After a relaxing evening at the Hampton Inn in Gallup (Mak and Abah ate their tar paued mexican food, and Vin and I went out briefly for a quick bite), we had a good night’s sleep and hit the road at 8:00 AM again. Gallup is a lot colder than Phoenix so everybody was bundled up for the 40+ Fahrenheit (about 5 C) weather. [[image:us63.jpg:Map of New Mexico:center:0]] On our itinerary for the day, from Gallup, we would get off the I-40 and head south on the NM 602 then east on NM 53 a little ways to see El Morro National Monument. After El Morro, we would take the NM 53 north east to the I-40 and then stop at Acoma Pueblo. We took so many cool pictures I’ll divide Day 2 into first El Morro, then Acoma Sky City. The weather was a little overcast and cloudy. Here’s […]
Continue readingCategory Archives: Family Pics
On top of spaghetti all covered with cheese
A list of our family’s adventures through this simulated universe. Strangely, this is represented by several methods. Firstly, my thoughts in words and then a host of two-dimensional images configured for the human visible spectrum. Finally the blog itself as a medium of information. Also, sometimes there is cake.
In a galaxy far, far away… Southwestern Road Trip Day 1
So on October 27th, the four of us flew from Dayton to Phoenix where we planned to embark on an ambitious tour of the Southwestern USA. We arrived in Phoenix and rented a car. Armed with our guidebook and a roadmap of the United States, we thought we were ready for everything. We had a half-planned itinerary, and some hotel reservations along the way. The rest we would make up as we went along. We arrived in Phoenix late in the evening of Friday October 27th, so we got our rental car and drove straight to our first hotel in Phoenix. We planned to spend the night and in the morning we would hit the road. [[image:us32.jpg:Map of Arizona:center:0]] From Phoenix, we planned to drive north on the I-17 and at Flagstaff, head east on the I-40. We had reservations at a hotel in Gallup, New Mexico (just east of […]
Continue readingAfter That We Took Some Pictures
A belated Eid Mubarak from Ain’s kampung at Pondok Lubok Tapah, Pasir Mas. We spent a week here, and had plenty of good food to eat. The morning of Aidilfitri, Tok Ma made Nasi Dagang – Terengganu Style – but there are no pictures of that. The second day, Ain made Laksa Johor and there are no pictures of that either. For most of the rest of the week we didn’t travel out much because of the horrific traffic jams which were practically everywere. We didn’t even go to Kota Bharu, which didn’t mean we didn’t try. After the Aidilfitri prayers that morning we took some photos. Irfan put on his best action hero intense look. [[image:eid_pmas01.jpg:Intense Look of an Action Hero:center:0]] More family photos: [[image:eid_pmas02.jpg:Irfan with Tok Bah:center:0]] [[image:eid_pmas03.jpg:Family:center:0]] [[image:eid_pmas04.jpg:Irfan’s maternal family:center:0]] Later Irfan and I took a walk outside in the yard and the sun gave ample opportunity […]
Continue readingIn a galaxy far, far away… Eid Mubarak!
Eid Mubarak and Selamat Hari Raya to everyone! This year, for the first time, Mak and Abah came to spend raya with us, so we had a nice quiet celebration, just the 4 of us. We had the raya breakfast of pulut (glutinous rice), rendang ayam (chicken rendang) and sambal tumis daging (beef sambal) but took no pictures of the food as we were too busy chowing down the morning of the 1st of Shawwal. After the food, we then all got dressed in our Raya finery, took a bunch of pictures and then did the ritual salam-salam and asking of forgiveness of each other, as is tradition for a Malaysian Eid. Take a look of the pictures of Mak and Abah with us for the first time during Raya, and because it was quite cold outside and our Malaysian thin cotton materials, we only took pictures indoors. Mouse over […]
Continue readingIn a galaxy far, far away… Part I
After Yope, Yong, Emma, Irfan, Wan Ngah and Aji sent Abah and Mak to KLIA, they embarked on a long, arduous journey where finally they landed in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport. Unfortunately, they arrived on a rainy night and due to traffic issues in the rain, Vin and I did not arrive at the airport right on time. Abah and Mak were waiting outside the terminal, and Abah was cold, so after a quick salam and kiss kiss, everyone piled into the car and we came home for dinner. [[image:us02.jpg:Mak is helping to stir the stir fried veggies:center:0]] [[image:us03.jpg:Hanging out in our kitchen – note the rosemary focaccia:center:0]] [[image:us01.jpg:Abah showing off his chicken, Mak has a piece of focaccia:center:0]] [[image:us04.jpg:First dinner at home with Abah and Mak:center:0]] Some pictures that were taken in our house: [[image:us05.jpg:Vin watering the plants in the library:center:0]] [[image:us06.jpg:Picture of the house taken from the street:center:0]] […]
Continue readingOn To The Far Side Of The Planet
Tok and Opah Irfan boarded the flight that would take them to Singapore, then hopskip to Tokyo, Chicago and finally Cincinnati where Ayah Cik and Cik Dik would be waiting to bring them to their house in Middletown, OH for a month at the United States. This would be their second time in the US. To prevent being late for the flight because of breaking of fast, we left after 6 PM from the Tenth Floor, headed for Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) which is strangely enough a million light years away from KL, but maybe that’s a subject for another entry. We broke sawm driving through Putrajaya and ate dinner after Mahgrib prayers at the Dengkil R&R on the PLUS Highway. And no, I didn’t need to pick my teeth en route. Anyway… pictures, as they say, are worth a thousand words: [[image:kliasendoff01.jpg:Irfan recharging for his high energy expenditure […]
Continue readingIrfan at Centrepoint
Centrepoint Bandar Utama, that is. While waiting for his mother to finish work, Irfan took the time doing his usual thing, running about amongst the greenery and going up and down the escalators. I thought I’d put the camera phone to good use. One thing I’ll say for Centrepoint’s garden is it’s really well kept. Shame about the crap people throw into the koi pond, though. [[image:cpoint01.jpg:Going down:center:0]] [[image:cpoint02.jpg:Coming up:center:0]] [[image:cpoint03.jpg:Running up the ramp from the basement car park:center:0]] [[image:cpoint04.jpg:Sitting still long enough for a camera shot:center:0]] [[image:cpoint05.jpg:Playing on the rocks in the garden:center:0]] [[image:cpoint06.jpg:Jumping rock to rock on the artificial waterway:center:0]]
Continue readingThe Sixth Year
It’s been six years since Ain & I were married. More than 10 years since we first met. Overall it’s been a great six years. It wasn’t a perfect six years. It’s been one hell of a rollercoaster for this and that reasons. But I’m still in love with her as much as the days before we were married, and I feel some measure of pride over the life we’ve built. For that I am very grateful to the Almighty for His joys, including the one known as Irfan Shafiq. There is probably many more years of riding this rollercoaster, but I hope we’ve learnt much and matured enough to allow us to determine what’s important in life, endure the ride and make the right decisions. [[image:anniv2006.jpg:Happy Sixth Anniversary To Us:center:0]]
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Exactly Four Years Ago Today…
… Irfan Shafiq was born just before 5 p.m. in the maternity ward at Kuala Lumpur Hospital. He caused his mother to be stuck at the hospital for almost 12 hours before finally decided it was time to pop out. I was right there with Ain when he popped out. When the nurse handed him to me he gave me his best “Hey… can you tell me what the heck’s going on around here” look. Atok and Opah arrived from Sitiawan today to celebrate the occasion with Irfan, after which Opah made nasi ayam for dinner. There was cake with candles (a hit with Irfan for some reason) and the photos were taken by Atok. We had dinner when Mak Long and Ayah Long came a-calling. I noticed that Irfan was sleepy by 8pm but he fought his drooping eyes until it was after 11pm, because of the occasion. I […]
Continue readingMakan Angin Puerto Rico Bab 4
OK So I realize it’s been weeks since we went to Puerto Rico, but work is pretty crazy busy lately and I haven’t been able to finish my final Bab of Makan Angin Puerto Rico. In fact I was planning to write this blog in Malay and publish it on August 31st (Malaysia’s Independence Day). Since I have missed that deadline, I will just go ahead and write the entry in English so as not to show the world that my Bahasa Malaysia (or is it Bahasa Melayu now?) has really gone down the drain since secondary school. This entry is a bit more random and rambly than usual. Sorry! One of the places that was close to our hotel was an old fort called San Geronimo and I went for a walk to see if I could explore it. I could see it from our balcony even! [[image:pr60.jpg:San Geronimo:center:0]] […]
Continue readingKachow!
After months of using other vehicles as substitute of Lightning McQueen from his favourite movie when playing with his toys, Irfan will finally get the real deal thanks to his Atok & Opah. Atok took these pictures and emailed them to us and Irfan was really excited looking at them. (So I’m told, cause I was wiped out before 9 pm thanks to the fever I was wracked with last night.) He’s already got Mater and Snot Rod Rip Stick Racer toys in his collection. I guess Irfan can’t wait to go to Sitiawan and get his hands on it. [[image:kachow1.jpg:Lightning McQueen:center:0]] [[image:kachow2.jpg:Lightning McQueen:center:0]] This is the 300th entry for this weblog, by the way.
Continue readingMakan Angin Puerto Rico Bab 3
Continuing our adventures in Puerto Rico. After our late night of kayaking and swimming in the bioluminescent Las Croabas lagoon, we had our late night feast and collapsed into bed. Unfortunately we had to get up pretty early to have a good breakfast before we head to catch the bus for the El Yunque rainforest tour. Our tour guide/bus driver’s name was Jesus (hay-soos) a.k.a. Chipi (seriously, this was his nickname, he said). It was a 45 minute drive to El Yunque. After Chipi made sure everybody who had signed up for the tour was on the bus, we set off. 2 of the guests were from Mexico (I think), so we had a bilingual English-Spanish tour, which was fun. On the way there, Chipi pointed out that the part of the sea that we were looking at was the Puerto Rico Trench. It is one of the deepest trenches […]
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Abang Long’s Wedding
Last weekend we were back in Sitiawan where Abang Long, the second cousin of Sila and I, had his wedding in Kampung Permatang. The bunga manggar above marks the occasion of a wedding at the house. The pelamin in Wan Alang’s living room, where the bride and groom will sit. Later when they were sitting there I was unable to see anything or take any pictures because of the crowd. The grand meal set up for the groom, the bride and the bride’s family. Some tasty stuff there. The official photographer and his assistant stands by for the occasion. The guests flood in and Abang Long’s younger brother Abang Ngah greets them and directs them to the dining tents behind him where the buffet was served. Irfan and his Pak Cu Hazwan await in the shade. For some reason on three separate occasions, people thought Hazwan was my son. Suddenly, […]
Continue readingMakan Angin Puerto Rico Bab 2
Now that we’ve covered the hotel we stayed at in Puerto Rico, we can move on to the activities. We planned to do 3 different activities: * Night-time kayaking at a bioluminescent bay * El Yunque Rainforest * Walk around old San Juan Because we ran out of time and decided to take it easy and relax rather than push the activities for the 3 days we were there, we skipped the walk around old San Juan (a reason to go back and visit Puerto Rico!). But we did do the first 2 things on our list. Saturday morning dawned a bit foggy and it rained on and off throughout the day. [[image:pr34.jpg:Rainy morning:center:0]] * Side note on the view from our balcony – our shuttle bus driver from the airport informed us that Karl Wallenda of the Flying Wallendas died while performing a sky-walk across those 2 buildings. It’s […]
Continue readingMakan Angin Puerto Rico Bab 1
Now that I travel so much less for work, I have the desire to travel for pleasure – or as we say in Malaysia “makan angin” (literally “eat air”). So a couple of weeks ago, Vin and I went to San Juan, Puerto Rico for a long weekend. We left on Friday very early morning and got home again on Monday evening and stayed in Puerto Rico for only 3 nights. I must say, it was a very convenient trip, especially for East Coasters – it was about 4-5 hours flying time (shorter than going to Hawaii) and you stay in the same time zone so there’s no time funkiness to contend with. Travelocity had a really good deal for flight+hotel stay that ended up being only slightly dearer than just the round trip flight to Florida for that weekend. And, best of all, Puerto Rico is in the Caribbean […]
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Irfan Gets a Haircut
Today I acquired the means to extract the photos in my cell phone, which have been percolating in its memory for almost two months. Some time last month, we took Irfan for a haircut at the barber’s. It was the third time for him at the place, if I remember right. He never goes first. I have to have my hair cut before him. But when he sits in the chair, he’s one docile kid, peering intently at his own reflection in the mirror as his locks come off.
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