppermost level of the Fire Control Station

View of the crater from the summit.

View of Honolulu from above.

One of the viewing stations



The not so fun part for me

I see light at the end of the tunnel!

Going down the 99 steps was way easier but looking down at the height - yikes!

Some views on the way down. Almost back to the Comfort Station!

Overall it's not a difficult hike, in between easy to moderate, and the kids had fun especially Emir. Here's Ezzat looking a bit tired.

Fun time climbing up a tree. It's the boys' first time!

Emir thinks he looks like Alvin in Alvin and the Chipmunks

I really want to ride that trolley one day just for fun before we leave this island =)

Our House

This is our previous apartment. It's pretty small for five people but it's easier to manage. It has 2 bedroom, one bathroom - the whole area is probably around 650 - 700 sq ft and it has coin-operated washers and dryers on each floor. What I like about it is that it's a low rise apartment (only 3 floors) so it's pretty convenient to get down to the car plus it's inexpensive.

This is our current apartment and it's just one block way from our previous place. We just moved in on the 26th Feb. It's so much bigger, same number of room and bathroom, I think it's probably around 1000 sq ft with a nice view of the mountains. This is the view from the front door.

And this is the view from the front windows at the living hall.

This is one of the mountains, it's greener now since it has been raining lately. That's where the kids' school is situated, it takes less than 5 minutes to get there by car.

This is one of the views from the window, on the right side.

And this is on the left side. And the boys love the pools!

This is the kitchen which I love =)

This is the living room.

We use the master bedroom as the kids' room because it's way much bigger for the bunk bed.


The bathroom.

  And this is the best part, washer and dryer in the house!

Emir wears glasses!

Emir has to wear glasses now, something to do with astigmatism. So here's how he looks like with them.

Aloha!

Hi everyone! It's been so long since I last updated The Bumblebeez. I know....so sorry. I just didn't feel like writing. We're still adjusting to life here. By the way, we're doing great. We're all finally together as a one big happy family in Hawaii! Been through a lot these past few months since we got here. I got here first in mid July 09, got married the very next day right after arrival, was on Tylenol for weeks since then coz I kept feeling feverish (H1N1 scare) plus totally homesick especially for being apart from the boys for months - 6 months to be exact! Submitted my PR application along with other applications - military ID so I can shop at the Nex =) and oh of course the medical insurance (extremely important here) - totally missing the comfort of walk-in clinics in Malaysia, work authorization, parole to travel outside the U.S, driving license, social security no., bank ac etc...all the paperwork & waiting = argh! But of course in between, adjusting to new life as a wife - again :-). Right after I got the parole, we planned our trip back to Malaysia for the wedding reception and to get the kids to the U.S soil before their visa and my visa expire. Man! That's one of a kind journey back and forth like that - in 4 days time! It's super duper fun, exhilarating, nerve-wrecking, tiring journey ever in my entire life! But what is not fun and sad was that Daniel's parents were not able to join us for the reception =( since we're not able to provide a specific date at all due to red tapes by the immigration. So I'm so sorry for that from the very bottom of my heart for that. We got the kids back, they've started school last week and life has been pretty busy for the Bonnin's family since then.

So, I'll do my best to keep The Bumblebeez up and running with whatever that is going on in our lives. Until then - Aloha!

How to make Bunga Rampai

My auntie Nah, Syikin's mom asked me to do Bunga Rampai fresh flower potpourri for her daughter's wedding since she saw me doing that for my brother's wedding feast (which I have not uploaded any pictures yet, sorry!) . In Malay, it is called Bunga Rampai. 'Bunga' means flower, and 'rampai' means varieties or assortment. So bunga rampai means an assortment of flowers.

Bunga rampai is used in many important occasions of the Malay folks : circumcision, graduation of Koran study, shaving a baby's hair, funeral , wedding etc. In Malay weddings during the olden days, it was an essential dowry item and was smoked all night long in the nuptial chamber. I'm not sure how it's smoked though since I've never really learned how to make bunga rampai the 'real way'.

You can use any kind of nice smelling flowers, plus flowers with bright colors. The usual flowers that we always use, which are considered traditional smelling are like jasmines, frangipani/plumeria, roses, and chempakas (white and yellow versions of local magnolia flowers). But the MAIN ingredient of bunga rampai is always fresh pandan leaves or screwpine leaves. Sometimes shredded kaffir lime skin is also used since it has nice fresh smell.

Emir is busy cutting the pandan leaves at Tok's backyard.

Is this enough ma?

First, the pandan leaves need to be finely sliced as fine as possible like what would one do for cutting ginger strips). How much you need depends on how much you want the potpourri to be but rule of thumb for me is is to have 3/4 of the whole mixture from the leaves. Next is to shred flower petals coarsely if they're too big but it's really up to you as to how you want your potpourri to be. I always leave jasmines are they are coz they're already perfect. And then you mix all up!

Next is to mix the mixture with fragrance. I use jasmine concentrated oil as I love jasmine. Some people also use rose water and then they smoke it with incense (as I've mentioned earlier) so that the smell is stronger but I prefer to use simplied version =). I think it's best to mix the oil with the pandan leaves first until they're well coated and only then add the flowers. I found that when I mixed the flowers directly with the oil, they browned quickly.

When everything is well mixed, you can choose whatever ways to stuff your bunga rampai. I choose to use fine net or you can choose to put it in organza pouch. Or you can put it into small baskets made of screw pine just like the old days (which for me is really tedious to make), or put them in folded betel leaves or just leave them in bowls around the house or the place where the wedding is to be held and let the fragrance permeate the air and whoever wants to have some potpourri can just grab some. Mom used to do that and she would use a tissue paper to wrap them. Nowadays people prefer to have it conveniently packed for guests.

Take a handful of the potpourri and put it in the middle of the net.

Secure it with a fine wire and tie a ribbon to make it prettier =)

So here you go, a basket of bunga rampai!