New Look for A New Year!

I've been playing around with my new blog template that actually took a lot of my time. I don't know how to read or use either CSS or HTML but I wanted to make some changes to the template and it drove me nuts trying to figure things out. I did go through line by line of the template' s HTML to see if I could make any changes and I did actually manage to make some adjustments to it. Although I am still not satisfied with the whole look, there is nothing much I can do and I am done with it for the moment. 

Daniel said the layout is a bit confusing. So I figured perhaps I could give you guys some tips on how to browse the blog.

This is how the full post looks like. I like the one-column idea. It gives me ample space to post larger pictures.

On to the backdated posts, I have quite a few to share with you guys. Daniel's mom flew from Oklahoma to spend some days with us until Christmas. And we had a really great time with her. The boys loved having her around. That will be in a few separate entries though. But check this one out first.

Daniel had to wear some kind of Halloween costume for one of his gigs so he decided to make one on his own. Here's Ezzat wearing the costume.I think it looks like Felix the Cat.

Enjoying Fall

This year's fall season is so much better compared to last year. Last year, most trees stayed green and just lost their leaves during winter. But this year, autumn seems to be more alive and colorful. It still rains once in a while, but not as much as last year. I love waking up to a sunny, cool weather, enjoying colorful foliage outside my windows.

Soccer

Last Saturday was the second last soccer game for the season. It's a challenge for us, well for me at least to take Emir to his practices, twice a week and then to his games on weekends, one game each on Saturday and Sunday. I love going to the games, cheering for him and for his team. The practices though, not so much. They have had great games and Emir scored two goals so far. He has a wonderful coach and he gets along very well with his teammates.

B & W

I took this picture last year from the ferry on the way back home. It was our first time to Seattle.

Happy Birthday Ezzat!

Daniel came up with a sweet idea in making the present giving fun and awesome! He made it like some sort of a treasure hunt with clues so Ezzat had to hunt for his presents.

Ezzat is 8

Today is Ezzat's birthday and he's 8. We didn't really plan for anything special since the boys said they wanted to have a combined party. Well, I actually gave them the idea since I am really not up to having 3 birthday parties 2 weeks apart from each other. With my condition at the moment, preparing for one already sounds pretty daunting. As a matter of fact, we've never thrown one before. Not even once. It was always a small family affair. But the boys have been going to their friends' birthday parties and now they really want one for themselves, especially Emir. He's been talking about it for quite awhile. But the birthday boy is getting his present today and he is getting his chocolate cupcakes  and cheese pizza. I'd say that's a pretty good deal.

I've been looking at his pictures since last night since he first came to the States. He actually changed quite a bit. I really miss his chubbiness. He is also more talkative now. He used to be the quiet one. I thought I'd share some of them with you guys. 

All of these pictures were taken in Dec 2009 when the kids first got to Hawaii. Ezzat just turned six in October that year.

Jan 2010 - Jul 2010 in Hawaii.

Learning to ride a bike without training wheels for the first time 

Montana, Jul 13 2010

 Fishing with Grammy and Poppy - Montana, Jul 16 2010

Fort  Ward State Park, Bainbridge Island WA - May 14 2011 

One Morning in Autumn

Relaxing

Ezzat

Daniel Plays Jazz

Sept 4 2011

We went to Seattle to watch Daniel perform at Tula's Restaurant and Jazz Club with Jim Cutler Jazz Orchestra. They sounded awesome! I love their selection of songs. 

Goodies from Farmer Gregory

After a full week of glorious sunny weather, the temperature just dropped drastically this week to the low 50s F! Even the leaves on some trees started turning brown! Last year, the leaves weren't turning until October. What a weird weather! I wonder if I should just harvest all the leaves from our herb planters. Speaking of harvesting, we got a lot of produce this week from our local farmer, Paul Gregory. I wasn't sure if we were going to renew our CSA for next year, but after all the goodies we got this week, I'm thinking we should renew after all :-)

Green beans, nectarines and red plums that are to die for (they are super sweet and juicy!), tomatoes, pears, mixed greens (kale & swiss chards) and peaches

Red and green apples, blueberries, italian prunes, zucchinis and cucumbers (not in the picture)

The Unfinished Hike...Dungeness Spit, Sequim WA

Jul 2 2011

Photo: http://photoblog.seandaniel.com

 Aerial view of Dungeness Spit

 Photo: http://markwhitesell.blogspot.com/2010/06/wild-washington-chapter-18-dungeness.html

We decided to go to Dungeness Spit in Sequim right after Poppy left for Montana. The weather was great that day and it would be such a shame if we were to just stay at home. It was about an hour plus to drive there so it wasn't that far considering it was an impromptu decision. 

The spit is a 5.5 miles very narrow long sand pit (eleven miles round trip). It is the longest natural sand pit in the world.

At the end of the spit is a lighthouse. But since it's quite a hike to walk the 11 miles round trip to the lighthouse, there's certainly a need for some kind of planning especially if children were to be involved. There are no restroom facilities or drinking water. Plus everybody needs to be off the spit by dusk. We didn't finish our hike. The kids were tired after the 2nd mile. I personally would like to go back to finish the hike and to visit the lighthouse.

Taking turns to use binoculars to see the view of the spit

 Oh look a squirrel!

On the way back, we stopped at one of the few scenic view stops and saw this breathtaking sight.

These are views taken from the car somewhere in Sequim

Photo: http://markwhitesell.blogspot.com/2010/06/wild-washington-chapter-18-dungeness.html

Hopefully we will be back for this!

Backdated Entries

School has started for the boys and life resumes as usual as if summer never happened. We did have some great time, did some fun stuff as a family. Not to mention we went through Ramadan without a hitch, especially for the boys. I was glad that they were home throughout the whole fasting month. It just made things a little bit easier. We had a nice quiet Eid at home and then we took Emir  later that day to his first soccer practice. Still the greatest summer so far was when we spent some time with  Poppy and Grammy in Montana. I love the road trip we took and the view was amazing. And I haven't shared any of those experiences with you guys, especially my family. I will, eventually. That's the whole reason for this blog existence anyway. Being a platform for me to share our life here, with family and friends since we're far far away from each other.

Fun Time with Poppy - Day 4, Jul 1 2011

We went to Kitsap Memorial State Park on the 4th morning Poppy was here. As with most beaches around Puget Sound, the beach is a mix of sand and pebbles. Shellfish harvesting used to be the highlight of the park until recent surveys by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife show declination of clams and oysters,  and the fishing season is temporarily closed since May 2011 until further notice. Crabbing is still allowed though but one can catch only up to 6 crabs if I am not mistaken. We found a couple of crabs under some rocks and they were pretty big! We stopped to chat with a guy who happened to fish for the crustacean creatures and he was short of one crab and we pointed out to him to one of the crabs we found.

Moon snail. Interesting creature. When we first saw its shell, we thought that was all to it. Who would have thought that underneath the sand, after some considerable digging, poking and prodding, there was a lot more to be discovered.

 Photo: http://www.eyefetch.com

We were intrigued by this thing that looks like a piece of rubber.  There were many of them scattered  around the beach. Poppy later informed me that this is actually a moon snail egg case! "Moon snails use sand and mucus to make pliable cases. The eggs hang out in the case for a couple of months, then break free and become free-swimming larvae for a while before they settle down and become fully-realized moon snails."(http://hamahamaoysters.com/blog)

Giant star fish!

Oyster heaven! Despite the fact that there are insufficient oysters for harvest, we saw tons of oysters on the beach during the low tide. 

The beach

Poppy with the goofy kids

On the way back, we stopped to pick some wild blackberries although they were not quite ripe yet. But it was all fun!

Later in the afternoon we all went to Point Defiance, Tacoma to meet Poppy's sisters, Aunt Dottie and Aunt Susan, Daniel's cousin, Sam and his girlfriend, Robin. Sam is Aunt Susan's son.

Aunt Dottie

Aunt Susan

 The kids

The food