Happy Birthday

My granddad would've turned 90 today. Unfortunately he died only months before his 80th birthday that he had been looking forward to so much. 

Today we left some flowers, to remember him and his birthday. 

He didn't get to meet Lucas unfortunately, but at least I had just been in Sweden that summer, and I had just shared the baby news with him. 

He wasn't so much looking forward to becoming a "Gammelmorfar" (=Great-Granddad) as he was looking forward to my Mum becoming a Grandma! :D

Even though I miss them, I feel very blessed I got to keep all my grandparents until I was an adult.

What a bonus!

At least there was something good with having to stay over at Heathrow this time - we got to see Granddad!

Bruce was operating up from Mumbai on Friday, scheduled to arrive just in time for dinner. We kept a close eye on his flight on the iPads, and we think we spotted him through the window when he landed:


Then we had to wait for him to arrive. Very cleverly his cabin crew was actually staying in our hotel so he could catch their bus and come straight to us!

We had a quick dinner together in the hotel, the kids got lovely Indian gifts and told Granddad everything about what's been going on lately.


Although, they withered quickly, and soon Linnea was asleep at the table and Lucas under it... Still slightly jet lagged...

The biggest surprise

A couple of weeks ago my Mum and Dad told me, with only a few days notice, that they were off on a quick trip to Rome! Ok..?! Well, yes they said, they were going to Italy to celebrate that they had been together for 40 years!
Naw, how nice!
I would say it's rather unlike them to be all adventurous, so quite surprising but really lovely that they picked a destination where they had never been.

Well, if that wasn't surprising enough - imagine my reaction when I got a message about 11.20pm (there's a 12h time difference between us at the moment) the same day they were off to Rome, that they had just been to the City Hall to get MARRIED!!!
My parents!! After 40 years together!
How lovely is that?! What an amazingly beautiful way of celebrating their life together!

I'm so, so happy for them and get all warm and happy every time I look at this photo! Love you! Congratulations!!!

Bye bye ♥

It's big departure day today. The Whites have left already for the airport and their flight back home to Aberdeen, via Singapore and London. We are off in just a short while too, on our usual Dubai-London flight - then onwards to Sweden and Denmark.

It's been a fantastic month with the family. I'm really glad the kids got this opportunity to really get to know their cousins, so that they now really feel they are family and not just like they have some distant relatives up in Scotland.
The kids have had a fantastic time together and I must say I've been surprised at how few arguments we've actually had. It's been so smooth, most of the time (apart from the discussions about who sits where in the car...) - really enjoyable, and really easy-going.



Personally, I thought a month was going to feel like a very long time (well it is, with anyone in your house!) but it has gone by far too fast! I've enjoyed our little "collective", and having someone to hang with every day; going for lunches, doing some shopping together and just have someone to watch TV with and chit-chat with over dinner.

I'm glad our families have had this time together - I'm already looking forward to next time we'll meet. Hopefully it will be in Scotland, a lot sooner than in another three years!
♥

Pork rice

After our ATV adventure at Tutong Beach the other day it was time for lunch so we decided to go somewhere local in Tutong since we were all really hungry. I have never really been down that way, but Nathan knew this Chinese place that served 'pork rice', where he and his biking mates stop in sometimes.

Your usual Chinese I guess, not the fanciest decor - but food was good!



Ha ha, can you spot what it says on the signs behind me..?



Well, if you were in doubt, it's some eating rules:



While we waited for the food, we amused ourselves with taking (lots of) pictures!











Mmm, food wasn't only very tasty, it was cheap too! We paid about $4 each for lunch, and that included our soft drinks! :)

Don't spray me, will'ya!

One of our kids all time favourite things to do, is playing with the garden hose outside. The other day Lucas convinced Liam to strip off and come out and join him in the play - little did Liam know what he was in for..!

Ready to rock!

Uncle Nathan took the boys for some haircuts yesterday. Lucas needed to get ready for his holiday and Liam for his return home.
Both of the boys got very cool hair styles with lots of spikey hair going in all directions. They looked very cool!

Girl's play

The age difference between Caitlin and Linnea has shown a bit this time around (5 years) and at times it has been a bit difficult for them to find some common ground, play wise. The last few days though they have happily been beading and been playing with Barbies together, and yesterday Auntie Nikki got treated to a visit to their lovely restaurant:



The table was set beautifully and they had quite an extensive menu!



The chef worked hard in the kitchen!

Action Day!

Yesterday surely was a fun filled day, full of action!
We started by going on a little roadtrip down to Tutong to check out these ATVs I've heard about. (Turned out the ones we should have done were up here at TUNGKU Beach, but hey...) We did find some in Tutong as well, and the kids got to ride them for a bit down at the beach.
A quick litte snip of instruction from the guys at the rental, a word of caution from the parents and...





... Off they go!



Liam and Caitlin has one of their own back in Aberdeen so they knew what to do; Linnea went with Nathan, and Lucas - well, he did his thing. Although he seemed to think he was in bumper cars most of the time we had no accidents, apart from Liam falling off (softly!) when he tried to turn to sharply.




They were only on for 15 minutes. We were considering extending for another 15 minutes, but at the end of their ride they were already all getting a bit cocky, so we thought better stop while it was still all good! Might go back again at another time, it was good fun!





And the Mamarazzis walked the beach up and down, to get all these cool photos!



Group photos:

Jungle trekking at it's best

After our action filled morning, the afternoon continued a bit in the same theme, but this time we took the kids to the jungle. It was time for the Kids Hash!
Auntie Nikki didn't feel well so it was just us and the kids, who didn't quite know what they were in for. A group photo at the start...



Then off we went into the jungle! They had laid two runs today and we opted for the longer one, which turned out in our case to be - a really long one... It took us nearly an hour to get out!! New record I think! :)



We took it easy as the White kids had never tried this before and weren't really used to jungle walking. Plus there was a lot to look at and experience, and we were in no rush at all.



After a while we had to conquer a big hill. Linnea and Daddy were racing to the top, the rest of us just went slow and steady!



Liam fell behind a bit, he couldn't find "any safe thing to hold on to"... So Lucas went back to get him!



It really was a bit of a hike today's hash! Lots of wet and grubby, lots of mud; a few hills and up and down over sticks and stones!
Poor Lucas had to go in his Crocs as his hash shoes fell apart just as we were setting off, not the optimal choice. We even had to go back on a rescue mission for one of them that had got trapped in a big mud pool!



They did really well all of them, little troopers. Especially Liam had trouble with the terrain because he was doing in it in his sneakers, which had no grip at all. He kept sliding and slipping and falling over. Never one to complain though!



Lucas getting a helping push - and Liam getting a helping hand:



After this the photographing abruptly stopped as Caitlin was stung (or got caught on a thorn, we're not quite sure) along the path. There was a lot of tears and crying, probably even more pain and fear - but not much we could do in the middle of the jungle, so she got ordered to "Just keep walking!!", which wasn't received very well...
Finally we made it out, and some first-aid was applied to what we first thought was a red ant bite but in the end it actually looked more like a thorn cut. It got better eventually, thank god.

So here they are, back at the tent, and after the tears had stopped - all smiles again! Some water and a couple of hot dogs did the trick - and a very cute puppy also helped as distraction.
They should be very proud of themselves, it was a big trek through the Bornean jungle!