Italian cuisine

A few of our friends have been raving about a new Italian restaurant in Kuilap. So we decided to give it a try.
It was actually our second dinner outing as a family of 4 (we went to have quick Thai last week when Matthew had 3 hours between flights).

The place was very cosy and clean. When we walked in we saw Oliver's little friend Mailk and his sisters and they were about to make their own pizzas so Oliver had a go too.



Half of the cheese topping went straight into Oliver's mouth...



Looking good!



Into a very hot oven!



We had some chef's specials - I had beef & basil pasta and Matthew had a red snapper dish. They were both delicious. I love finding new places to eat/go. You get surprised you haven't been to lots of the places even after being here more than 4 years you know!

E le phan t

Matthew is having a hard time getting Oliver to say "Elephant"
This is how it goes (They are practicing everyday but no luck yet).

Matthew: E le
Oliver: E le
Matthew: phan
Oliver: phan
Matthew: t
Oliver: t

Matthew: Elephant
Oliver: Animals

Yeah... elephants are a kind of animal but you are supposed to say ELEPHANT...

Moshi moshi - it's for you Luca!

It is great to see Oliver interacting with his little brother more and more everyday.

Coffee morning

This morning a group of Japanese friends came to our place to meet baby Luca. Each of them brought a very yummy treat to share. We had a lovely time chatting away over coffee. Luca was lucky to be held by lots of nice ladies : )



Aisa and Miho are very into babies!



Luca received a cool dinosaur bean bag - which will be well used by Oliver until Luca is old enough to sit up : )





It was great to see you all, thank you everyone! We are very spoiled!

Boy with a Drum

Oliver received this book from Merryn and Dennis when they first came over to Brunei to meet him two years ago.

Since then this is one of his favourite books and we read it to him over and over again. He has almost learnt all of the words in the story now.

He wanted a drum like the boy in the book for a long time but I haven't seen the right drum in Brunei until today. When I saw this drum I had to grab it! I wish I had my camera ready when we gave the drum to him - he was sooooo happy!



Rat a tat rat a tat rum a tum tum ♪ ♪

Yes, you are right now we know we made a huge mistake - please someone stop that boy playing the drum!!!

Hotel breakfast

We've signed up to a membership at the Empire Hotel which entitles us to some good discounts on food and beverages at the hotel, a free nights' stay and a few upgrades etc. The last time we used it was when the London Roses were here - yeah a while ago...

Some of our friends are doing Sunday breakfasts regularly and finally we got to join them yesterday (we have been very busy for the last few weeks you know!).
Oliver was very happy picking what he wanted to eat.



Luca was of course behaving very well - sleeping most of the time : )



The best part? I actually got to sit down and eat a very nice meal and enjoy the conversation with my friends. I must be doing so well as a mother of two!!

The children had a lovely time too!



Afterwards we went out for a little walk - it was such a hot day but we enjoyed being outside! Especially Oliver.

The kids saw some turtles:



Beautiful sea breeze:



Chasing dolphins:



Enjoying the view:



My wonderful boys!



We really liked the way we spent our weekend morning. I am sure we will be back there very soon : )

First Sunday

Matthew's two weeks of paternity leave (?) finished on Friday and he has gone back flying. Today our amah has a day off and Matthew has a four sector afternoon/evening so it is officially the first Sunday for me to look after two boys on my own!

How is it going? Well... both boys are fast asleep! So I am going to quickly finish blogging and snooze while I can!!

Contrail

It was a bit too dark to capture this moment with my iphone, but can you see what Oliver and Matthew are looking?

Kid's hash début

Boel has been telling me it's about time Oliver went to the kid's hash. We attempted to go a few times in the past but we hadn't made it until today. This afternoon Oliver had a nice early afternoon nap so Matthew took him right into the jungle!

Here are my boys ready to leave the house (Oliver insisted on wearing the helmet - well you never know what you might encounter in the jungle...)



Unfortunately I didn't get to go with the boys - I stayed home with Luca. But Oliver was lucky to have Linnea to help him out and Boel to take photos for him (Thank you so much Boel!).

According to Matthew as soon as Oliver got to the site he didn't want to walk by himself and wanted to be held by his daddy. And it continued all the way though the jungle... sigh...

Brave? boys going into the jungle!



This way Oliver - I got you (Linnea)



Not liking this!



Crossing the river...



Boel and Oliver



Matthew told me he cheered up just before they had to leave the site. In the end he was smiling and running around so it was a success!?

Shopaholic

Oliver is into shopping! I bought a toy shopping trolly a while ago. He wasn't playing with it until recently but since I set up a bookshelf with food and beverage for him to buy, and a table and chairs to sit and pretend to eat, it took off!

We occasionally shop in a local department store called Hua Ho. Oliver loves the supermarket because they have these mini-shopping trollies. January this year he was just able to push the trollies and followed us around with only a few items, but now he has really got the idea of shopping in the supermarket.

There are the photos Matthew took a few weeks ago. Can you see the ginormous can in the cart!? Of course we didn't want that so put it back while he wasn't watching...



He loves corn - must buy item!



Today he picked up a packet of coffee and saw Matthew getting some mangos weighed. So he took his packet of coffee to the weighing machine and tried to get the price for the coffee - bless him!

And learned how to check out!



I am hoping it will be a while until he learns he needs cash to pay for things. That will be interesting - Not!!

Cinnamon Rolls

Yesterday afternoon my amah and I tried a new recipe I found online.

It took us only 40min and came out of the oven pretty much the same as the photo online - Most importantly they tasted very good! (I will need to reduce the amount of sugar in the filling next time tho, it was a bit too sweet for us).

This could be my new coffee morning treat :)

Happy yellow it is!

Well,I was planning to move Oliver into a new bedroom. The current room gets very nice morning sun and stays cooler in the afternoon so it suits baby Luca more. My plan was to have both rooms ready before I had Luca, but because he arrived early we didn't have time to paint Oliver's new room in time.

I had some colours in mind - For a boy's room you sort of have limited colours anyway. In the end I chose this yellow! Matthew worked hard painting the walls today, it needs a second coating so the shades of yellow will be slightly different in the end. But so far I like it - very happy colour :)





I cannot wait to decorate his room. I love home improvement projects!

Morning bro chat

As Matthew is on leave, he is looking after all three of us. In the morning when Oliver wakes up he takes him into our bedroom where Luca is sleeping and getting fed. Then he takes both boys downstairs and has breakfast with Oliver.

While Matthew prepares breakfast the boys have a little chat - almost everyday!

In the morning sun

Ahhhhh feels good...

The first outing with Luca

Yes, I know it's a little early but I really wanted to attend this Ladies lunch which was hosted by my friend Maria to celebrate the end of the school year (well... my boys are not in school yet) and to say goodbye to some of the ladies who are leaving Brunei.

Luca was pretty popular among the ladies.



He behaved so well - sleeping in the buggy while I enjoyed the lovely food and yummy yummy dessert.





Yes, you guessed it! I had a big piece of the pavlova - my favourite!!



I wan't quite sure if this was alcoholic or not?? Tasted good tho :)



I thoroughly enjoyed Luca and my first outing.

Roses

This rose was in the bunch I received from the English Roses when I returned from the hospital.
Just beautiful... its a shame in the tropics roses don't grow too well :(

This is for you! Aunty Brenda

We measured Oliver and Luca using the family signature Gollywog. Oliver looks huge next to it. I cannot believe he was Luca size just two years ago.



Oliver Matthew Dennis - 2 years and 2 weeks old.



Luca Matthew Gordon - 7 days old.

Play-doh

This afternoon while Luca was asleep, Oliver and I had a great time with play-doh. I bought these cute play-doh tools in Japan but hadn't managed to make play-doh for him to play with (I know, I do have your special recipe Merryn).



Luckily he received lots of nice colourful play-doh for his birthday. So here he is happily trying out a knife, scissors, roller etc. The scissors were very very tricky tho...



But the best part was making his own birthday cake!



Happy birthday to you ♪ ♪ ♪



Blowing out the candles, he made sure there were two candles on the cake : )



And the cake must be cut by him (just like he did at his own birthday party)

I am sure we will be spending more time with play-doh tomorrow.

One week already

It has already been one week since Luca was born. I was up feeding him early this morning, around the time we went to the hospital and being in the delivery room - and gave birth to Luca.

I had this very special warm feeling holding our baby boy in my arms...

Chef Oliver

Since Luca was born we (mainly Matthew) try to do little activities with Oliver everyday. This week he had an afternoon tea with his new classmates at the nursery classroom where he will be attending from September, visited the immigration office to apply for Luca's birth certificates, and visited the fish market for the first time. Matthew and Oliver have been having a great time together.

It was the first Sunday for us family of four. Our amah had the day off so it was very nice to have the whole house to ourselves.
Luca and I slept in, and then we all had a special breakfast together. Oliver made yummy french toast for Matthew and I !!

Here is our little chef ready to cook!



One of his favourite Japanese books is a story about two mice making a big pancake for all the animals in the forest. So he knew what the apron and the whisk was for.

First mixing eggs and milk.



Add a little bit of sugar.



Carefully using the tongs to lift the bread.





Mummy put the bacon and bread into the pan - Tadddaaaa!! Here is some french toast for you daddy!!



Not to mention it was so delicious! Thank you chef Oliver!