Brunei Swim Meet 6-8 Years Old

Linnea had been invited today by school, to the '3rd Brunei 6-8 Years Old Swimming Championship' hosted at the big Stadium. I let her make her own decision if she wanted to participate, as it meant that she was going to miss the Kids Halloween Hash - but she wanted to, so off we went.

Nathan was flying, as usual, so it was her and I settling in for a long afternoon. I had heard that these events can take quite a long time, and for the participants there is a lot of waiting around, since there are quite a few heats. Today there was nearly 350 kids competing.

It was Linnea's first "real" swimming competition, apart from the ones she has done at JIS - and once we arrived at the Stadium and saw all the people she gasped "But Mummy, do I have to swim against other people than JIS people?!?" Well, yes, it's a competition!

Hence the tears in this photo, "I wanna go hooooome"...

We didn't. Instead she went for some warm-up with the rest of the JIS team, all dressed in black and with black JIS swimming caps:

Wearing this swimming cap was a bit new too. We had to be careful with her ears and new earrings, and it made her face look all funny!

A bit of a team get-together before the competition started:

- GO JIS!!!

Then they got walked over to the waiting area to get sorted for their heats, the older girls looked after her so nicely.

Linnea's first event was backstroke. Unfortunately that didn't happen.
She walked over to the waiting area fine, but once she got seated with the girls in her heat she broke down completely and I got called over. I think it all was a bit too daunting, especially since she was the only JIS girl in her heat. I tried to cheer her up and she did walk up to the chair by her lane, but ended up in tears and refused to swim, so that one was a no show for her.

I must admit I'm not the best at pep-talk, but after the tears stopped we agreed she would try again, and at least do one race.

She used to be in the Dolphins Swimming Club at school, but she hasn't been anymore for quite a while. The only swimming she is doing currently, is that one session a week they do at school. So I guess she's just not used to the competitive part of it really.
More waiting...:

In the next race, she was in a heat with a JIS girl from Year 3 (every heat had girls from all three age groups, but they only competed against the girls in their own age group in the end... Very confusing for this virgin swim-Mum...). I applied the "out of sight" method, she couldn't find me to cry to, so she just kind of had to get on with it! :)
It was her favourite, breaststroke:

Yes!! She did it! She swam!
She didn't swim super fast and she was awfully preoccupied by watching where all the others were and how fast they were swimming, but hey - at this stage just that she did swim was a win!
Then, more waiting:

Walking up to her last race, this one was freestyle:

No, she didn't win any medals this time. But - she didn't come last either!

She only missed her PB in the freestyle with 0.95s - but improved nearly 2.5s on her breaststroke PB! Well done Linnea! I'm proud of you for overcoming your fear, and for doing the best you could!

Minecraft Masters

During the school week, our kids are not allowed to use any "electrics". That means, no TV, no computers, no PSP, no Wii, no iPads etc. Usually these things are only available to them on the weekends. And in the holidays...

These holidays have been particularly "electrical".
We were supposed to go to Singapore/Malaysia for a few days and visit the new Legoland - but the flights were so full we didn't get on unfortunately, so instead the kids have been hanging about at home chilling quite a lot. They've also had plenty of play dates, which often (at least for Lucas) means playing Wii - or the latest, playing 'Minecraft'.

Lucas got introduced to 'Minecraft' by his friend Nikolas, and since they've been hanging out for the last two days together, there has been a lot of building going on!
This morning Lucas got Linnea into it too, and after the initial introduction they ended up sitting on each their computer working together (I hope?) to play the game!



'Minecraft' is a game that is focused on creativity and building, allowing players to build constructions out of textured cubes in a 3D world. You can read more about it here. (I wasn't aware, but it was actually created by a Swede (!).)

Down in the jungle where nobody goes...

For something different Nathan took his mountain bike out for it's first proper ride today. His mountain bike... that he bought for "fun riding with the kids"..! Yeah...





He went with his mate Andrew down to the beach, and through the jungle a bit - found some cool places apparently where he could take the kids (... yeah...) and had a blast zooming around on his new toy.
Boys will be boys.

Studio Scene Photos

I went to the dance studio today to pick up the finished result from the photo shoot Linnea did last month, for the Jukebox Dance Concert program.

The pictures turned out really great, here are the ones I chose!







And the one that will go in the concert program:

The power in our hands

Brunei has recently changed over the payment system for the electrical power, for every house and building. Whereas there used to be a bill at the end of the month, we are now (back to!) paying our power in advance, boo.
It's pretty annoying, since now we're back to either have to buy the scratch cards with the pin number to text to the Electricity Central, to get the voucher code to tap into the box - or buy that pin number online (which is pretty unreliable and hasn't worked smoothly the last few times...). And of course, regularly have to keep an eye on how many units you have left!

They installed our box just before the summer, and it has taken us quite a while to figure out the best way of doing it.
Apparently there are a few tricks to it, one is to try and fill it up as much as you can as early in the month as you can; another is to run it down to as low as possible before you top it up.

The other day I did well though, this is how low it was when I topped it up!

Not sure about this...

I'm not quite sure what I'm getting myself into..:



One week ago we had basically the smallest tank there is , and two fish.
Now we have a rather big tank, with filter and everything, five fish - and counting!

Lucas, who borrowed a book about aquariums at the library last Monday, has informed us that we also need green plants and a hiding spot for the fish, and more fish so they don't get lonely or bored...
Oh dear.

Big day for a big girl

Linnea has been wanting to pierce her ears for quite some time now, years even. She's really been too young for it, considering the after-care needed, but she's still been asking and asking, and asking...
In the summer I thought, well ok, maybe she can handle it now, and I was prepared to have them done in Sweden. But Nathan still said no. He didn't think she should have them done until she was 14-15, or preferably never..! :)

Well, it's just a girl thing isn't it? As it turns out quite a few of her little friends had it done recently, Gemma had hers done in Australia in the summer, Mallory did hers here in Brunei upon her return after the holidays and Hannah wants to do hers too - although that hasn't quite happened yet (she's come as far as getting the dots drawn on her ears...).
Since it was going to happen sooner or later I started lobbying for getting Linnea's done as a birthday present. Nathan was still not keen, but when I suggested that maybe Hannah and Linnea could do it at the same time to give each other some support, hmmm.

So, on her birthday, in between the pizza and the ice cream, we passed the 'DiamondAndPlatinum' shop in the Mall and I asked Linnea if, since it was her birthday, she wanted to do her ears - there and then? Answer: YEEEES!!!
There was not a doubt in her mind, not a flinch of regret, from the picking out the earrings to getting the dots measured out and the ears cleaned - and until it was done. Not even a single tear!

She was so brave, so determined and actually a bit surprised I think, by how fast it was done. Afterwards she was so, so proud... and so, so, so happy! She couldn't quite believe it had happened, and she kept repeating on the way home in the car, that this was the best birthday e v e r..!

Choosing the earrings and checking out the piercing guns:



Marking where the holes were going to go:



Mummy more nervous than Linnea I think!



Cleaning the ear lobe:



Here we go! Both at the same time:



All done, that was quick! Not even worth starting to cry for!



All smiles as she sees them for the first time:



Jumping around, "Hannah, I didn't even cry! It didn't hurt!" (Hannah still didn't have them done, bless her. She needs to "think about it" a bit more!)



Pretty chuffed with herself:



Our pretty birthday girl:



The first pair of earrings, little silver stars:

Linnea's day

We got to celebrate Linnea together as a family in the morning only yesterday, since after that Nathan was going flying. Linnea also had dance practice in the late morning, but after that the day was all hers to plan!
So, after dancing...











... we went to Jungle Gym with Ben and Hannah, and once everybody had played themselves tired and hungry, we went upstairs to Capers for pizza, as per Linnea's wishes:











She then wanted to go to Dairy Queen for dessert, so - off we went to get ice cream!







Lastly, Ben and Hannah came home for a little play before it was finally time to wind this weekend down with a bit of sushi (it's nearly coming out of our ears by now...) and a movie. I had allowed both kids to wait up for Nathan, he was due back home around 8.30pm, but once he got here Linnea had already gone to sleep on the sofa, and Lucas was just about to on my lap..! Bless, it surely has been a big weekend!

Now we're looking forward to a week of school holidays, nice!