What a puzzle..!

It's taken Nathan and me days and days to try and sort out the summer vacation puzzle. It's proven nearly impossible, to figure out what to do, when and how to do it - to be able to do the most exciting things, see the most friends, and still try to keep it on a reasonable budget...
We still have hotel rooms, airplane tickets, train tickets and rental cars to book; but at least now we have a plan to follow.

Unfortunately, this year, it'll be another "gypsy holiday" for a couple of weeks, where we travel around and stay a couple of nights here and a couple of nights there. It's nice yes, to see people, but it's also hard work to be on the go and live out of our suitcases for so long.

The kids and I will start and finish at my parents, so at least we will have a bit of a base station there.
Our plan (sometimes in the future) is to get our own place, a summer house of some sorts, where we could stay whenever we go back to Sweden - and then people could come and see us there! It's only fair we get to stay in one place, when we have already traveled across the world to get there!

My little farm

Check out my latest craze, my little farm:



This is an application on Facebook that lets you plan your farm; plow, farm different crops, buy more land, harvest, plant flowers and keep animals. It's an interactive virtual world, where you have to hire other people to harvest for you, and keep up with when the crops are ready etc, so they don't go to waste.
Anne is all into it too, so every now and then I'll get a message "Come harvest!", and I do the same to her! Then we pot around together in our virtual little farms!

Yes, I have too much time on my hands.
Yes, I need to get a life.
Yes, I need to get off Facebook.

But it's so much fun..!

007 Summer Ball

We are in a real Sunday mood in our house today. I'm not feeling too bad at all actually, just tired. I'm really happy I was dancing more than I was drinking yesterday - but I still didn't get much sleep since the little darlings were up at 06 am, and I had only got into bed a couple of hours before that...

The ball last night was fantastic! The party committee had done a fabulous job with the decor and the setting, and you really got the Bond vibe already from the start. There was dinner, dancing, roulette playing and a raffle - and apparently I have won two prices! Hourray!

Not so many had gone for fancy dress, most men were in tux and most ladies in nice dresses - but there was a few Bond characters around. Not that I'm that much of a Bond fan that I actually knew who they were supposed to be (...), but still captured some of them on photo.
Here is a little taster of our night:

You got to be kidding me?!

The Dehlis have bought themselves a Wii Fit Balance Board, for their Wii. It's a board that will help you train your balance and strength - and you can use it to do yoga, aerobics and other exercise.



I tried it at their place the other day, and after having performed the 'body test' - it gave me my Wii Fit age, and I almost fainted when it told me I was 48 years old! I went back yesterday, to give it another go and see if I had improved anything, but - now I was 51!!! FIFTYONE!
You got to be kidding me!

We NEED a Wii Board! Yes, need! So I can train, and give it a beating. I won't settle for 51, no way!

For Pierre & Dorthe

Tonight we are going to open a bottle of champagne and raise our glasses for our dear friends Pierre and Dorthe, who are getting married back home in Denmark today!



We are really sad we aren't able to participate in the festivities, but that's sadly one of the big disadvantages with living this far away...
We are with you in our thoughts and hearts today!

GOOD LUCK - and congratulations!

Do you remember Sigrid?

You fellow Swedes out there, do you remember Sigrid?



I get flashbacks about this program daily, every time I hear my kids go:
-"Mamma, jag är fäääääääärdig!" (=Mummy, I'm finisheeeeed!)

The only problem is to locate them, in this house with six toilets..!

Creativity

The goodie bags from Prince Wakeel's birthday last weekend contained stacks of super nice craft materials, from ELC and Crayola. Amongst other things these cool rainbow pens:




You draw on the black paper with them, and after a few seconds, your picture appears. The kids thought these were fab and spent a whole afternoon filling up their pads with beautiful pictures.

007 - I'm ready!

Tomorrow it's time for the yearly British Loan Service Summer Ball. Last year it had a Venetian Masquerade theme, this year the theme is simply "007"!



Quite an easy one, you can come as fancy dress or just in your most gorgeous clothes! Nathan and I have opted for just glam, as we're not the biggest fancy dress fans. There are so many others here, that are so much better at that.

I've spent the last three days looking for new shoes (since I'm wearing an 'old' dress, I thought I'd treat myself to new shoes. Plus, I actually didn't have any black ones!) which isn't an easy task here in Brunei. At least not if you have slightly bigger feet like I do, anything above a size 37/38 (UK 5/6) is a mission to find. Some shops don't even have shoes that 'big' - and others just have a very limited selection.

But - after several visits and re-visits to the shoe shops around town, I actually ended up buying not just one pair of stilettos, but two!



I got the black ones first, because as I said, I didn't have any black shoes. Plus they were super comfy, and totally gorgeous... But, I just couldn't let go of the thought of those red ones (they look pink in the photo, but are really tomato red) I had seen... so I had to go back and get them too...

Now I'm ready for the party tomorrow! I just have a big decision to make - red or black shoes..?

Swedish National Day

I totally missed our Swedish National Day the other day, because of the big party and everything that was going on over the weekend. There wasn't really any time for us to celebrate it.
But check this out! The Sultan (or rather, his 'people') keeps track!

I do wonder if the Bruneian Royals will be/have been invited to the big wedding next summer (our Crown Princess is getting married in June 2010!), considering the close ties between our two countries. I'm also thinking about what kind of services I can offer them, as a Swede, so I can tag along too... ;)

Give us some rain!

I always wonder who really listens to the weather report here? I mean, e v e r y day is the same - hot, blue skies, high temperatures. This morning while driving home, the lady on the radio said: "So, all you guys out there, make sure you get out and bask in the sun while it lasts!"
'While it lasts'?? When does it ever stop?

Actually, the last few weeks have been very hot and very dry. So dry that I've for the first time spotted some fires around; yes, more than one unfortunately.
Yesterday f.e there was a fire just next to the coast road we take to get to and from school. It was burning already in the morning when I drove home after my exercise, and in the afternoon when I picked up the kids and drove past - it was in full force. It generated so much smoke, that it was actually difficult to drive past it, cause the smoke was all over the road, and it was like driving in the thickest fog.

Still, this morning, there was still oozing smoke from the site, even though the fire was now out.
It's too hot and dusty at the moment. We need some rain! Give us some rain!

Sunday sloths

We decided to have a day at home today after the busy few days we've had so far this weekend, and all the partying!

Nathan went for a bike ride this morning, and is off to work later today. Lucas and I have been doing his homework, or rather, some of it (they actually get a lot, already in Reception!). He likes the reading best, writing is a bit more of a struggle to get him to do.

Linnea is not 100% at the moment. The other day she asked herself to go to bed before dinner time, without having eaten and with a slight temperature.
Yesterday she didn't have a nap before the big party, and with all the excitement, she wore out and wasn't herself for the last two hours, just a big grizzle. She went to bed as soon as we got home but had a difficult time settling, complained that her brain hurt... (?).
Today, she has already before lunch had a long nap, but isn't quite with it anyway, poor thing. All worn out.

So, we will just take it easy today. It's nice to just stay at home and slouch around some days too! It's well needed, for sure.

Birthday photos

Ok, here is a little slide show from our fantastic, spectacular, overwhelming, fun, impressive, entertaining and absolutely fabulous afternoon at the Prince's birthday party yesterday.
We feel so lucky to have taken part in this!

(Click on the slideshow to see it in full screen mode, in separate window.)

THE party...

So, today was the day for the highly anticipated (maybe mostly among the parents!) birthday party for the little Prince in Linnea's class. Prince Wakeel celebrated his 3rd birthday at one of the polo fields in Jerudong Park. It was huge! Like a small town country fair!

There were tents full of games for the kids to do, everything in racing theme, the Prince is really into Lightning McQueen (from the movie 'Cars') at the moment, so everything had to do with racing.
Lucas liked the racing car simulator/playstation, and Linnea got her face painted and tried some of the other games.

The whole field and the stands were decorated with an abundance of balloons, it was a real party feeling over the whole area. Balloons, balloons, balloons everywhere!

There were lots of clowns and people on stilts, Teletubbies, Mickey Mouse and other characters walking around amusing the kids, taking photos with them and making them balloon animals. There were also a bunch of different kind of bouncy castles, some "normal" and some with water. Also, there was pony riding, to Linnea's big joy!

Finally, there was of course food... so much food! There was such a choice - all sorts of different things from mini pizzas, pastas, shawarmas to noodles, satay and local specialities etc. Mr Softy was there to supply soft ice, and there was a whole tent full of desserts - with a popcorn stand, candy floss, chocolate fountain and everything!

The kids had an absolute ball and it was hard to try to keep up with them, with everything they wanted to do and eat - all at the same time!

It seemed like a big part of the Royal family was there, although they mostly stayed upstairs in the airconditioned observation rooms. The Sultan himself was there, the Queen as well, and so was the Crown Prince and his family.
The Sultan went out and played a bit of polo on a field next to where we were, which was really fun to watch. I've never been to a polo match, so it was interesting, even if it was just a few of them, as practise.

The Sultan also took a big stroll around the whole party area together with his wife, and the Prince. He took his time, got introduced to most of us by his wife, shook hands to the left and right and posed for pictures.
He seemed to be genuinely happy to meet some of his son's little friends and their families and it was really nice to see. Unfortunately I missed the Kodak moment when he talked to Nathan, because I was busy getting Lucas some soft ice... bummer.

The Prince got to cut the biggest cake we all had ever seen, and the air filled with confetti when we had sung 'Happy Birthday'. All the kids were in awe of the cake, and spend ages admiring it! After the cake, there was a performance on the stage by a very funny guy who did a little magic and other things to entertain the kids. They got to interact and get up on stage, and all got tons of presents/gifts/prizes.

After four funfilled hours, the party was over and we took two very, very tired children home. They were so tired, they didn't even have the energy to look in their party bags when we got home, bless them...

What an afternoon! What an experience! Fantastic!
(Pictures will follow in another post.)

For Johan & Linda

Today we are thinking of Johan and Linda, who are about to tie the knot back in Sweden!



We wish you all the best for your future life together as man and wife! Congratulations and good luck!

Nr 2 out of 3

Last night's grown-up birthday party for our friend Pippa was fab! They had prepared a fantastic meal (with a 6 kg leg of ham as centerpiece!), the company was lovely, the wine and drinks were flowing and the music was very dance friendly!

The birthday girl (with me in the background, the only photo with me in it from yesterday... typical...):



Dave, who does anything to end up on the blog :)



Synchronized dancing behind the bar:



Today has started very slowly for the whole family, but now it's almost time to get ready for part 3 of this party weekend - the Prince's party at one of the royal polo fields. My new camera is charged and ready to go, and I've got permission to take as many photos I can - so come back later, and I'll share some with you!

Party weekend

It's a big party weekend for us here in Brunei this weekend!
We started off this afternoon, straight after school, with our friend Hannah's 5th birthday party. Lucas' teacher told us when we picked him up, that she wasn't sure who had been most excited all day, Hannah - or actually Lucas! :)
It was a lovely afternoon, spend with all their little friends - on a sugar high, of course!

"London Bridge is falling down..."




This is Abbie, Lucas' girlfriend. He told us than we they grow big, they will be in love - and she told me today, that they have kissed on the lips, "for real!"... ehm...



The birthday girl and her Tinkerbell cake:




Tonight Nathan and I are going to a grown-up birthday party, and tomorrow it's time for the royal birthday party - Prince Wakeel is turning 3 and celebrating it in grand style with a racing themed party and lots of water play; how cool is that going to be?!

My man...

While on holiday Nathan didn't shave, and once the beard started growing out - I told him to leave it, since I'd never seen him with a beard.
And I like it! A lot!



He's a looker, my man. ♥

Auntie Boel's first mission

In one's capacity of simpang Auntie, I have today had my first assignment with baby Oliver. I went over next door and looked after him for about half an hour...



... which was piece of cake, since he slept all the time! So, mission completed with no problems, I hope I'll be hired again! ;)

Meet my new friend!

This week I said goodbye to a dear old friend of mine (who hasn't moved further than just next door actually!), and welcomed a new favourite:



A good deal made us make a quick decision on something we have contemplated for a while, and now I have a whole lot of new, exciting features to learn! I can't wait!

Afternoon fun

One of the kids' favourite things to do, is get naked and play outside with the hose. It's great, such a cheap and easy way to entertain them!




This afternoon after dinner, they went outside to play, and then came inside for a nice bubble bath - lovely!