Life in Bellevue

Crabbing - A fun experience

2014-02-23T22:10:00.000-08:00

We had fun crabbing with a group of friends over the weekend at Bainbridge Island here in Washington State. We have never tried crabbing before and the kids were so excited especially my eldest daughter, because she love to eat crabs.

So, from Seattle we took a ferry ride to Bainbridge Island and from there it took us 10 minutes to reach Suquamish Tribal Port. The day before the crabbing day, we bought crab trap, and other stuff necessary for the crabbing and of course our 1 day pass license. You need to get a license for crabbing or fishing, and you can get those online or as for us we got it from Dicks sporting goods. The day that we did crabbing was the last day of crabbing in WA.

Everyone was so excited to start and the kids was ecstatic to see the first catch. We had our coolers, and chairs set up in the flatform. The weather was gorgeous during that time and it was perfect to sit around and wait while enjoying the sunshine! After just a few minutes, someone had their first catched, pictures was taken and everyone has to take a look. The pressure was on with the rest of the guys, to have their first catch. By the way, each person is allowed to catch 5 crabs and that includes the kids. After hours and hours of waiting, we grew tired and the kids gets restless, so we let them play down at the lake side while the women chit chat.

Around 3:00 o'clock and the guys still have 5 crabs on their cooler, we decided to pack up a little bit and call it a day. I think since it was the last day of crabbing, the number of crabs got saturated or the crabs just get smarter not to get enticed with those smelly fish and chicken because they know that it is a trap!

At the end of the day, my husband caught 7 crabs, we were a little (just a little) dissapointed because we were hoping to catch a lot. Greedy me :-) But I was thinking of sharing it with friends who were not able to make it. Crabs are so expensive and I am sure a lot of people will appreciate it if I could share some of our catch.

We catched the 5:30 ferry to Seattle and ate a little snack at the ferry then everyone headed home respectively. I boiled our crabs that night and cooked it the next day, because I was so tired. Some of our friends have them for dinner that night. It was so good and the best thing is the experienced of doing it. We plan to do it again next year, but we will combine it with other activities or do it somewhere nearby. Going to Bainbridge Island just to do crabbing is not worth it because you have to spend money on the ferry ride and gas.

All in all, it was a good experienced for grown up and kids alike!

Cool Park this Summer

2013-05-08T04:37:00.001-07:00

Greenlake Park is one of the coolest park here in Seattle. The place has big playground for the kids to enjoy, it is situated beside the lake where the kids and grown ups could take a splash in the water to cool off, a big area of luscious green grass to just spread your blanket and enjoy a bountiful of picnic basket or play freebies with friends. Surrounding the lake is a jogging, walking or running path or you can ride your bike or roller blades or skate board.

Last weekend, we went out late in the afternoon since I worked the previous night, so I have to get some zzzz during the day. The weather was on the 80's and we don't want it to go on waste, we want to do just like everyone else does, go outside and enjoy the sunshine, so we head out to Greenlake park. The kids got to play, me and my husband takes turn doing our laps around the lake.

The place was packed with people though, but I still love the whole scene! When I was doing brisk walking (because I don't felt like jogging), it was so relaxed because a lot of people are walking and chatting all the way. My husband shared the same feeling when he was jogging around.

The downside in this place is parking, the parking lot is so small, but side parking are available and small other parking lots are scattered around the lake.

This was an old shot taken last month when the place was still cold and the ducks where still have a place to enjoy the lake.

Skagit Tulips Festival

2013-05-05T00:35:00.000-07:00

Almost every year we go to Skagit Tulips Festival here in Washington State. This event is considered a tourist destination here in the Northwest. You could see acres and acres of different types of Tulips, Daffodils and other type of flowers, but of course majority of which is Tulips. To know more about their schedule you can visit their website at Skagit Tulips Festival. Another famous thing they have is their Garage Sale, this is a miles and miles of garage sale in Skagit Valley. I have not been to one, but I heard that it was pretty awesome.

Last weekend, we decided to visit them back, usually we visited Tulip Town, but this time we considered another place which is Roozengaarde garden. It was beautiful as usual and they have a garden layout rather than just one big fields of Tulips. Unfortunately, my husband forgot his camera, that is why we were not able to get some pictures. But I guess on the other hand it was a good thing because for the first time we were able to enjoy the surroundings, the hotdogs, coffee and of course the flowers without making a fuss of taking pictures here and there.

Classic Cars and America History

2013-04-29T19:15:00.001-07:00

My husband has been asking me for a while to go to LeMay Museum in Tacoma where it houses hundreds of classic cars from early 1900. The oldest we found so far is 1903! It was old but it was a beauty and will not be disappointed when you see it.

Here are some of the pictures he took, I have to choose only a few because he took tons of pictures, when I say tons, he took pictures of all the cars I guess aside from the accessories of each cars that fascinate him.

Their collections is very impressive, I felt like I was transported in time ! One thing I love about this classic cars, is how the manufacturers give so much attention to details. The restoration quality is very impressive too. I was trying to imagine how it feels to be driving one of these ! Just my wishful thinking :-) What can I do, I can't help it, they are beautiful!

LeMay Museum is in Tacoma, WA. Entrance fee is $14 for adult and $8 for children and kids below 4 is free. Since we are AAA member we were able to get 10% discount.

Our Trip to Olympic Peninsula - Lake Quinult Lodge

2013-04-16T02:59:00.000-07:00

After hours and hours of driving, we finally arrived at our final destination, Lake Quinult Lodge. This rustic lodge was built in 1926, with seven types of rooms. Their rooms are spacious, with lake side view, no TV and no phones. They have sauna, pool and game room. The back lawn is beautiful, wide space of green grass, with Gazebo and lounge chairs. Most of all, the sunset is stunning!

Very peaceful, I could spend the whole day sitting here, just watching the lake, enjoying the sun with a good book in hand. That's what I call real vacation!

We arrived a few minutes late to catch the stunning color of sunset. This is the best we got, but I still love it.

We had a light dinner at their Roosevelt Restaurant, with an overlooking view of the lake, and humming birds flying on the window. The ambiance of the restaurant is very relaxing, I like it a lot.

After a night of rest, we had breakfast and started exploring the place. We tried one of their hiking trails, which is only .6 miles. The trail is kid friendly and has small bridges and falls along the way. Which is nice, otherwise we could not make it back, with Andi complaining how hard it is to walk farther :-)

We checked out the World Largest Sitka Spruce Tree. It stand 191 feet tall, 17 feet in diameter and 55 feet, 7 inches in circumference.

We were not able to see the largest Douglas Fir Tree though as the kids were hungry and tired. We ate lunch and headed back home. Downside on this place, no other place to eat but the restaurant inside the lodge.

All, in all this place is beautiful!

Our trip to Olympic Peninsula - Forks, Lake Crescent & Hurricane Ridge

2013-04-12T10:41:00.001-07:00

The kids could not stop talking about Game Farm in Sequim, where they enjoyed feeding the animals. From Sequim we had lunch at Port Angeles, and on our way to Forks we stop by for picture taking at Lake Crescent. I was wondering why it was called Lake Crescent, it does not resemble the crescent shape? Of course I could help myself Googling it, click Lake Crescent for more information from Wikepedia if you are curious as I am.

Here are the two versions of Lake Crescent, black and white and the colored one. This was just taken on the side of the road on our way to Forks. I am pretty sure there are some nice places where the kids could play and swim during summer. That would probably be part of the agenda on the next trip here.

Here is me standing in front of the sign like an idiot. But I guess this is a common sight to cars passing by in this highway. They must have seen thousand of people having their pictures taken here because we are curious what Forks is like. Stephanie Myers make it sound so interesting or maybe the characters in her book did. One thing for sure, this place get a little sunshine, when we were driving along the highway the sunshine just come and go! It was gloomy,foggy and drizzling. No wonder Stephanie though that it will be a good place for vampires to live.

The people here tried their very best to attract more tourist by putting signs related to Twilight. We even saw a sign that says "Twilight Firewood for sale"! That was a bit funny, but people got to do what they got to do to sell firewood.

We thought Hurricane Ridge is open, so why not drive up in the mountain and see the magnificent view? I thought the drive will never end, we were just going up and up and up. The deers venturing along the road makes the drive a bit interesting. And finally we were almost at the top, and for the first time in my life I feared of falling. I felt this weird sensation at the pit of my stomach, that I want to get out of the car and just walk my way to the top. I don't have any problem with heights ever, but here I don't even want to look outside my window! The weirdest thing is that, I could not even see how high we are from the edge of the road, but I could totally feel it.

Once we parked and settled down at the top I totally relaxed. The view is amazing ! I was in total awe, it takes my breath away.

Surprisingly, the temperature is not that cold, we are not even wearing a jacket! And of course when you see snow, you could not help yourself doing snow ball fight. Here is Andi ready to charge !

We did not stay too long, because there is nothing else to do. The visitor center is close and we did not brought the kids sled. Yes, they have a place where kids could do sledding! They even have a variety of slopes from small to the biggest one. It could have been fun!

Next stop, Lake Quinult.

Our Trip to Olympic Peninsula

2013-04-11T12:53:00.001-07:00

Spring break is here and we decided to spend a couple of days exploring the Olympic Peninsula. We left on a Monday morning; board a Ferry from Redmond to Kingston. Good thing there was no long waiting time in the ferry. We planned to be there for the 9:40 boarding time. Boarding the ferry, you have to be there at least 20 minutes before departure. We paid $27 for 2 adults and 1 youth, children under 5 is free. You can buy your ticket in advance or check the ferry schedule at www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries. Crossing time is approximately 30 minutes.

From Kingston, we drove to Olympic Game Farm in Sequim. At the gate we paid $35 for entrance fee, again children under 5 is free. We bought a loaf of bread for $2 to be used to feed the animals. We were glad that we bought bread because that makes the experience unforgettable. You drive around the farm in your vehicle, you are allowed to open your windows, but they have strict rules that everyone should stay inside their vehicles at all times. While driving around the farm, you can see a lot of animals on the road, a lot of Peacocks, and other type of birds. Lamas and Yak are swarming the road; sometimes you have to stop because you cannot pass through. They approach your vehicle and nozzle on your window hoping to get some bread. They love it when you feed them with wheat bread. At first, it’s kind of freaky because you don’t know what they will do or can do, but once you tried it, they are fun! This farm has good number of Timber Wolves. Their African Lions both male and female are huge and looks well fed. You can see Bunnies and other types of small animals in every corner. They also have a lot of Kodiak Bears and Black Bears.

The moment we entered another portion of the farm, we were ambush with a flock of American Bison! I think these animals become used to people feeding them bread, that once they saw a car approaching they swarm the car hoping to get food. It was kind of scary at the same time fun. It was new and one of a kind experience to the kids and of course for us grown ups as well.

This is the picture of the car right in front of us!

When we paid the entrance fee, we felt like it was so steep, but after the drive around, we told ourselves, it was all worth it!

You can check their website for more info; Olympic Game Farm

I highly recommend this place for the whole family; it was a lot of fun!

Next stop, Port Angeles and Forks ! Here we come Twilight :-)

Cherry Blossom @ University of Washington

2013-04-02T18:16:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, we went to University of Washington to check out the Cherry Blossom inside the campus and to check the University Belt. Once we entered the campus we drove around to see the different buildings and other facilities. It was huge, and I love the architecture, landscape and open concept design of the buildings. The Cherry trees are planted around the middle ground. The place was packed with people visiting and I guess students who were just hanging out. We went there on a Sunday, yet the place was packed. The weather was really nice, I think that is why a lot of people wanted to enjoy the place before the rain wash it on the next few days.

The girls was just having fun :-)

This was taken in the huge open space in front of the University's library.

On the main entrance or rather the front yard of the University is a fountain, were people just sit and enjoyed the sun. Walking around the campus or just sitting in the grass is very relaxing. The place is beautiful, it make’s me want go back to college!

If you are visiting Seattle, this place is worth visiting. It is near other beautiful places in Seattle like the Japanese Garden, Arboretum, Woodland Park Zoo, then you can drop by Space Needle, Pike Market, the first Starbucks and other famous places in down town Seattle.

The Good Daughter - Book Review

2013-03-20T18:18:00.001-07:00

The Good Daughter is the first book of Jane Porter that I have ever read. I love to read books in different genres, depending on my mood. Jane Porter is the award- winning author of The Good Woman, Flirting with Forty and several other novels.

The Good Daughter is a story of a woman who is approaching forty and single. She came from a good catholic family and a teacher in a catholic school. They have an ideal family who live by their catholic values, support each other through thick and thin. They are also like other families who have its ups and downs. She is fraught with her mother’s advance cancer stage, a brother and sister in-law who just lost a baby, a sister who is trying to keep her marriage going and a twin sister who is in Africa and a black ship in the family. To top it all, she has to deal with one of her students who was troubled and thinks that her life might be in danger. She dealt with all these and the fact that she is turning Forty and no family of her own with no boyfriend, only a career and her love of teaching.

Then she met someone who is the least person who would fit and approved by her family. This someone does not want commitment, relationship and most of all marriage.

The story of this book is very distinctive for me, because it depicts the life of an ordinary person who strives with her personal problems, and yet she was there to support, listen and help her family. She has a big heart, opens her arms to everybody who needs her. She is strong, compassionate, a good listener, a confidante, who always finds good in people. And of course she loves to read!

Beauty in simple things

2013-03-16T21:07:00.001-07:00

Another amazing picture from Allan! Can you imagine a simple thing as an eraser that we used and neglect everyday? He was able to see beauty in this simple things.

There are so many things in life that we tend to ignore and does not appreciate until time comes that we need them. Then we look for them and appreciate their importance no matter how mundane it is.

I think it is time to show the people around us how important they are to us, that we appreciate them, that we love them. Value all the things that you have and be grateful that you have all those things no matter how small, no matter how insignificant they are. Appreciate and be thankful !

Summer Fun @ Bellevue Park

2013-03-06T16:44:00.000-08:00

Spring is almost here, but I am so excited for summer. You can do a lot of activities during summer, go to the beach or lake, go camping, ride your bike, picnic with friends, hike, go to the park with family and friends or explore the magnificent beauty of Washington State.

Yesterday, while waiting for our appointment near Crossroad Mall in Bellevue, we went to the nearby park. I have seen this park before during summer, but never got the chance to actually to there and let the kids play. Yesterday, my daughter was so excited when she saw the park because it was huge and very nice. She have not seen this kind of park yet, where there is giant Dolphins, a Dragon and other animals. When she step into the playground she was surprised and said " the ground is squishy!" She run around, climb the slide and explore.

This playground is a Water Spray Play Area that is open all year round. They open the water spray starting Memorial Day until end of September from 8am to 8pm. Water comes out from the Dolphins, frogs, clams and other animals. Beside the water play area, are shed with picnic tables, benches, a slide and green grass where you could just sit and enjoy the surrounding!

To better understand, what I am talking about here are the pictures I took:

There are a lot of walking path around the park and I saw a lot of people walking around that day. This is a pet friendly park as well.

This is a fun place to bring the kids during summer, you can do variety of activities all day long. The place is beautiful, fun and most of all it is free.

Related Posts:
Signs of Spring
Another Face of Deception Pass
Lake Ingalls
Lake Kachess
Japanese Garden

Signs of Spring!

2013-03-04T12:43:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, we visited Bellevue Botanical Garden once again to have a nice afternoon walk. During that day Bellevue Botanical was having a Grand Plant Sale, unfortunately they were already closing out for the day when we arrived.

We went ahead with our usual trail, but decided to turn right at the crossing path because we have not explored that part of the garden yet, and we heard that there is a new bridge in the middle of those trees. Too bad, it started to drizzle and before we reach the bridge it was raining cats and dogs! My daughter was complaining and saying that she did not sign up for this. She is so funny, and she is only 3 years old. We finally reach the bridge and it was quiet nice, and it has a sign that says, welcome to the wild. We cross the bridge and made a small circle around until we went back at the foot of the bridge, the girls was asking where was the wild part? Oh well, I have no idea and people who put up the sign must have considered that wild, but unluckily it was not wild enough for the kids.

On our way back using a different trail, we found these tree just outside the Yao Garden. It was the first sign of spring.

The leaves are starting to bloom in the branches, it was beautiful. I guess that is one thing I love about spring, because it makes me feel a lot of things. Seeing this makes me hopeful that there is always a new life, a new beginning, a new start for a new season. Flowers are starting to bloom and grass starts to grow.

Bellevue Botanical Garden are among the places here in Washington that we love to visit during summer. This garden has a lot of variety of flowers, the trail is not too long for a nice afternoon walk with the kids, and this place is free.

DownEast Basics New Spring Styles are HERE!

2013-03-01T17:29:00.001-08:00

Have you seen DownEast Basics new Spring Style? You can visit their store at South Center Mall here in Washington State. You can also check their Spring collections at www. downeastbasics.com or www.pinterest.com/DownEastBasics. DownEast Basics is having a Pin to win contest and you can win $500 worth of shopping spree! Below are the details :

Contest will end on March 5, 2013, so hurry up and join!!! You will never know you might be the lucky one!

I already feel lucky last night when I got these from DownEast.

I fall in love in this fabulous long sleeve lace top, the color is great, quality and style is unique. The price for this piece is hard to believe. I found this in their clearance section. The other color that I found with a three fourth sleeve is only $5.00! I could not believed my eyes that I have to confirm with the sales person to make sure that the price is right.

My daughter who love nice things and prefer to wear dress and leggings only, found this tunic in the kids section. She loves it and begs me to buy it for her.

A lot has changed at DownEast Basics from the last time I was there. Their selection has grown and their style has improved a lot. I love the vibrant colors of their dresses accessorized with big and colorful jewelries. Another thing I love are the bags, I almost bought one last night. I took a couple of pictures of the ones that I like.

These are a few things I took pictures with, the dresses are all pretty and are so perfect for spring. You can see all of them on DownEast Basics website or Pinterest.

Spring is coming in a few weeks; it's time to organize your closet and finding space for those new spring styles!

Another face of Deception Pass

2013-02-26T16:22:00.000-08:00

This was the sunset at one of the lake in Deception Pass camping ground. My husband took this picture from last year's camping trip. I was just going through some pictures and came across this. This is so beautiful and can't resist to share this with you.

The campground we were in last year was near the entrance of the park. It was not so bad, but this group camping site has no shower and the lake beside it is for fishing only. You have to travel on the other side of the lake if you wanted the kids to go swimming.

It was freezing cold at night as well. My husband hardly slept because it was so cold and he only had a sleeping bag with him. Whereas me and the girls are inside a sleeping bag and a comforter on top of the sleeping bag :-) The group site is big, has a small picnic shelter, a few tables, 1 fire circle and a toilet. The group site was not a good spot for camping because you have to take the car if you want to do some activities like hiking, picnic, site seeing or bring the kids to have a swim. Their individual sites on the other hand are pretty good. Some are big where you could hook up your RV or park your car beside your tent. Some of these sites are near the restroom and shower.

If you have not been to Deception Pass, it is a good time to go, killing two birds in one stone, camping and site seeing.

Perfect Place for Fishing

2013-02-22T15:29:00.002-08:00

This picture was taken by a person who has talent in photography. He is not a professional, but taking picture is his biggest hobby. He has so many beautiful pictures, mostly by mother nature. He always captures the simplicity, beauty and serenity of simple things that we encounter and ignore everyday.

Hike @ Lake Ingalls

2013-02-21T10:15:00.002-08:00

This is the picture taken by my husband when they did the hike last summer at Lake Ingalls. It was his first long hike and he said that it was all worth it.

Below are some information about Lake Ingalls courtesy of Washington Trails Association. Visit their website if you want more info.

Location

Ingalls Way (#1390)

Snoqualmie Pass -- Salmon La Sac/Teanaway

Cle Elum Ranger District (509) 852-1100

Statistics

Roundtrip	9.0miles
Elevation Gain	2500 ft
Highest Point	6500 ft

Features

Lakes

Waterfalls

Fall foliage

Wildflowers/Meadows

Mountain views

Wildlife

Ridges/passes

Established campsites

Driving Directions:

From Seattle drive east on I-90 to East Cle Elum, exit 85. Cross over the freeway overpass and turn right (northbound) on State Route 970. Cross the Teanaway River bridge, and in another mile turn left onto Teanaway Road. Drive north on Teanaway Road, veering right as it becomes first the North Fork Teanaway Road and then unpaved Forest Road 9737 at 29 Pines Campground. Continue to the road's end.

Amazing Sea Creatures

2013-02-20T08:43:00.001-08:00

Jellyfish

2013-02-16T20:14:00.001-08:00

New Year - New You !

2013-01-10T17:10:00.001-08:00

One of the things I promised myself this year is to take extra good care of myself. Taking good care means, pampering my body from time to time, not to let those wrinkles and stress get into me, exercise more and most of all eating healthy food and eating right!

I tried to cook more vegetables for my family, buy and eat more fruits everyday. So far, I am on the right track right from the start. But the question is for how long could I keep this up? Can I do this for six months, a year, two years? Let us see, but I am hoping that this is the new beginning for me.

On the other hand, exercising is the next challenge for me to stay healthy and fit. I tried to work out 15 to 30 minutes every other day. I know this is not enough if I wanted to lose weight, but I am trying to go slow. I found a very good deal in Groupon for Bikram Yoga. I purchased this kind of deal before with a friend and it work out great. We were able to use it for a month and even enroll for the next couple of months. But I don't know what happened, but we just stop? This Groupon deal is only for $25 with unlimited classes in one month. This is for Bikram Yoga in Renton. I saw the same deal in Living Social for Bikram Yoga in Kirkland. If you are not familiar with Bikram Yoga, try searching it on the Internet. This is one way of getting healthy and fit. It is hard on the first few classes, but as you progressed you could feel the difference in your body. I can't wait to get back!

I will keep you posted how it goes! Wish me luck :-)

Too busy?

2013-01-08T17:31:00.000-08:00

Have you ever feel that your life is too busy to do other things? Have you ever complained that you don't get enough time to do the things you love? Everyday routine just swept you away that you seems to realize that the day passed by without knowing it. At the end of the day you ask yourself, where did the time go?

If you felt that way, you are not alone because I feel the same way. I don't know what happened but I have not been writing in this blog for many months now. I was not on hiatus or something; I just could not find time to write. Lame? Maybe, or I was busy with other responsibilities and priorities.

Tonight, as I sit in front of my computer, it suddenly struck me that I need to start writing again. No matter how busy I will be, I promised myself to find time to write. So here I am again, tapping the keyboard of my computer.

No promises, but I will try very very hard to update this blog again. I will try to connect to the blogging world once more, as I lost them for a year now. I lost a lot of things here, readers first of all, friends, visitors and among other things. I want to bring this blog back to life once again!

Camping trip @ Lake Kachess

2012-08-26T01:11:00.001-07:00

This year we had two camping trips. This pictures below was our second camping trip at Lake Kachess, an hour from Renton, WA. We went there on a Friday afternoon and went back home on Sunday noon. The campground was nice, every spot has its own fire pit and a table. Most sites could accommodate at least two tents. Our group has six sites all in all, with six families on it.

The lake was a 10 minutes walk from the camp site, but we brought our car because of the kids and we had lunch at the lake so we have so much stuff to bring along.

Below are few pictures in random order.

This was taken at the last day of the camping where everyone posed for a group picture. This is the wacky posed !

We had some games prepared for the kids, even the little ones participated with the help of their mommies. We ended up doing it though, with the help of the older kids because of their desire to win the contest.

BFF posed with their faces full of flour !

The ladies chillaxing under the tree beside the lake. I ended up going to the water to have a dip later in the afternoon just to cool off. It was so hot !!! I felt so much better when we went back.

The kids cooling off in the water and just having fun. You could not imagine how they could stayed in the water for many hours.

Dinner time ! Every meal, we assigned a family to cook food and or wash dishes. That way everyone has a share of chores. But of course, even though certain family was assigned to cook, we still help out each other to make things faster. We chip in money to buy food and groceries as well.

I think this is breakfast before we headed home. We had so much fun. The only drawback in this trip was that, we were not allowed to do a campfire because of the fire waning in the area of Le Eclum. The kids has to cook their smores in the grill rather than in the campfire.

Overall, it was a fun experienced. As usual the kids could not wait for the next summer to do it again.

BEAUTIFUL OREGON

2012-07-29T02:17:00.000-07:00

This summer my husband and I planned to take a few road trips to maximized and enjoy the good weather. One place in our itinerary is the Oregon Coast. Below are some pictures during our weekend trip. If you love the beach and nature, this is definitely one place you should consider.

From Seattle we headed directly yo Cannon beach, it was almost four hours drive. The kids were quite bored but tablet and Nintendo DS are our savior! Few days prior to our trip, we booked a hotel along the beach, they were fully booked but got lucky and was able to get a room. I warned you that the hotel is quite expensive, so better make plenty of preparation.

This is Canon Beach. The coast is just miles and miles of beautiful scenery, but the water is freezing. The kids was disappointed that they could not swim because it was windy and the temperature is below 60 degrees.

They settled to playing in the water and sand instead. Sunset and view is breathtaking. People make campfire at night and just sit and cuddle beside the fire and enjoy the conversation.

After a day at Canon Beach we are on our way to Portland, with a side trip at Cape Meares. Above is the historic lighthouse with an awesome view.

We did a side trip at Tillamok Cheese factory to have some ice cream and see how cheese was processed. Have a chance to sample different types of cheese at the factory as well.

Stayed one night at Portland and in the morning did a scenic drive along Columbia River Gorge. After that, attended a noon mass at the Grotto, have lunch and headed back home.

This is one of the most beautiful scenery in Oregon Coast. The sunset is just magnificent ! So many pictures, and I have very little space.

It was a wonderful trip and I was glad we made it. Next stop is Washington Peninsula !

End of school

2012-06-14T02:13:00.001-07:00

Friday is the last day of school for my little girl. According to her, next week is the beginning of a longggggg days ahead. She does not look forward staying at home everyday and wondering what fun things she could do with her sister. I have been looking for some summer activities for my girls and I think I have to look faster!

For one, I have swimming lessons schedule for Hazen Swimming Pool. That for sure will be the top priority on their summer activities. Both of them loves water and when we asked what do they want to do this summer, swimming is the first answer. We just have to decide the schedule and timing. I have been checking City of Issaquah Community Center, and they have tons of summer activities! I printed out all of them, so I could read through and decide if something will fit the girls.

I saw some Gymnastics / Ballet class at Renton Community Center, but they are already full :-( If you are a mom like me who is scouting for activities to make your little ones busy, try the local community centers. They offer some programs and the cost is very much reasonable compared to other vendors.

And my quest will continue !!!!!

Almost FREE grocery items

2012-06-13T17:32:00.000-07:00

Reward programs at different grocery stores gives you not only discount but money saving coupons as well. Most of these coupons are high value coupons, either Manufacturer coupons or store coupons, which you can combine to give you more savings. I have register rewards to most grocery stores that I frequently go to and one of them is Albertsons. Aside from the preferred rewards of Albertsons, they also have this Sizzling summer give away. Check their website or store for more details. Back to the register rewards, Albertsons gives you 10 points in every dollar you spent on qualifying items. Once you reach 5000 points, your receipt will automatically print a $5 gift reward. You can used this $5 rewards to buy anything in the store. I could not count how many $5 I got from them, and if you combine this with the twice the value coupon that they issued, you could get grocery items for free.

The other day, I got another $5 reward from them and I used it to purchased these:

I paid $.48 for these three items, almost FREE!! I got two $.55 coupons for eggs which I could used or combine with any store promotions or coupons.

Isn't that great ???

Summer fun activities!

2012-06-08T16:25:00.003-07:00

Summer is almost here, and school will be over in a week! I just can't believed that one school year is over and my little girl will enter 1st grade this coming September.   While September is still far away, I want the kids to enjoy summer first. I am scouting for summer fun activities for the girls.   Will it be swimming, ice staking, sports or simply enjoying time at the beach? These activities are fun and I am pretty sure they will surely love, but me and my husband believed that even the school is out, we should not stop teaching our kids academically. We always make sure that they have activity books, reading books, or anything educational to work on. We always enjoyed the programs offered by the local libraries. They have very good reading programs every summer. We print out activities and printable online as well.   Online, there are tons of websites that offer curriculum based activities, printable and worksheets.   Every time I need Kindergarten worksheets and printable I always visit scholastic.com. If your kid is still in Preschool, they have great Preschool Worksheets. They have free samples of worksheets, printable and reading materials.   If you want full access to all their materials, you can subscribe to their website.   They have materials from Pre-K to 8th grade.

I have been teaching Gabs Addition and Subtraction, and she is now getting the hang of it.   She has been asking me to teach her multiplication. I feel like it is still early to teach her multiplication, but I think I will give it a shot. I will try to print some Multiplication worksheets and see if she could handle it. You will never know unless you tried, right?

I think it is important that parents should not stop teaching their kids even though school is out.   It will be easier for kids to adjust when it is time to go back to school.   But make sure that learning and teaching is fun, so kids will always look forward to it!

Have a great summer everyone!