Special delivery

Yesterday the kids and I went to the airport for a quick meet up with a friend of ours - Linnea's Godfather Jason!

He was here only for a quick turnaround, as he flew in some special cargo from Singapore; and us too we had a special delivery to pass to him - all our Lego Duplo!

It's nice when you are getting rid of things, when they go to someone you know. Our kids have had so much fun with that Lego Duplo, and now Wataru and Erina will too!
It made a lot of noise in the arrival hall when we poured the Lego over from our suitcase into his big bag, ha ha.

Close enough

We were back at the Yacht Club on Sunday for the first time in a long time. Nathan and I spent the afternoon relaxing by the pool, and the kids were playing with friends.
At one stage Lucas comes and tells us, very excited: "There is SWEDISH people on the beach!!" I asked him, doubtfully, if he was sure and he said: "Yes! I understand what they are saying!" Ok then, I thought I'd better go and investigate!

Well, it took me 2 seconds to establish that these (yes, very Scandinavian looking) new people came from - Norway! Close enough! (I was impressed Lucas had understood them though!)
We had a big, big chat. Turned out they had come on two boats, both currently on an around-the-world sailing adventure. One boat housed a family of four who had been out already for three years and the other, two girls who had been out nearly two - both of them planning to return to Norway by next August. Respect.

As they were going to stay for another few days at the Yacht Club I invited them along to last night's Hash, and they also brought a Danish girl, who sailed on another yacht with her Kiwi boyfriend!

It was a great night at the Hash, and my guests thoroughly enjoyed themselves! The run was great, nice jungle, a bit of a view and good trails, perfect for first time hashers. The after was Canada Day Run, so we all got Canadian gifts from Kim, Canadian food and Canadian desserts (Nanaimo bars, mmm!); and we also had all the usual happenings of course.

(Thank you Lotika, for these photos!)

The girls were impressed about how our Hash happens like this, with a tent, table, chairs, dinner etc  every week; and they also kept gushing about how friendly and nice everyone was. They really had a good time, which was lovely!

When I took them back to the Yacht Club after, we finished off the evening with a coffee and a bit of a chat. I didn't get home until about 11pm - check me out, I've never come back from the Hash that late! 
It was so interesting to hear their stories from their sailing adventures, and nice just to chat with some fellow Scandinavians, it had been a while! It truly was a great evening and I'm very happy to have met these really nice people.

If you are curious about these guys, about where they have been sailing etc, you can check out their web pages! Here you can read about the Norwegian family sailing on 'Hero'; here is the homepage from the two Norwegian girls on board 'Flow' and this is the Danish girl's blog about life on 'SY Sophia'. Enjoy.

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! :)

Pavlova perfection

Pavlova is a very traditional NZ dessert, and since I met Nathan I've had quite a few of them as desserts through the years. Our friend Tash here makes a really good Pav, and so does Misuzu actually - even though she's only Kiwi by proxy, like me!

Nikki did us a Pav for the last Creative Crew lunch, and we also had one for dinner one night. Since I mastered the 'Bacon&Egg Pie' last time Yvonne was here, I thought this time it was about time to learn how to do the Pav!

Step 1, Beating the egg whites, whilst adding the sugar a litte bit at a time. I had a very good helper for this!





Step 2, Adding the vanilla extract and the vinegar. Important to measure exactly.



Step 3, Spooning it out to make it round, and high! Into the oven it goes.



And - ta-daaa, here's the finished result! Pretty nice if I might say so myself!
Lucas had requested a chocolate one, so we mixed a bit of cocoa powder in the meringue and sprinkled chocolate chips over it. It was just as yummy as it looks!



The proud chef and the masterpiece:



Everybody who likes the Pavlova, hands up!

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..!

Junior Master Chefs

Another place we made sure we visited for lunch this time around, just like last time, was the "make-your-own-pizza" restaurant. Always a success!



Turns out the appetite apparently is bigger, when you have been part of cooking the food yourself!



Having an ice cream afterwards at Dairy Queen just made that day a perfect day!

Koruman Island

A day boating

Today we've had an absolutely fabulous day!
Andrew took us all out on his boat (since the 'Moneypit' still is inoperable, of course...) around to the Spit and to the islands. The kids had a blast, both in the water and on the boat. They all liked laying at the front getting tossed around by the chopping waves!

The crew. The kids at the front:



The boys at the back (well, and Linnea!):



The girls in the sun!



Linnea was helping the Captain!



First we anchored at the Spit. The kids were a bit hesitant about swimming in the sea to start with but quickly found it wasn't all that bad and then we could hardly get them out again! They just loved it, the sand, the sea and the waves!









Then we continued out to the Koruman Island where we swam a bit more, and collected sea shells and pumice. Beautiful stretch of beach..!



The snorkels were popular!





For some it was a bit much though..!







A gorgeous day out on the sea! Thank you Andrew for taking us out!
But, now we are all suffering the consequences a bit... As Nathan said: "We have one deep fried, one well-done, one medium rare and one just right!" :)
A little bit of "glow" going on here tonight one might say!