Bandar

Bandar (the city center) is a place we don't spend much of our time. But since this Japanese restaurant - Kaizen Restaurant opened at the waterfront I have been there almost every week.

They have done a great job making the waterfront area nice and clean. It is way too hot to walk along here during the day but I am sure it is quite nice in the evenings.



Oliver loves looking at the boats coming and going.



They really try to get you on the boat!



On a nice fine day you can see the Istana (the palace) from here.



Nice to find a new place to go : )

New hobby

Matthew might have found a new hobby - sailing! His friend and him went out on this yacht last week and they really enjoyed it. Finally visiting the Yacht Club for the correct purpose!

Fresh veges

We do our grocery shopping at Supasave where we can get fresh milk, and most veges we buy from our local vege market. We sometimes go to another supermarket in Hua Ho department store to pick up odd bits and pieces. I like their eggs more than Supasave ones (funny obsession I know) and fresh passionfruit when they have them in stock.

Today we were surprised to see this new hydroponic lettuces in their vege section. The ones we normally get from supasave are air flown from Australia - they taste ok but they are quite expensive. The ones we bought today are locally grown and they had several kinds to choose from too! And best of all they were very cheap : ) We had them for dinner tonight and they were very very good.



It is a hassle to visit a few locations to get what you want but I think it's worth it!

Big little brother

Luca had a delayed two months check up this morning at JPMC (it was due last week but I had to get my eye checked instead).

When he was born he weighed 3250g and was 51cm tall. Today after 2 months of intensive breast feeding he weighs 5545g and is 56cm tall!! Amazing ha!?

I am so glad our boy is doing so well : ) All the sleepless nights for the last two months meant something!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

It was Matthew's birthday today. Oliver, Luca and I prepared a special day for him. While Matthew was away working, Oliver worked very hard to make a birthday card for his daddy.

I cut out some letters and parts to make a birthday cake for him to stick onto a card, Oliver loves using glue so this activity was a hit!

Can you see the concentration in his eyes?





We practiced blowing out the candles for daddy : )



Taddaaaaa very well done Oliver! (No, Oliver cannot write yet but he wanted me to hold his hand and write all of our names).



Luca gave daddy a special note this morning when we went to wake daddy up. The note said - "Happy birthday daddy, birthday treat! Special family breakfast at Radisson Hotel from 8:30 AM!" Well... It was actually a surprise birthday breakfast with some of our friends! Matthew really thought it was just a family outing. He he he!

Our friends were waiting in the hotel lobby to surprise Matthew. Yes he was very surprised : ) We had a long relaxing yummy breakfast while the kids played nicely together. We were lucky as it is Ramadan and the restaurant wasn't as busy as usual.

They were busy drawing and colouring in while parents ate:



Oliver was very happy:



Helen and Emma - so much fun!



Time for the birthday cake!



Of course Oliver helped daddy blow out the candles.



Daddies:



And some of the mummies and daughters:



A birthday family shot!



It was such a pleasant morning and we enjoyed it so much! Happy Birthday honey : )

Pajama party

Oliver had his very first pajama party last night. I bravely offered to look after my friend's three kids. It turned out to be very doable as they were all ready to go to bed in their pajamas (Luca and Miho were already asleep).

They enjoyed watching a movie together. It wasn't a scary movie but they liked holding hands - how cute!



Aisa is very good with Oliver:



At the end of the night it was Oliver who stayed awake the longest - he was too excited (and very tired...) but he really enjoyed his pajama party : )

Green, Yellow and Pink

Today we went to Kitaro restaurant in Gadong for lunch. I am really enjoying quiet restaurants during Ramadan. We have been eating out a lot and I am very happy getting to eat lots of Japanese food, and so is Oliver.

This is how Oliver order's his sushi. Green - avocado maki, Yellow - egg maki and Pink - salmon maki (like traffic lights!)

We have noticed that Oliver sometimes chokes on the nori (seaweed) as each piece of sushi is slightly too big for the little man. So today we asked to cut them into thinner pieces - look how many he got!



We have been working so hard getting Oliver to eat himself (somehow he is not interested in eating, he can eat a lot if someone feeds him but we want him to feed himself!!!) but sushi is working soooo well!

Yummy yummy sushi! so excited (I have to put up this photo up for my sister-in-law Kylie, don't you think he looks like Devon??)



Dipping in the soy sauce:



And into his mouth!



We already have some more Japanese lunches planned for next week. Yuuuuummmmyyyy! Happy eating!

ROYCE' Chocolate

A new shop has opened in the Mabohai/Monkey supermarket. ROYCE' chocolate from Japan is here.



Their nama (raw) Chocolate and chocolate potato chips are my favourites. They are a little bit pricey (I think $15 each) but worth a try! or a nice gift for some special occasions. And make sure you take your cool bag with you so they don't melt while you drive back home : )

Well done boys!

On Saturday afternoon we had some kiwi friends over to watch All Blacks vs Wallabies. Having friends to watch the game together made it so much more exciting - needless to say we thrashed the Wallabies!



The little ones were into it too! Luca was so content sitting in his bouncy chair for the entire game - very impressed!



Maybe a future All Black? (I know, he is so solid ha?)

Relieved...

Some of you might have noticed I haven't updated my blog for a few days. This is the reason why.
On Friday last week I decided to bring out a baby gym for Luca which I had packed away. I thought Luca is so alert that he will enjoy looking at animals and stretching out on it.

It was packed nicely in the bag it came in with two long spring tubes which you attach to make arches to hang animals. Well... when I open the bag and tried to get them out - they came out with so much force and smacked me right under my left eye. If you have been following my blog for over a year you might remember I had this operation done on my eyes. It hit my left eye so hard I thought it must have done some damage to my retina again...

My vision was clear but I could see some floating things in my left eye and it felt like it got worse and worse. So this morning Matthew took me to RIPAS to get it checked out. I was so nervous thinking they will tell me I have to have another operation straight away. When we got there the car park was full and cars were everywhere so we thought we will be there all day but to our surprise they saw me straight away. And the nurse who checked my eye vision remembered me from last year and got my file organised straight away!

I was examined by three different optometrists including the specialist surgeon who operated on my eyes last year. They were very thorough and told me everything looks very healthy! Phewwww I was so scared lying there.

It turned out that what I am seeing was some of the jelly components inside the eyeball which liquidate as you get older - in my case because I am so super short sighted it is happening much earlier and just coincided with the incident I had.

So all is good - now I can be back on my computer blogging away!

Boys' bookshelf

I got this bookshelf made by Alfie the carpenter who built Oliver's house back in May. I wanted a big one in the upstairs play area so that the boys can share all the books.



I didn't notice until I put all the books in that they (mostly Oliver) have so many books! It won't be too long before this will be full.

Quiet playground

We are in the month of Ramadan here in Brunei. It doesn't really affect us non-muslems but we certainly see the difference in our surroundings. For example the supermarket is so full after 4pm as people are getting food to break the fast, or rush hour is slightly different timing, or a very very quiet playground after 5pm.

We took the boys for an evening play the other day to give them some fresh air and ended up having the whole playground almost to ourselves. There was only one other family there while we were there.



Oliver and Matthew had a lovely time chasing each other while Luca and I enjoyed the nice cool breeze on the grass.



We stayed until the sun set. By the time we were leaving more and more people arrived with some dinner.





Oliver just loved biking and sliding down the footpath and as you can imagine it was very hard to convince him it was time to go home...

A taste of real life

Last weekend Matthew was in Australia so I was left with our two boys for three days. Plus our amah (maid) is away in the Philippines for two weeks (we have to send her back every two years). So I got to experience what it is like to be a mother of two in a real life context. To be honest I still didn't complete some of the tasks normal mums would do - like watering the plants, ironing husband's shirts etc etc. But at least I did clean the house a little bit, did the washing, did the dishes, cooked three meals a day and looked after my gorgeous two boys all by myself (I can imagine you are laughing at me already!).

After the weekend I really felt I am spoiled to get lots of help from our amah and husband being at home lots.

I am sure I can survive in a real life situation but it is nice to be in this bubble for the time being...

So clever

Oliver's listening skills are improving amazingly. He can pick up most English sounds and a lot of Japanese sounds. He knows what to say in the right context now too.

Yesterday when I was on my iphone he came to me and said - "Mummy, share! It's my turn!" (This is what I say when Oliver's friends come around and convince him to share his toys... he certainly understands what I mean ha?!)

Learning ABC

Luca and Oliver had a nice time on the bed. They had lots of cuddles and giggles together.  Luca still cannot control his arms, so they go up and down - basically all over the show. Oliver thinks Luca is dancing and he is very cool : )



Oliver is into counting, both English and Japanese. He was showing Luca how to count his fingers:



Then both of them spend some time learning Oliver's New Zealand ABC quilt (it is hung on the wall by Oliver's bed - thank you Merryn!)





I already have a feeling that they will be best friends!