Do you need a doggy?

This evening I finally moved my butt and went for a walk with Boel, Yvonne, Nicole and her three kids PLUS 3 doggies. We used to go to the empty section down the road but it is now under development so we started to walk just at the back of our simpang until they started to work on the road. But now the work is over and the road is nicely sealed with very few cars.

Unfortunately at the first part of the walk where we have to go through a little bit of bush/jungly part my shoes  got muddy and wet : (  but the rest was great.

I haven't done proper exercise for a long time - over a month! So I found it bit difficult to catch up with the fit friends with excited dogs.

Hence I got quite a bit behind (you can see in the photo). They kept looking back and asking me "Do you need a dog?" My answer - No!!



But it was a lovely evening and I thoroughly enjoyed it, thanks girls!

Arabic lunch

Today Matthew took me out for a lovely Arabic lunch. It is strange to find such a great restaurant which I have not yet tried after being here for almost 3 years. Matthew has been there before with friends and knew what to order, they were all so yummy!
To my surprise Oliver ate quite bit of the food. He tried lamb shawarma, tabouleh salad (which was more like parsley salad to me), falafel and daddy's mango lassi.





I really enjoyed the food and the fact that we were not in the aircon but weren't sweating at all. I am sure we will be going back there soon : )

While in the car

Our boy is so busy, on the way to Geckos (toddler group) in the car he needs to read some books and call his mummy on his cell phone. He doesn't look too impressed in the photo but he really enjoys calling me!

Shopping carts

Oliver's into pushing the shopping cart. He tried to hijack someone else's the other day at Supasave.
He casually approached the target by smiling away and chatting to them. Then when they were looking at the products, he pushed the shopping cart and walked away. Luckily people thought he was very cute : )

The other day when we went to Hua Ho, Oliver discovered they have these cool little kiddy ones - And there was nothing that can stop him going around the supermarket.





Of course by the time we get to the check out the shopping cart has a few strange items!

Saturday Dim Sum

Since we came back from Japan we have been to Saturday Dim Sum two weeks in a row.
It is fairly quiet compared to Sundays as most people are working on Saturdays here in Brunei.
We don't eat a lot but we love spending time in the restaurant just relaxing and talking.



Oliver loves the food which helps us to eat peacefully. His current favourites are spring roll skins dipped in a bit of mayonnaise and sweet chilli sauce (he definitely has Matthew's DNA!) and chicken buns.





Yummmmmm!

One more! No more!

This is what we hear in the kitchen while Oliver eats at the moment.
When he wants more, he doesn't just say "more" he says "One more!", and when he finishes he lifts the empty plate and says "No more!" Both come with great body movements too.

It is amazing to witness how a child develops from a baby to a proper human.
We can now have a conversation with him. He seems to be much happier now that he can communicate what he wants.

Looking forward to the next few months with more of his new words.

Bumblebee jackets

I wanted to put this post up for my sisters who kindly looked after the bumblebee jackets for Oliver for almost a decade.

As you can see in my kani trip post, and here Oliver and Yuzuki had matching bumblebee jackets on .





They were extra special ones as these little ones wore them when we went on the last family Kani trip in 2003.



Oliver's cousin Rui and Runa with me! (2003)



Rui and Hinata with Yosuke and dad (2003)

My older sister Mako specially looked after so many baby/toddler things (including the suitcase Oliver used for the trip) for Oliver. Thank you Mako!

Extreme

Some of you might know that Japanese have a strange obsession with little dogs. Mainly because there are lots of lonely elders and young singles with lots of money to spare. They often go extreme.

I went into a shop on the last day of my stay in Japan and found these. They are all for little doggies - amazing ha?



They even sell buggies so that they don't get tired nor cold while you shop. Of course you can choose either forward facing or facing towards you.



Matthew and I just laughed!

More Japanese words

In the last week of our Japanese holiday Oliver mastered more Japanese words.
Oishi for yummy, Yatta for yeeeeeah.
Nata! for Hinata, he is Oliver's favourite cousin at the moment. He is still walking around the house looking for him.
Uzuki for Yuzuki and Ui and Una for Rui and Runa.

I am glad he is becoming bilingual already : ) It was certainly a good holiday for his language development.

Another Christmas

Before we left to Japan we decorated the house for Christmas even though we knew we wouldn't be here for it. So when we got home the house was still very Christmasy. This morning before we put them away our lucky boy got to open more presents from under the tree.

He got so many toys in Japan already... He is so spoiled.



The first present he got shown was the biggest. An IKEA easel from M&D. He can already write! Impressive ha?



And he got to unwrap this one.





Noah's Ark wooden sorting puzzle.



He was very smart? to find the biggest hole to put all the animals through (not using the particular one for each particular animal).

Awesome pop up airplane book! Both of my boys were very excited to see Airbus 380!



When we were in Japan he wasn't too much into unwrapping but today he was on a roll!





He was looking for more things to unwrap after opening the last one, looked pretty disappointed... but he quickly noticed he had more new toys and books and started to play : )

Thank you everyone who kindly gave him very nice presents.

Kakizome

In Japan kids at primary school traditionally get special homework during the winter holidays.
While I was in Japan I got to supervise my nephews and a niece doing kakizome, the first calligraphy written at the beginning of a year. I was there to make sure they don't make a mess in the house. The black ink they use for calligraphy can be a disaster sometimes.

Here is Hinata concentrating very hard to write - Oshogatsu=New Year.





Rui was very confident in his writing and actually he did very well, I was impressed. His one was Kokoro ni taiyou=Sunshine in ones heart.





Runa and her friend were there to join us too. They had to write Hareta sora=Fine sky.



It took each of the kids more than 1 hour to complete (they need to practice many times then pick the best one to take to school), to my surprise their concentration lasted well. I was more tired than they were just watching them...
I should have written something myself, but Oliver started to get disruptive so maybe next time.

Another lovely tradition we have in Japan.

Back in Brunei safely

We decided to spend an extra day in Osaka, as my old NZ friend Kylie came to visit us and my sister Mako scored an extra day off to take me for more shopping!

It was a perfect decision in the end, as we arrived at the airport this morning to find no queues and we could get on the flights straight away (often using the staff tickets we need to wait for a long time until everyone has checked in) plus the Cathay flight from Osaka was so empty they didn't charge us for the extra luggage we had - we were 6kgs over today, in total we had 56kgs!

Everything went smoothly, we got to HK no problems and rechecked in with no problems.

When we walked into the RBA plane we found ourselves alone in business class (well in the end one more person showed up) on the 777.



Oliver was very happy to have the whole space to himself and walked around with his suitcase up and down the aisle for a long time.





It's nice and warm back here in Brunei, we might go for a swim tomorrow! Feels odd to feel winter and summer on the same day.

Thank you so much everyone who looked after us in Japan. It was great to see you all!

Second visit to the shrine

This afternoon Mako came around before going to the shrine for hatsumode like we did on the 1st. When we visited the other day it was quite cold and dark so I thought we will go with them for another visit.



Hineno shrine Torii

This time we made sure to wash our hands to purify ourselves before going into the shrine (last time it was just too cold to take our gloves off...).



Rui, Hinata and Yuzuki



Because it is already the 4th day of the New Year, not many people were there. The kids had fun running around chasing each other while Mako read her good luck omikuji. You can see in the photo below the traditional Japanese New Year flower arrangements. It feels like New Year when I see them. They are beautiful.



Mako spent a fair bit of time deciding which good luck charm/prevent bad luck charm (they are called omamori) to buy for everyone in her family and one for me too! There are lots of different kinds. For travel, for study, for work, for health etc etc. Matthew always laughs saying "Japan is very convenient, you can buy good luck with such a small amount of money!" We are very superstitious in a way you know...

Kani trip - Part II

Here is the main event of this trip. Kani, Kani, Kani, Kani, Kani - so much of it!
After the lovely bath we changed into our yukata and sat in the tatami dinner room - all so hungry and couldn't believe the amount of crabs we were getting.



Yosuke and Runa



All of us except for Oliver who very nicely fell asleep to give some relaxing time for his parents.



Matthew and mum

Before starting with the crabs, some super fresh sashimi and oysters were served. Then full on Kani/crab meal started!
We started with Kani sashimi.



Kani tempura - they were so sweet and delicious.



Charcoal BBQ Kani.



This was my favourite - shabu shabu Kani.



Then to finished off we had Kani nabe (steamboat).



We went on the same sort of trip 7 years ago but the food was nothing like this. We couldn't leave anything on the plate. It was fantastic! I am still thinking of the Kani I ate on this day. I am sure we will be going back to the same place next time we plan a Kani trip (which won't be too long, Mum's 60's birthday is coming up in a few years time!).

Kani trip - Part I

We have been waiting for this day! Our overnight crab trip to Hyogo on the other side of Osaka. We were very concerned about the roads being closed as on the 1st lots of places on the Japan Sea side got huge snowfalls. But luckily on the day it was extra sunny and nicely melted the snow on the highway.

All of the family members including the ones who are normally super busy and miss out on family occasions could make it : )
All 13 of us got on the train smiling.



Mum and dad



Rui and Hinata



Miyakuni ladies

This little person was extra happy in his bee jacket and his own suitcase.



I was glad we chose not to drive ourselves and got a bus tour. It cost more for us to get there but no one had to drive for a long time and everyone felt quite relaxed.

After 5 hours of traveling we got to our ryokan/minshuku. We picked the place based on internet reviews so weren't too sure about the place but rooms were all nice and the people working there were very friendly. But the best part for the kids was it was right next to a primary school which is closed for the winter holiday. Lots of snow and no traffic to worry about as they ran around.



Time for a snow fight!



Yuzuki trying to make a snow man.



Diving into the snow!



Someone tried snow boots for the first time in his life. He found it fun walking on the snow : )



But not 100% sure...



I cannot remember when I was in this much snow. I got so excited!



Three of us looking very wintery.



After playing in the cold we all had a wonderful warm bath. Doesn't it look beautiful!?





So lucky to be Japanese - love the culture, I am enjoying it so much!