Up in the air!

July 10, 2010

We're flying to Tacoma, Seattle today. The boys are super pumped about riding the plane and all sorts of adventures waiting ahead. Plus we're gonna meet grammy and poppy! How exciting is that?

Cotton candy! 

ZZzzzzz...Can't do much right?

Love the colors

Around the island for the last time

This is long overdue but I've been busy working on our garden. But that would need a different entry. For now, Hawaii is the main story. Caution! It's going to be a super long entry. Enjoy.

July 9, 2010 - PM

We decided to go around the island for the last time before leaving for Seattle the next day. It' was already pretty late when we left the hotel for the trip so we didn't really cover the whole island as what we've planned.

Riding a trolley - is still a wish

First stop - a lookout somewhere in Diamond Head.

Then to a public beach park in Hawaii Kai. No complaint about the weather that day. 

Various views from different angles of the park

Some goofy kids

On the way to the other side of the park

Ohh look, there're some fish over there!

This is one of my favorite trees in Hawaii. The flowers come in several colors and bloom throughout summer.

Simply breathtaking. I'm totally glad we took this one last ride. We even rented a car solely for this trip since our car has already been shipped a few days back. Great ride, awesome view.

On the way to Halona Blowhole

It's a great place to stop to take some shots - it's a few miles away from the famous Hanauma Bay, if we were to come from Waikiki (which we sadly didn't get the chance to go).

Why didn't we ever get fish this big?

You really have to be careful to go down the slope. It can get really windy and the waves are pretty strong.

We can see Sandy Beach from here

 You can see from the background how far the place stretches.

What? We're leaving already?

We left Halona Blowhole, but I really hope to go back there again in the future. This is our next stop, Sandy Beach Park. It's a super huge park, a great place for kids to run around freely. It's also a great place to fly a kite. We did that one time with our friends.

The beach in front of the park is popular with surfers.

 This is after we've passed the Makapu'U Light House. And at this point, the weather did not seem too great.

Not sure where we were. It was drizzling and getting darker and we kept driving. Sad.

But this is our last stop, the Haleiwa Beach Park.

And that's our last taste of Hawaii.

Ramadan

Today is the 2nd day of Ramadan, the fasting month for the Muslims. The boys did great yesterday,  they didn't budge at all about completing their fast. I did tell them that since they're still young and not fully obligated to fast, after a certain time in the afternoon, they could break their fast if they couldn't keep up but they're pretty strong. I think the weather helps a lot. Despite the fasting duration here is much longer compared to Hawaii and Malaysia, it's cooler and we feel less dehydrated. Having Sahur (meal taken shortly before the break of dawn to start a day of fasting) is extremely important. Delaying the meal as far as possible in order to take it just before dawn is recommended as it is beneficial from both the health and practical points of view.

To me, it's always a special month, apart from the religious obligation (abstaining oneself from eating, drinking and several other  things from the breaking of dawn till setting of the sun), it's also a month that makes me want to fine-tune my spiritual life better than other months. Setting aside the technical part of this third "pillar" of Islam, I just feel more relax, probably due to lack of preoccupation with the satisfaction of bodily appetites. Family gathering with my parents and siblings during Iftar meal (breaking fast after sunset) is something that I always look forward to. Being so far away now makes me a little bit sad not being able to join the family. Now as a mother, I try my best to help the boys to kindle that special feeling that I always have, the anticipation that comes with the arrival of the holy month. Not forgetting the Ramadan food  bazaar, albeit a little bit irony, is nothing like other markets with rows of stalls selling endless array of food and drinks for breaking of fast. I don't really know about other countries, but in Malaysia, it's like having a nation-wide, month-long, food carnival. And then, at night, there's this special prayer, either done alone or at the mosques, called Terawih.  The mosques in towns and villages become lively and filled to the brim with congregations during the prayer and  to join them is an experience on its own.

Selamat menjalani ibadah puasa bagi semua umat Islam. Ramadan Mubarak.

Update

We have internet! It was installed 2 days ago, but we've been pretty busy going around the town, checking out stuff that I didn't really get to sit down and update the blog. But I will now! We've found a nice house to rent 2 weeks ago. Although it's not exactly our dream place, but it's good enough for the time being. The rental is on monthly basis so that's good just in case we decide to move somewhere else later. But I like it since the location is great, it's close to everywhere we want to go - base, school, town and some great parks. We still have not received our household shipment though :-( The weather here is great so far, no rain yet. It could be chilly sometimes, especially in the morning. But we're not complaining :-)

 This is it!

Another good bye...

July 9, 2010 - AM

We met another good friend of mine, Reena and her daughter, Zaharah to say good bye to each other.

Zaharah playing on her own

 Zaharah and mommy

Awwwww, loving moment :-)

The boys with their gadgets

Hope this is not going to be the last...