Guys, I went on a hike with the little ones this week. This is big for me.
I didn't hike by myself—I went with a local hiking group of parents with children; but the last couple of months, I've had a lot of anxiety about going out by myself with the little ones. I don't know why, but it's so different now than when it was with my older two kids. I'm not sure if it's because I was younger, more energetic and more patient; or because we went through a pandemic and my two-year old is currently going through the "terrible twos." (Case in point: When we arrived at the meetup site, he was crying and not only slapped my face, but then punched it. What a great first impression. I almost went back to the car to go home. Maybe try again next time.) Since IJ was born, I became accustomed to having the older two kids and my hubby help me whenever we go out. I would schedule my days based around their schedules, so I could take only IJ with me or have someone join me on my errands. This week, though, I decided that I was going to start taking the little ones on more outings—like to the park, library and grocery store—without the boys.
"Mind over matter." It's what I have to tell myself when I think something is too difficult. I decided if all these other moms could be here with their little ones, I could do it, too. LJ finally decided to participate with the group, and we started hiking towards the falls. Although, we trailed at the end of the group as he was more interested in picking up sticks and hitting the leaves and ground with them. At times, I would have to carry him because I felt pressured to catch up with the rest of the group. However, during one of the times that he decided to look for more sticks or rocks, I just so happened to look to my right, and I could see a beautiful view of the mountains.
It was a breathtaking moment to see the clouds over the mountains with all the lush greenery surrounding it. I was so focused on trying to reach the destination that I wasn't enjoying the journey. Afterwards, we enjoyed the hike at his pace, and we eventually joined everyone at Likeke Falls. (There were times, though, where I had to carry him because of the bigger, muddier steps—it rained while we were hiking to the falls, and he would put his whole body on a step to try and hoist himself up. We had so much mud on our clothes and shoes when we returned to the car.)
Since it just rained, we were able to enjoy more water gushing down the two-tiered waterfall. The kids and I stayed at the lower pool, and LJ enjoyed trying to skip stones (I constantly had to teach him which sizes were appropriate to throw and where to throw them. 😅 )
So that we weren't holding the group back on the hike, we decided to head back a few minutes before everyone else. Surprisingly, LJ was a lot faster at walking back to the car than he was to the falls. He still stopped to pick up sticks and climbed up some trees, but I felt like there was less coaxing on my part for him to walk with everyone. Since it rained, though, the trail was muddier and more slippery. Since most of the hike back is downhill, I walked with caution since I was babywearing IJ and carrying LJ at times.
I didn't take many photos during the hike as I was focused on making sure the kids and I didn't slip on mud, but I did remember to look out at the same viewpoint as I did earlier in the hike. What a difference an hour made—the clouds moved, and I could see more of the peaks of the mountains. It made for a great ending to our adventure. I am so glad we decided to stay and participate in the group hike. Slowly, my anxiety of going out with the littles by myself is going away. It helps to have play dates or meetups with other families who enjoy exploring this beautiful island!
Note: The trailhead for this hike begins within the grounds of the First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu at Ko'olau. Although, it used to be Ko'olau Golf Club (closed in 2020), the Ko'olau Ballrooms & Conference Center shares the same address. When you enter the grounds, you'll drive straight to the porte-cochère (the covered driveway entrance). There will be a parking attendant, and (at the time of this article) it costs $10 to park your vehicle. (There are no kāma'aina/military discounts.)
LIKEKE FALLS
Trailhead Location: First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu at Ko'olau, 45-550 Konaole Rd, Kāne'ohe, HI 96744
When we drove to Owen Beach the other day, we noticed that there was a zoo at Point Defiance Park, too; so I thought it would be a great place to take the kids while the hubby was working during the week. We visited Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium one morning, but many of the animals seemed to be sleeping while we were there. I guess it was nap time for almost everyone since CJ was napping, too. TJ, however, was so excited to see all the animals. We walked all over the park searching for them. It's not an overreached expectation from him since it is a zoo, so I felt terrible when they were sleeping or in hiding.
These Sumatran tiger cubs were only 4 months old when we went to visit.
These siamangs were climbing all over the place.
I wish I took an overview photo of the North Pacific Aquarium. It's this huge tank that looks like a shipwreck in the Puget Sound.
Tube Anemone
TJ trying to peak over and see the fish.
Can you spot the seahorse?
He could watch the seals swimming all day.
Watching the walruses swim around and around.
Right before we left, I took one look back and saw Mt. Rainier, so I had to take a photo!
The best part of our time at the zoo was when TJ and CJ were touching sea life at the Marine Discovery Center and playing at the Kids' Zone, which was our last stop of the day. I loved that I decided to live in the moment with my kids instead of trying to capture it for once. Guess you'll have to visit the zoo to see what it looked like!
We finally left Seattle and headed south for Tacoma. We looked at a local map and saw the word, beach, so that was our destination of the day. While we were on our way to Owen Beach, we drove through Ruston Way, a waterfront with great views of Commencement Bay, Mt. Rainier, Vashon-Maury Island, and Tacoma.
Now, I think if the pole wasn't in this shot, it would be better! Oh, well, that's what I get for snapping as we're driving.
Can you spot Mt. Rainier in this photo?
Views from Marine Park
The gorgeous views would give me motivation to run walk two miles a day.
Vashon-Maury Island
After we drove through Ruston Way, we headed for Owen Beach.
Chinatown-International District, Seattle, WA, USA
Little did we know at the time, but this would be the first of many traditional Chinese gates that we would come across when we moved to Japan the next day. (There are many standing at the entrances of Chinatown in Yokohama.) This 45' archway is a beautiful entrance to the city, and the one picture we have of it doesn't do it justice. I really like the details that went into making it, such as the color red for happiness and good fortune and the orb at the top, which is a fireball from heaven symbolizing good luck. Dragons and phoenixes were used in the design to keep bad luck away and welcome a good flow of air. Across the street from the gate, there's also a dragon wrapped around a light pole to keep a close eye on the neighborhood. It's all in the details!
Animals and fish seem to be the best entertainments for toddlers. Perhaps that's why I seem to find every zoo and aquarium in every city that we visit. While we were in Seattle, we decided to visit Woodland Park Zoo. It was a beautiful, sunny day to visit the zoo, but I guess everyone else in the city thought so, too. It took us 40 minutes just to find parking (despite their FIVE parking lots), and I didn't have any luck with searching the neighborhoods for parking either. Luckily, the zoo is pretty big, so at least it didn't feel too crowded as we explored around. Actually, on second thought, it was packed. Don't visit the zoo on Sunday unless you don't mind inching your way to the front in to see every animal. Here are a few animals that we found while we were there!
Jaguar cub
Keel-Billed Toucans
Western Lowland Gorillas
Reticulated Giraffe
Plain Zebras
Woodland Park Zoo
Hours: May - Sept (9:30 am - 6:00 pm); Oct - Apr (9:30 am - 5:00 pm)
Now that the kids were older (TJ, 2, and CJ, 8 months, at the time), The Children's Museum, located in the Seattle Center, seemed like the perfect place to take them. It was the first children's museum that we have ever visited, and I was surprised to see how great it was. I almost wished we lived in Seattle so that we could take the kids here all year round. While we were there, we spent most of our time at the Discovery Bay, a safe place for little ones to touch and play.
It's a blurry photo, but TJ had fun sliding through the whale's mouth.
The toddlers had a great time playing with these stairs.
CJ loved looking at the fish.
He enjoyed making silly faces at himself.
It is always NICE when the kids play together so well.
The table finally freed up, so the kids ran over to play with it.
He kept saying, "Whee!" as he moved the objects around.
He loved pretending he was the driving our family through the neighborhood.
There are so many different exhibits for kids of all ages. We were worn out with just the few we visited!
We needed some time to rest after The Children's Museum, but our next stop is Woodland Park Zoo.
The Children's Museum
Hours: Monday - Friday (10:00 am - 5:00 pm), Saturday - Sunday (10:00 am - 6:00 pm)
Admission: Adults & Children: $7.50 / Grandparents: $6.50 / Military: $6.00 / Groups of 10+: $6.00 / <12 months: FREE
Instead of taking the Seattle Center Monorail from Westlake Center Mall, we decided to walk to the Seattle Center from Steinbrueck Park. It was a 20-minute walk; and if we hadn't walked, then we wouldn't have come across this interesting car.
We finally made it to the Seattle Center! Taking a quick photo in front of the Space Needle, which is 605' tall. I bet the views from the observatory are amazing, but we decided to take the kids to the Children's Museum instead.
While CJ napped, we watched the water show at the International Fountain. TJ especially loved watching it up-close at the bottom of the bowl. (Fun fact: Did you know that its probably the water is recycled and undergoes three types of treatment before it reaches the public? Now I don't have to feel so bad when my kid tries to catch the water with his mouth.)
After we grabbed Starbucks, we walked to Steinbrueck Park, which is just north of Pike Place Market, to get a better view of Elliott Bay. We headed for the picnic tables since it was less crowded (and didn't smell like weed). TJ took this opportunity to climb the tables for a better view.
View of Downtown Seattle on the other side of the park.
It was pretty quiet while we were there, so we headed to the Seattle Center.
For most people, the first thing that probably comes to mind when they think of Seattle is the Space Needle or maybe even Sleepless in Seattle. For my hubby and me, it's the Home of Starbucks. To say we are coffee lovers is an understatement. My hubby loved Starbucks so much, he became a barista (despite my protests that drinking Starbucks coffee isn't the same as serving Starbucks coffee) while we were in college. After a couple of months of cranky people ordering a nonfat, extra hot, grande mocha latte with a half-shot of espresso and no foam (we get it, you can't function until you've had your first cup of the day just right, but, really, let's be nice to the people who are serving you your oh-so-complicated-order) and insisting that the order is not correct, working at Starbucks wasn't as much fun as he originally thought it was going to be. Nevertheless, it was great for me to study at Starbucks while he worked as he started making his own concoctions, which I gladly tested!
So, of course, we had to make the pilgrimage to the first Starbucks store while we were in Seattle! Conveniently located across the street from Pike Place Market, we didn't have to go far to find it. It was tinier than I expected, and every time we have visited, there's always a long line of people. (Which is probably why we haven't taken any pictures since our first family visit.)
Getting coffee from the first Starbucks store: Check!
Right now, I miss Washington. The last few years, we've taken trips to Washington for the hubby's work. This year, though, the kids and I didn't join him. Mostly because I didn't want to deal with the jet lag—I have horrible jet lag whenever I go east, and it takes about 3-4 days for me to recover. What's worse than dealing with jet lag? Dealing with kids and no help while you're jet lagged. Not that my hubby isn't helpful; but when he's gone for work, it's just me and the kids. So while he's away, I think I'll reminisce about our previous trips to Washington (breaking down each location with a different post so I don't have one extremely long post)!
Whenever we're in Seattle, we tend to visit Pike Place Market first. When I first visited Seattle for my work in 2007, it was highly recommended to me to visit the farmers market because I could watch some cool fish tossing. That's right, the fishmongers at Pike Place Fish Market toss fish to each other when a customer has placed an order. It's pretty fun to watch; so when we made our first visit to Seattle as a family, I took us here first.
Do you see the blurred object in the middle right of the picture? That's the fish flying! And don't worry, a guy popped up behind the counter to catch it!
There's a lot of great produce, seafood, flowers, artwork, and local foods to buy! (Although, for a farmers market, the food is pretty expensive; and I was a bit surprised to see that some of fruit was imported from California! No wonder some of them were more expensive—they're not local.) My absolute favorite item to purchase here is the raspberry pepper jelly from Woodring Northwest. Mmm...Pepper jelly on top of brie sounds so good right now! (Trust me, I tested practically every pepper jelly sample from every vendor that sold them, and Woodring's had the best.)
We probably should try a new restaurant whenever we visit Pike Place Market, but we usually find ourselves dining at Lowell's. If you can't tell by now, we have an affinity for water; so if we can catch a view of the ocean while we're eating, then it's a bonus! Lowell's has three ocean view floors, and we always sit on the third floor giving us great views of Elliott Bay. Plus, their food is delicious!
I was hanging out at Redondo Beach Pier last May when this pelican decided to plop down and rest for a bit on this stand. It was too funny that I had to take a photo!
