It's cold and raining!

30th May 2008

It's been raining all night last night.. Really makes the weather cold and dry, and may worsen my cough (as well as Safiya now that she has it too).. Thankfully, we have portable fan heaters to keep us warm.

At noon today, Safiya and I discovered that it was so cold that the doors are covered with mist! We take the chance to play with the moisture and I wrote my name with my finger. It's sure fun...

Safiya and I having such fun!

My name... S Y A F I

This one is mummy's artwork.

Daddy is in the newspaper!

29th May 2008

Daddy is standing in the front row, third from the right.

Apparently, yesterday daddy was busy at the University of Brunei Darussalam for the SPE National Student Paper contest. News regarding the activity is published in today's Brunei local newspaper. We really enjoy seeing daddy in the news!

More news online? Click here!

Feeling down due to a bad cough and fever...

29th May 2008

Since the wheel-a-thon last Sunday, I have not been feeling well. I guess the dry and cold winter has got to me now.. I had just recovered from a fever but I still have a bad cough. Safiya also starts to show flu symptoms..

As for mummy, she is now very busy finishing her research essays. One is complete which is due tomorrow anyway, and she has almost completed one more that is due next week. That means she has one more essay that she hasn't touched at all. Poor mummy!

Anyway, my aunt (bungsu Raudah) sent us some pictures of mummy when she was a baby and a toddler.. I guess they were cleaning up the house for my other aunt's wedding early July, and stumbled upon the pictures. For old times sake, we have posted the pictures below... Hehe, mummy said neither me nor Safiya looked like her when we were born!

8 days more to go before we're back in Brunei
Yippeee!

St Thomas's Riverview Kindy Wheel-a-thon

25th May 2008

Today, my school holds a fund-raising event, the wheel-a-thon at Guyatt Park in the morning. At first mummy was hesitant to join in since she has a busy schedule and her assignments' deadlines are just around the corner. Nevertheless, eager to experience this new concept, and thinking that this might be a once in a lifetime opportunity (I'm not sure if we have this kind of activity back in Brunei), we signed up and the whole family joined in the fun.

At around 8.30 am, we all headed by foot to the park and we were welcomed by everyone, especially by Miss B who is warm and friendly as always. It's really interesting to see all my friends bringing all kinds of things on wheels for the race, including bicycles, tricycles and push toys. For myself, I borrowed a "wheelie" from school.

Remember, we're all kindergarten and pre-prep students, so it's really lots of fun, even for the parents and grandparents who clearly had a blast witnessing all the kids running around!

Mummy definitely took some pictures. Especially for daddy, we really wish you were here! Oh well, I guess we'll see you in 13 days!

Enjoy these pictures!

All parents and family members of the kids from my school gathering at Guyatt Park. It's quite cold since it's winter but everyone is being very nice and the friendliness warms up the day.

Nini bini enjoying the experience.

Safiya took the chance to play with her rugby ball.

Playing with my good friend Mateo. I'm a little bit sad though because Mateo is going back to Mexico for good in a few weeks time... I'm sure going to miss him!

Safiya having a go with the wheelie that I borrowed from school. Thanks Miss B for lending it to me for today's activity..

Myself all set for the wheel-a-thon.

At the starting line... Ready, Get set, Go!


Myself in action. Can you spot me in this picture?

We were given these tags, and for each lap that we complete, we get a punch hole. As you can see, I completed all 10 laps!

I received a prize and a certificate for completing all 10 laps.

Claudia's parents were busy cleaning up after all the actions, so she joined us and we take a rest together. In this picture, you can see me enjoying my prize.. the chocolate cookies! It's really worth all that running!

Posing for good pictures in the early morning at school

22nd May 2008

Hehe.. I know.. mummy is busy with her schedule.. But I guess she had to update the blog anyway because of these lovely pictures of Safiya and I taken at my school this morning. Thank you mummy!

Claudia and I showing off our "hoodies".

Safiya playing with some puzzles.

I did some scribbling with Claudia. Safiya didn't want to be left out so she joined in. I guess she is having fun at my school because it is always a struggle to bring her back home... She doesn't want to leave!

No camera effects here.. I did write my name backwards!

Riding a horse ehh, Safiya?

This is quite a high slide for Safiya but she is very brave and adventurous and slides on her tummy (legs first) when no one is around to hold her hands.

Another cousin has arrived!

19th May 2008

Another delightful news this morning.. Apparently daddy's sister has given birth to her first baby.. and it's a boy! The baby is very chubby, weighing 3.68 kilos at birth. That's a little bit more than my own birth weight, mummy says I was born weighing 3.54 kilos. For Malays like us, I was a pretty big baby, and sure is this new cousin of mine! Safiya was a little smaller though, she weighed only 2.9 kilos.

Anyway, here is a picture of my new cousin that daddy sent us. Cute!

By the way, you may notice less updates to our blog in the next two weeks. Mummy is currently struggling to meet deadlines for her three research papers, one due on 30th May and the remaining two on 7th June. Nevertheless, if anything interesting happens, I'll make sure mummy squeeze some time to post it here.. Hehe..

17 days to go before we go back to Brunei

Playing with our new toy balls and flying disc

16th May 2008

In the afternoon, Safiya and I together with mummy and nini laki went to the nearby field to play with our new toys. We had lots of fun and it was really a workout.

As promised, here are the pictures of us having a great time. Enjoy the pictures, as it shows us playing, exercising and taking a rest. Soon you will realise that the person who is most tired and sweating is me!

Happy birthday "nini green"

16th May 2008

Especially to "nini green" (mummy's natural mother), we wish you a happy 62nd birthday today.. May your life be blessed with happiness always..

Loving you dearly, Syafi & Safiya

In case any of you are wondering, we call grandma as "nini green" because her house is painted in green colour! With all those grandmas and grandpas that we have, each of them need a unique nickname to make it easier to differentiate! Hehehe...

Welcome new cousin

15th May 2008

In the morning today, we received delighting news from Brunei. Apparently mummy's elder sister has safely given birth to a cute baby girl, who is a fourth child to her family. She weighs 3.8 kilos at birth and is very chubby. With the new addition, my granny and grandpa already have 22 grandchildren! I guess that's expected since mummy is one of 9 siblings!

Nevertheless, mummy was adopted since birth by nini laki and nini bini (nini laki is actually her uncle), and in this small family of ours, there are only three grandchildren, myself being the first.

From daddy's side of the family, there are currently 4 grandchildren, but three of my aunts are now pregnant, and by the end of this year, there will be 7 of us!

Yup, you guessed it, I have three grandfathers and three grandmothers... Talk about a big family! Anyway, here are pictures of my new cousin.. very cute!

Great time at Indooroopilly Shopping Centre

14th May 2008

Today, mummy decides that she should take the day off after finishing her presentation yesterday. Mummy will definitely start to get busy by tomorrow because she has lots of assignments to finish before the semester ends (early next month), so we take full advantage of today.

At around 11.00 a.m., we took a taxi and headed to Indooroopilly Shopping Centre, and spent hours there... We did lots of shopping, and went home at 4 p.m. By the time we were home, we were pretty tired, so the plan to play with my new flying disc will have to wait until tomorrow.

Anyway, here are pictures from today:

It's a really big shopping centre, i think, bigger than The Mall in Gadong, Brunei.

Safiya needed her diaper changed, so mummy brought us to the parents room. It's really nice and comfortable, and all furnishings were full-leather (including the change mat that Safiya is lying on!). A bottle warmer and a microwave were available too.

Nini bini took the opportunity to rest her tired legs. To her right is one of three rooms where mothers can breastfeed their babies with comfort.

(Above and below)
Safiya and I played with some interesting puzzles on the wall.

We went shopping at Woolworths supermarket. Mummy bought some mini-milk drinks for my school lunch.. Hehe, I was quite thirsty, so without mummy's knowledge, I opened one while shopping. Luckily, the cashier was kind to understand when mummy told her about it!

While waiting for us shopping at Woolworths, Safiya stayed outside with nini bini. She took the chance to have some lunch that we brought from home.

Safiya happily showing off her toy giraffe that mummy bought for AU$5.

Some groceries that we bought, apart from clothings and handbags that mummy and nini bini bought as souvenirs.

At daddy's request, mummy bought these electrical warming trays to use at our new home in Brunei. It was on sale for AU$80 each, and for now mummy bought two pieces.