Window shopping

With less than two months left until we're off back to Scandinavia - I'm starting to plan everything we're going to do, and everything I'm going to... shop! I can't wait!

I have a new addiction at the moment; almost every day I spend ages indulging in some modern day window shopping - browsing endless online shops, and dreaming about all the nice summer wear I will soon have access to, in real life! Aaahhh... I really can't wait!



It's so much nicer shopping-wise to travel to places where summer is in season (during our trip to NZ all the autumn clothes started to get displayed instead...) and you can get lots of choice and inspiration.
Did I mention I can't wait?

I wish

The last two days I have been awake before the alarm, and yesterday when I got downstairs I got met by Linnea who was all ready and told me:

- Good Morning Mummy, I have had my breakfast, got dressed, brushed my teeth, AND I'm up to number 4 on the hop-scotch!

Needless to say, we were the first car in the car park at school and the kids got a looong playtime before the bell went! I wish every morning was like that!

Cheers!

Yup, it works! we enjoyed our first drink at our bar this afternoon:



It will be tested more thoroughly tomorrow night!

Relaxation Station

Today I made one of my better impulse purchases; it was a big one, and I'm very pleased!



My reading corner is no more (at least not downstairs), instead we have now got this very cool bamboo bar in our living room! A new kind of 'Relaxation Station'!
(My beautiful, comfy red reading chair got a new home in the master bedroom where it suits really well, it makes our totally oversized bedroom a bit more cosy.)



We bought this bar off one of the many families due to leave this summer. (One of the good things with the fast rotation of people here, you can really get some bargains when they go!)
It was a quick buy as I only saw the advert this morning and emailed straight away to get some photos. We've been pretty particular in our search for a bar since we wanted one that was a bit different to all the teak bars here. So a few minutes later when the photos came swoshing into my inbox I made my decision on the spot - yes, we'll have it!

We picked it up just a few hours after that and we are so happy with how it fit into our home! We are now planning for the big inauguration party!
To be continued.

Lerbörk *

Don't you just love when your little ones come home with their school work, and it's all still written mostly phonetically! Check this out, this is one of Linnea's latest ones, do you understand it all? (Answers below the picture)



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What to bring on a boat trip:
Watermelon, sweets, crisps, towel, pizza, buns and donuts! Obvious!

(* 'Lerbörk' was on my phonetic wish list one year at about the same age; my parents still have it somewhere. I had made it for my great-grandma and she had no trouble getting my writing, she just read it all out loud!
By the way, it means 'pot of play-doh' and should be written 'lerburk'.)

PSP Play date

Over the weekend Lucas had his friend Daniel here for a play date, but they didn't do much playing really, not the old-fashioned kind anyway..!
Daniel had brought his PSP and they connected up and played games together on each their console. They had a blast!

Join the party!

This morning I went along to a super fun special happening at the Empire - a Zumbathon! A 'Zumbathon' is an extra long Zumba session. In our case we did it for two hours straight.
It was so much fun!! Like having a party!





There was about 40 of us dancing about and shaking our booties at the badminton court; catchy music, spot prizes, lots of laughs and fab atmosphere.

I didn't want to stop! Check me out! "Shake it, shake it"! :)





Zumba - "Ditch the workout, join the party!"

Old technologies

Yesterday it was time for yet another school excursion, this time for Lucas' year group, and I came along of course!
We went to the Malay Technology Museum in Kota Batu, a museum that exhibits various types of traditional technologies used by the indigenous people of Brunei. I hadn't been before, so I looked forward to doing a bit of sightseeing.

The kids got separated into groups and each group got paired with an adult helper. We then visited the three different galleries to have a look at all the exhibits, and also to complete some worksheets they had been given.
In the first gallery they were supposed to draw pictures of some of the different handicraft they saw, and also write down what the things were made of, and by whom.



A crab catcher:





In the second gallery we saw some models of traditional houses found in Kampong Ayer (the water village). The children were supposed to find differences and similarities between the olden days houses and the ones we find there today.



Lastly, we were shown some of the traditional technologies of the Kampong Ayer, like boat-making, cloth-weaving etc.





My group:



Then it was time for a snack outside:







It rained heavily all yesterday morning and even though it luckily had stopped when it was time for our snack, the mist was still laying low over the river. It was really beautiful:





Lucas seemed to enjoy himself a lot, and when I picked him up from school later in the afternoon, he asked if we could go back there again and visit some more! Because "there was just so much to see!". :)
I don't know, once might just be enough for me, but I sure had a very nice morning with Lucas and his little friends!

Pizza Party

Anna and I laid the Hash this week. We had decided to recycle the run from last November, that got completely rained out in a torrential downpour.
Last week when we had planned to go in and rekkie, we had to reschedule several times due to heavy rain, and we almost started to think this Hash was cursed!

Finally did manage to rekkie it one afternoon (and by the way, I'm amazed how much the jungle actually change in six months - we were lucky to find our way around again!) and then we crossed our fingers all Monday and Tuesday for no more rain.
It worked!
Tuesday turned out to be a glorious day, and everything went fabulously, the front runners came out in just under 50 minutes.

Getting our down-down as hares:







This time we took the easy option and actually ordered in some catering - pizza!
We have had lots of different food on all the 100 plus hashes I've run, but never pizza so far.





It was great, a pizza bash at the Hash! Just what you feel like after a nice, long jungle run! Needless to say, the pizza slices flew out of the boxes really fast! :)

My Mother's Day 2011

We had a bit of trouble deciding on what to do with today. Really I would've like to go back to the Empire just like last year, for their High Tea - because this weekend it was themed 'Chocolate High Tea'. Mmm!

But, to get a nice and peaceful Mothers Day, we decided instead on the trusty Yacht Club. Somehow there isn't as much pressure on the children there to be quiet and still...
Actually, we arrived about lunch time, didn't leave until after dinner - and didn't really see the kids at any stage in between! (Well, we kept an eye on them, of course, but they didn't need us for anything, they very busy playing with their friends!) The day was spent with swimming, playing in the sand, jumping in the pool, playing rugby and running around for some - and reading a book for others.

Indeed it was a very relaxing Mothers Day! Lovely!



I'm a very lucky mother to these two, today and every day!

Lucas' take on Mother's Day

And here we have Lucas' take on Mother's Day:


'Mum is really kind.
On the weekend we play together.
The most beautiful mum ever.
Her rings are so pretty.
Everyday I love you.
Remember that I'll always love you.'

Naaaw! Love it! ♥

Water for elephants

One of the girls from my Book Club took a great initiative this week and organized a little movie outing for those interested. In the end there was 12 of us girls going, and we had a great evening.
We went to see the movie "Water for elephants", based on a book by the same title, that most of them had read. Although I hadn't read this book I decided to come along - a movie night is always fun!

When they told me the movie (/book) was called "Water for elephants", I thought it was going to be a movie along the lines of "Out of Africa" or something similar, set in the savannah, about wild animals maybe?
Well, I got positively surprised just before we went into the cinema when someone told me it was all about circus life.
As a former circus child, I got super excited - and I can tell you, the movie didn't let me down! It was magical!



I probably would have done a different casting with some less famous main actors, to make the story shine more, but that's just my opinion. (Plus, I thought these two had lousy "on-screen chemistry"...).
A part from that I so enjoyed how they depicted the whole circus setting. Even though it was set in the 1930s, there was a lot of things that were familiar to me. The cinematography and the costumes were really amazing - as was the third main actor, the elephant!
It was for sure a movie worth going to see, and I'm going to find myself the book and read that as well. The book is always better, no?

Busted!

Linnea had made this beautiful Mother's Day card for me in school today.



I couldn't help but laugh out loud when I read the inside..:


'My mum love my (me). She love shoping and ie (I) love shoping. I love my mum so much. Love Linnea.'

Well, best start them early!

Swimming Gala 2011

Today it was the yearly Swimming Gala at JIS. An event Lucas has been dreading for the past couple of weeks, and these last few days he has even had trouble falling to sleep at night, being so worried.
He still vividly remembers last year when he came last in his first heat, and then totally refused even trying in the second heat... Since then we have talked a lot about participating, having fun, trying your best etc etc. He wasn't all convinced, and showed up looking a bit worried at first.

Well... I'm happy to tell you he won both of his heats!!
Understanding heats is not easy though, but the fact that he didn't get a medal for being the overall 1,2 or 3 in his year group didn't really bother him luckily - he was on top of the world having swam the fastest! Self-confidence restored!

Linnea started out by crying herself through the first 25m race she did. She got water in her goggles, and I think it all became a bit much since she was in the first heat. After that she was fine, swam nicely, was really happy and even won her backstroke heat!
Well, the Reception kids actually all got ribbons - but she knows she won..!

Here's a slide show of this mornings event:

Life is a beach

Yesterday it was Linnea's turn to go to the beach, the same trip Lucas did when he was in Reception. Nathan went along, together with a bunch of other parents, to help out.
They seemed to have had a fab morning!
Linnea told me that she had eaten snack, and had a cold drink, and been digging for treasures, and eaten BBQ and gone swimming in the pool (?) - which we later cleared up, was the sea... of course.

Here are some of the snapshots Nathan took yesterday:

I wanna party

This term Linnea wanted to do Hip-Hop as an After-School-Activity. They have only had three sessions so far but already they have learned quite an impressive routine.
Here they are at practice yesterday, dancing to one of the songs from the 'Rio' movie soundtrack - "Hot wings (I wanna party)".
Linnea is at the far left, in blue t-shirt and purple trousers.

Comfy much?

The big fat Hash wedding

Of course we didn't let such a big event as a Royal Wedding pass us by at the Hash, last week we celebrated Kate & William tying the knot - Brunei style!

The tent was decorated beautifully:







The groom had not just one, but actually TWO brides!



William & Kate made only a very brief appearance, they were really busy those days up to the wedding...



All the wedding guests had been asked to wear a hat. Here's Sally, Tamsin and I - I chose the Chelsey-look:



Some other members of the congregation:







There was a lot going on last week, we got new t-shirts, you had to look for love-hearts in the jungle to win a prize, the bouquets were tossed for a prize, there was a wedding-quiz where you could win a hamper - but I didn't win any of this unfortunately.



The dinner was classic steak, peas and Yorkshire puds:



And of course we had a wedding cake, yum, yum, yum!





It was a really great evening, well organized by the Hash committee:



So with this hash-tribute, we wish Kate & William a very long and happy marriage!