O tannenbaum!

We put our Christmas tree up before we went to Singapore, but I just realized I hadn't showed it to you yet, so - here it is:



Lucas made so many decorations at Kindy, we couldn't put them all up but let him choose a few favourites. I like the "feel" the homemade decorations give to the tree! Here is the fairy that had to be on the top (well, or near it) of the tree:



And here is a snowman he made:



Now I only hope that I will find a julgransmatta (=tree skirt (?)) at the sales when I come home in January. The tree looks a bit bare without one, especially since I can't put the presents out just yet because of one special little lady who enjoys opening them...

Singapore December 2007

Yes, we did get on the evening flight, luckily. Had to travel Economy but what do you do? ;)
To be quite honest, two days was just fine for us to do what we wanted to do. We didn't do the Zoo as we had planned, because we were short of time; but just concentrated on some Christmas powershopping instead! (I am sure we will be back very soon to do the Zoo, Sentosa Island etc.)

It is not so big, so it is easy to get your bearings and find your way around. We did take a bus tour too as well as buying a good guide book, to try and see as much as possible and get to know the place.
Singapore is really fascinating with lots of sky scrapers and intriguing buildnings. We mostly cruised up and down Orchard Road, and all the malls and shops. This time of year though - this area is really beautiful! All the shops had made huge efforts with their decorations, there was Christmas music playing from everywhere and there was a big light-up all along Orchard Road. This is one of the tallest Christmas trees along there:



Singapore really IS shopping heaven! Especially if you come from Brunei where we don't have much.
Here are the boys in a funny escalator:



It is kind of weird, that there is so much "civilisation", just a short plane ride away from Brunei (about 1h40). ALL the big brands and chains are represented in Singapore and, most importantly - you can get a drink wherever and whenever you want!
Here I am, with a super yummy Strawberry Margaruita before dinner. Lucas took the picture:



Nathan got to have a look at a bike shop, and at lots of different "toys" at the SimLim square (where you buy technical things). He got me a new zoom lens and some other bits for my Canon, jippie, can't wait to try it all out!
Lucas and Linnea got some new little toys from Toys R'Us, and I got to visit a scrapbook shop I had got recommended, and found quite a lot of goodies.
It was great to have a big choice of shops, stores and malls - even if we didn't have the energy to visit them all this time.



We took a free Christmas Light-up Tour on an open-top bus Thursday evening, at it was absolutely magical to see all the lights and decorations.



Friday we went out to IKEA on the way to the airport, and that itself was quite a surreal experience. Kind of like being "at home", but not really. Even though it's IKEA, it has some local flair to it. Like a prayer room, a pump with chili sauce next to the ketchup one and rice and noodles on the menu.



Of course we had dinner there, köttbullar (meatballs), what else? And both the kids went to play in Småland (the playroom at IKEA) but Linnea had enough quite quickly, since they were the only white kids there, and she got followed around by all the other kids who wanted to touch her and play with her...
I got some bits and pieces and most importantly - I got a Pepparkakshus (=gingerbread house, to be constructed), pepparkakor, Swedish candy and glögg (=glühwine). Lucky day!

Here we are at the airport, on our way home. Lucas calls these kind of outfits "airplane clothes" and finds it so funny that he and Daddy dresses the same!


Singapore really was great, and I am already looking forward to going back, soon!

Rosterchange, could happen to anyone

We were supposed to go to Singapore this morning, but the flight was totally overfull, so we couldn't get on.
Too bad.
We will go tonight instead. That will only give us two days in Singapore, but that is better than nothing!

Tomorrow we will probably do the Zoo, and Friday some shopping. All I need a couple of hours to go to IKEA and get some Christmas supplies and I will be happy!

Tuesday Theme 11 December - Kök

The Tuesday theme of today is kök (=kitchen), so here it is, our yummy dinner, IN the kitchen:

River Cruise

Today we inaugurated the kids new life vests and went on a boat safari down the river, from Bandar and out in the jungle. We went with some friends of ours, and it was a super nice morning.
The purpose was to try and see some of the native fauna, and it was a successful trip! (See below)


Here is the boat that took us around. Whoever will come to visit, I promise you we will go on this little trip! :)


Here is Linnea in front of the Sultans Palace, the Istana Nurul Iman. . It's the largest residential palace in the world, with 1788 rooms and 257 toilets (!). Read more about it here.


Linnea and my friend Anna. Anna's mother is here on a visit, hence the reason they were going on this safari, and we could tag along.


Looking for crocodiles and monitor lizards. We saw a lot of big lizards, but only one smaller crocodile. They were pretty hard to spot, they just melted in to the mud on the shore.


On lookout for the Proboscis Monkeys. There was a big pack of them up in the trees, but it was hard for the kids to spot them, and even harder to capture them with the camera. The rest of us saw them though, they were jumping around a lot, and came pretty close. Cool.


(This is not my picture, but this is how they look like.)


The Water Village. Around 30000 people live here, and they are completely self sufficient. They have a police station, medical clinics, mosques, a gas station (for the boats), a fire station, restaurants, a museum and 15 schools!
It is the biggest water village in the world.


On our way back from the river cruise, back in towards Bandar and to see more of the Water Village.


A group photo on the way up into the water village. They took us to visit their house! It was slightly scary to walk on the wooden walkways, they didn't seem too solid... The house was beautiful though, and you didn't have the feeling of being "on water" at all.
It was really exciting to be welcomed in to their house. Quite an experience!

EFIT - Monday 10.12.2007

07.15 Good Morning. Trying to buy some time to snooze on the sofa by turning the tv on to 'Bob the Builder'. It worked for a bit...


08.10 Arriving at the Country Club, for my morning exercise = an hour in the gym.


09.35 Workout over, hitting the changing room, time for a shower.


10.30 We went to see (yet another) house today. If we would take it, these guys would be our neighbors! (Don't think we will...)


11.40 A little bit of silliness after lunch.


12.30 Coming home with the shopping for the day, a bag full of goodies (actually, a baby present for a newborn little girl, and two calendar gifts for the kids - yes, I'm still putting them on, but I'm done now!) from HuaHo.


13.50 The Christmas tree came out of it's box yesterday and is now standing here pretty in the corner. So I thought I better take out some of my other decorations too - like this Tomte (=Santa), and his julbock (="Christmas he-goat") that I have had for as long as I can remember...


14.45 Writing a few Christmas cards, to the people we know here in Brunei.


17.15 At my hairdressers. Had an appointment for some foils, a cut, and to get my eyebrows fixed. It was lovely! Here is my entertainment, a pile of gossip!


19.20 Coming back from the hairdresser, this is what I see entering our house! When the night has fallen, you can really get the Christmas spirit here too!


20.40 All the gates of heaven are open, a massive thunderstorm has planted itself right above our house. The lightning is impressive, the noise is deafening and the rain is heavier than anything I have ever seen before!! I have raided the kids toys for batteries to put in the flashlights so I am ready if the power goes. Good night!

Colour me happy

Nathans new job is really great!
While on holiday in NZ, he receieved this email (slightly shortened), which became the big joke of the week:

"In conjunction with the Aviation Safety Week, RBA is organizing a Coloring Competition:
Date: 2nd Dec 2007 (Sunday)
Time: 9am – 5pm
(Registration for the coloring competition starts at 10.00am)

If you are interested, kindly please e-mail me your name and contact number.

Your participation is highly appreciated! Hope to hear from you soon.
Thanks and kind regards."



I think it was probably the kids who were supposed to participate, but the way it was worded, you could be in doubt...

New friends!

We made some new friends today!

Ran into a Danish family at the Yacht Club, who had been here not even a week - so we took them on a little sightseeing drive around, and back home to our place for dinner.
They have two young boys, same ages as our two little monsters - and they all seemed to get along beautifully!

As we got talking, we realized that we have quite a few mutual friends, both in the UK and in Denmark! The world is so small!

They were really nice, so I am hoping we will see a lot more of them in the future!
Happy Day!

Lussefika

Tis the season... for eating! Here is another mouth watering post.

I decided to try and make lussebullar (=Swedish Christmas buns) in the bread maker the other day (to bring to the Christmas party at Kindy). I found a recipy on the internet, that I modified a bit - and they turned out really tasty!



Here is my cosy lussefika yesterday, with yummy coffee (we have finally found a place that sells coffee beans in bulk and it's proper coffee beans too!) and my homebaked lussebullar! (They look a bit funny, because I tried to make them small, for the kids. It's actually two of them in the picture.)

School is out!

There we go, last day at school today, now it's time for Christmas holidays! Long ones too, all until the 7th of January!
A whole month! With both the kids at home... puh... a challenge!

Unfortunately today, I got called back to school, because they thought Lucas was quite out of sorts this morning. He was hot and bothered, and cried a lot. Didn't let the school nurse have a look at him, so we had to come and pick him up.
A bit of a shame, as they were having a Christmas Party, and we were all invited. I had baked lussekatter (=Swedish Christmas-buns with saffron) and all... boo-hoo.
Ah well, there will be other parties!

Now it is time for holiday!

Yum, yum!

Check this out:



Yes - it is a kanelbulle (=Swedish cinnamon bun)!!!

I went to a coffee morning yesterday at my friend Annas house, and one of her guests had baked Swedish buns... yuuum! (The hostess brownies weren't bad either, but I have a serious weakness for bullar!)
The lady who had made them, is actually German, but married to a Swede and speaks fluent swedish - so she is a bit of an honorary Swede!

The buns were hot from the oven, and definetly scored full points, superyum! Totally made my day!

Surf's up!

One last post for today, with a little picture of our surfer girl!

Happy Birthday Tiger!

Here is Linnea on a birthday party we went to over the weekend. It was one of her little friends from playgroup who turned one. It was really nice, and I just love Linnea in this dress.



Here she is together with the birthday girl, who is called Tiger (I actually don't remember her real name, sorry Amanda!) - and since they have the same look, Tiger's parents call Linnea "big Tiger". Cute!



Lucas was there too - "party on"!

Lots of new Kindy photos

I just discovered that the school has updated their page with quite a lot of new photos. You can check them out here:

Click here for some photos of Nathan's stellar perfomance during "travel week". He was asked to come in all dressed up, and talk about flying. Looks like the kids enjoyed that!

Click here for photos from "baby week". One of the days they welcomed their siblings visiting, to talk about babies etc. They also gave one of the little brothers a bath, and then bathed the dollies. (Linnea got right into it as you can see!)

Click here for the "Giants and Fairies"-dance video. Very cool!

Click here for a look at how it looks when they go swimming every Friday.

Finally click here for some number matching.

Kindy schedule 3-7 december *Last week*

Term 1 week 14
Christmas - Focus activities:
Letter of the week: Practise A to L
Making Christmas fairies and Christmas snowmen
Christmas counting activities
White collage
Sparkly bisquits



Monday
Music with Mr Instone

Tuesday
ICT – Interactive whiteboard activities
PE with Mrs Carter
Christmas Assembly with Mrs Moren

Wednesday
Mandarin

Thursday
Mandarin
Library with Mrs Mann

Friday
Swimming.
Please bring special clothes to wear after swimming for our party. Please send a small plate of halal party food. Hopefully Santa will be coming to visit! Parents are very welcome to join us for the party and singing and dancing from 11am onwards. Have a happy and restful holiday.

Favorites!

These are my absolute favorites at the moment, the only "shoes" I need (apart from on the odd occasions we go out at night) - Havaianas.
Everyone wears them here, flip flops really is the way to go in this heat. I got three pairs in Brisbane while passing through on our way to and from NZ, but now I have heard that there is ONE place here that sells them too, actually cheaper than downunder! So I'm about to get another couple of pairs, I want one in each colour!



They are supercomfy, and I especially like the ones with the metallic look. My other pairs are green metallic and yellow. I think next on my shopping list is pink and red, or maybe purple... or turquoise, maybe brown... or...

1 Advent

När första ljuset brinner
står julens dörr på glänt
och alla människor glädjas
att fira få advent



Here is our somewhat untraditional advent candle holder. This year it is filled with Hershey's chocolate kisses, fake red berries, anisette stars and cinnamon sticks. Looks rather nice if I might say it myself!
As today was the first Sunday of Advent, we celebrated by having this lit for dinner. We will light one candle for each Sunday of Advent, up until Christmas.

The Final Countdown

Yesterday it begun, the final countdown - to Christmas!
As you know, in Sweden, we celebrate Christmas on the 24Th, and most kids will have some sort of calendar that starts on the 1st of December, to countdown the 24 days until the BIG one!

I know this custom exists in other countries as well, mostly with chocolate calendars, but in Sweden many kids get paketkalendrar (=present calendars).
I grew up with one, and I wanted to continue this nice tradition for my kids.
Lucas inherited my old one, and Mormor made a new one for Linnea. (Knowing my children, taking turns and only opening a present every two days wasn't going to work...).





This is yesterday, when we opened the first present, (chocolate, since it was Saturday). I know it looks a bit empty, all the presents should actually be on there already from the beginning - but I am waiting for a big package with supplies from Sweden! (I don't think the kids are thinking about it, so it will have to pass for this time, hopefully it will arrive soon.)





We are also watching the SVT Julkalender (=Swedish Television yule calendar) on the Internet. It is a televised Christmas-story with one episode every day until Christmas. A tradition that has existed for many, many years in Sweden - with different stories every year. This years it's called En riktig jul (=A real Christmas) and it seems really promising. It caught both kids' interest and they are already looking forward to the next episode.

Who's the boss?

Nathan had a little discussion with Linnea yesterday when she didn't want to listen to us. He told her in a very firm voice:
- Listen to your mother, she's the boss!
Linnea answered in an equally firm voice:
- Nej mamma boss!!

And then the conversation continued like this:
- Who is the boss then, is Daddy the boss?
- NEJ Daddy boss!
- Is Lucas the boss?
- Nej Lucas boss!
- Is LINNEA the boss?!
- Nej Linnea boss!!
- Then who is the boss..?

Short paus, then Linnea answered:

- Grandma's boss.

Well, there you go, now we know. :)

Jetlag hell...

Although it is only five hours of time difference between NZ and Brunei, it seems like it is a lot harder to shake than the seven hours we had coming in from Sweden.

We are on day three, and have entered a viscous circle:
The kids wake up happy and perky just before five o'clock, then of course they crash out (both of them, even Lucas sometimes, who stopped his naps a long time ago) in the middle of the morning - only to be super tired and super grizzly in the late afternoon; and go to sleep far too early, so of course they wake up just as early the next morning...

What to do?? I want to sleeeeep...