Me and daddy time

Since the new swimming lesson term started in January, somehow Matthew has had every single Tuesday available to go into the pool with Oliver. Which is a great thing as we are in the rainy season and the water level in the pool is higher (and it's cold - for us anyway).

Oliver is loving the special time with daddy. He giggles a lot and knows the routine so is very comfortable in the water .



He can go underwater and kick a little bit now.



And out!



(Thanks for the great photos Keira!)

New look for a playdate

This afternoon Oliver was invited to a playdate with 5 girls (plus 1 baby girl, 2 baby boys). The girls were very happy playing shops, carrying handbags, wearing necklaces etc.
Meanwhile, Oliver found a new thing for himself - A bike helmet!!



He might be worried the girls will play with his hair : )

Happy Valentines Day ♥

Hope everyone had a special day!
My little Valentine is fast asleep in his room and I am waiting for my other Valentine to come home from his work.

Happy Valentines Day to you all!
From the Brunei Roses ♡

Lunch out

Oliver and I had a lovely lunch today at a Sushi restaurant in Times Square - the new shopping complex near the airport (Matthew is away until Monday night).



He ate so well - some egg sushi rolls, edamame beans, and miso soup (his new addiction!). And so I did of course!

Private Air show

One of our friends told us there will be a private air show somewhere in Jerudong this afternoon performed by the Brunei Air Force. And also told us that the best viewing spot will be at JPMC (the private hospital).

Oliver had a busy day at Geckos in the morning so he was actually still deep asleep in the car when we got there. We weren't sure if the show would be definitely happening nor how long it will last. So we had to put him in the buggy and wander around.

We decided to just go down to the beach and see if we can see anything. By this time the boy whose nap was interrupted was not too impressed but awake. Suddenly we heard the "boooom" noise from the sky his eyes opened wide and boy he got sooooo excited! Pointing at the planes and following them with his eyes.







There were three Pilatus (according to Matthew they are Pilatus PC-7) planes zooming into our sight.

The whole show lasted only 10min or so but it was just fantastic! For the first 5 min there was only us on the beach (it was a very private show you know). They did some formation fly pasts, loop the loops, dives, and other manoeuvres.







It was a great surprise for Oliver and we certainly enjoyed our very private air show!

First drive

This is great!

Our new driveway

Yesterday the workers finally came back and sealed our driveway. We were starting to think they had forgotten about it but they came back with big machines.

And the most surprising thing was they picked the right day for it. It has been raining all day for so long, and then it suddenly cleared up and became a perfect day for them to work with sticky tar.





Oliver was very excited screaming "ohhhh" and "wow!!" Great entertainment for the day: )

He can go fast !!

Check this out! Oliver can go very very fast!! Don't miss the "legs up" part : )



They are finally sealing the driveway today, Big machines are back and working! I will post some photos later.
I think he will drive even faster with this new driveway!

Totoro weekend

The rain has kept us inside the house for most of the weekend. I know it is not good for Oliver to sit in front of the TV but he is in love with Totoro...



I put this DVD on for him to watch for 10min while I was in the kitchen. He doesn't normally sit still on the sofa long anyway.
But this time, he sat there and watched and watched!! Smiling and making noises to the TV : )
In the end we watched the same DVD 5 times in 2 days, with some parts fast forwarded.

The story is MEGA famous in Japan, it is about this strange creature that lives in the forest next to two little girls' house.
It is produced by an award winning anime production company called Studio Ghibli. I loved the story when I was young, and of course my nephews and nieces do too.
Now it's Oliver's turn!

I have a funny feeling we will be watching this a number of times...
Oliver cannot say Totoro instead he says "Tot!", very excited young boy!

Wintery rain

It has been very cool and rainy for the last few weeks. All the recent rain makes me feel like we are in the middle of winter. I hardly use aircon and when I am in bed I am actually under my duvet at night.

Right now I am in the office writing this post with a cup of hot chocolate and looking at the endless rain.
Nice and cosy...

Lion dance

We saw this beautiful Lion Dance at Miyuki and Hao's house last year. They invited us to their place again and this time they put on an extra performance!!

Waiting for the lions to arrive - Oliver was not sure what to expect, he was roaring a lot tho.



They arrived with loud fire crackers and loud music, by this time Oliver was holding onto Matthew very very tight.



The lion came in and went into all the rooms. We were encouraged to touch the lion for good luck, Oliver was just too scared...



Then the lion danced around at the entranceway and did special tricks with oranges (By this time my ears were ringing from the loud music, they were extra noisy!)



Took the oranges and threw them to the owner of the house.



Lucky he caught it without dropping!



They peeled the oranges and put them together in a special way, then presented them to the owner of the house.





This second lion came (again with the very very noisy fire crackers, can you see the smoke?) and started to get on the stilt. It was very artistic and skillful - amazing to watch!





So high up!



As you can see there was a lettuce for the lion. Unfortunately by this time, Oliver was crying his head off so it was hard for me to take photos. But it was a fantastic performance, one person held the other and he bent over to get the lettuce (he was the lion head part) on the stilt!!!

I am sure their house is full of good luck and we hope we got some of the luck home with us : )
Thank you for having us, Miyuki & Hao.



Miyuki, Kyoka, Keiko, Ukail, Matthew and Oliver.

Cool Chinese dude

We were invited to a Chinese New Year open house this afternoon. Oliver dressed in his Chinese outfit - looking cool ha?

Happy New Year - once again

Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone! After numerous loud fireworks, Chinese New Year - the Year of the Rabbit is here!

It rained for a while early this morning and that made the air nice and clean plus there was a nice breeze. I felt like it was a great New Year morning (even though Japanese New Year is on the 1st of January).

I wanted to do something. Such a nice morning cannot be wasted just staying inside the house - so we packed our breakfast coffee, pancakes and snacks and off we went to Muara beach.

When we entered the car park we suddenly remembered it was a public holiday - meaning the place will be packed!! and it was!! Almost all the car parks were taken and so many people were in the picnic area, at the beach and the playground.
It made it kind of nice too, I felt quite festive as lots of people were smiling and saying hi to us, and they all seemed happy.

Our boy was one of the happiest. He got to take his favourite push car and ride on the bike path for a long long time.



He loves his car so much that he rode on it even in the playground, but it didn't take him long before he tried all the different equipments.



He wasn't too sure about the swing...



But loved the slides!!

Then it was time for some breakfast and a snack. Of course he got to eat some mandarins - as thats what you do on Chinese New Year!





We had another great start to the year. In Japan it is said that the Year of the Rabbit brings lots of jumping and hopping. People tend to become optimistic and believe in the economic recovery etc.

I am certainly feeling bouncy and optimistic this year - bring it on!

Red Day

At JIS they had a dress up day called "Red Day" today. Kids in Junior school dressed in Red to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

I like Oliver taking part in school events, so I dressed him in red.

He looks much older don't you think?



And very confident and happy!





Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone!

Tools

It is becoming more and more obvious that Oliver is a boy. Well he has been a boy since he was born but I mean with his play and things he is into.

He has been in love with trains and cars of course, but now he is into tools.
Matthew and Oliver have been having lots of fun putting things together recently. They each have a matching IKEA toolbox  : )





It is so funny to see Matthew put things together then Oliver pull them apart... They are a very good team!