Safwan's new look

27th April 2010

During Yee-Po's recent stay with us, she mentioned that Safwan's face has changed since her last visit a week before. She was amazed with how fast our baby brother is growing up. Another of her favourite development is that everytime Yee-Po talks to him, Safwan will give her his biggest smile.

At 40 days old last Saturday night, Safwan surprised us all with his never ending baby talk which went on for a good 5 minutes or so. From past experience, mummy said that Safiya and I were the same when we were the same age... which means Safwan will grow up to be as talkative as we are! Hehehe...

Our last weekend with Yee-Po

26th April 2010

As planned, Yee-Po spent another weekend sleeping over at our home. We were very happy since everyone had grown attached to her, especially her grand nephews and nieces! She arrived home on Friday night after spending some quality time with Ngangah and Bungsu. Although she was a bit late, daddy and mummy waited happily for that knock on the door.

Once she came, Yee-Po requested that daddy switch on a Chinese network on Astro. Apparently she has been following two Chinese dramas. That really brings daddy and mummy back to almost 6 years ago since our late granny loves watching her Chinese channels. Since she passed away, all that disappeared, until last weekend.

The next day after breakfast, we all brought Yee-Po to nini's house in Pengkalan Batu since she had not yet meet nini bini. It turned out to be a walk in the garden for Yee-Po and she really loves nini's plants all around the house.

Sadly, it's not the local fruits season. Yee-Po was craving for some local fruits, especially yellow durian that she ate sometime around 30 years ago when she was still living in Brunei. However, it must be her lucky day since nini bini has some frozen durian in stock. Yee-Po was extremely happy!

After the visit, we stopped by the Kampong Parit mini recreational park located close to nini's house. There, a large replica of our local durian stands proudly to commemorate a fruits festival held there last year. Then, we went to Gadong to have sushi for lunch. Unfortunately, the restaurant was closed and as such we switched to Thai food instead. Then, we dropped by another sushi restaurant in Kiulap to take away some sushi before heading home.

That night, Wawa, Ngangah and Bungsu came and we had a feast with foods from Ideal restaurant. It was a treat from Ngangah. The actual plan was to have a picnic at Jerudong Park Playground but we decided to have dinner at home instead due to heavy rain. After dinner, we took some family pictures with Yee-Po.

The next morning, daddy brought Yee-Po to the Gadong plants market. We stayed home and played with Adam, Sasya and Nazrah. In the early afternoon, Ngangah brought us to Jerudong Park to make up for the ruined plan the night before. The fun didn't end there and once we arrived home, we played at our pool slide until almost dusk!

Unfortunately, the weekend had to end with sadness. It was hard to say good bye to Yee-Po without shedding tears. Everybody knew that it will be long until we meet her again, and even more so since she lives far in Melbourne, Australia. Good news though, Yee-Po is planning to come back early next year and that time, she will spend 2 months here in Brunei.

For now, we'll always keep her close in our hearts... and we have something to remember her by at home... a lovely orchid plant that Yee-Po gave mummy as a present which now proudly decorates our kitchen. We love you Yee-Po!

First family birthday season

18th April 2010

In our large family, birthdays seem to be close apart for some. In April for example, we get to celebrate the birthdays of our cousins' parents, namely Nazrah's dad (17th), as well as Adam's dad (18th) and mom (23rd). One thing that we like about it is that we can celebrate them in one party with multiple birthday cakes. Even better this year, Yee-Po is around to make it even merrier.

For this birthday season, we had only a small gathering (but loud!) and enjoyed steamboat and kolo mee last evening. Coincidentally, Ngangah and daddy bought almost similar birthday cakes; Oreo cream cheesecake and Oreo ice cream cake.

To Ngangah Hadanan, Wawa Jufri and Wawa Jay, happy birthdays!

Looking forward to another family birthday season in June!

Long parted family comes together

17th April 2010

This weekend is special. A few days ago, daddy received a sms from one of his cousins in Malaysia informing that daddy's aunt is coming to Brunei. She is our late grandmother's younger sister who resides in Melbourne, Australia. If we're not mistaken, only daddy and Wawa had the chance to meet her once when they went to Melbourne with our late granny approximately 16 years ago. For the rest of us, it's our first time meeting her and we wondered how she looks like.

When we finally get to meet her yesterday, we all agreed that she resembles our late granny not just physically but also the way she talks and acts. We call her "Yee-Po". For her visit, Yee-Po mostly stays with her brother but this weekend and the next, she will be staying at our place.

Yesterday, it was Nazrah and Syahmi's turn to spend time with Yee-Po. Today, it's ours! Here's what we did...

Firstly, we went to Brunei's most famous landmark; the water village we call Kampong Ayer. Funny enough, Safiya and I had never been on a boat before which is ironic since nini green owns a home on the other side of the river. As such, we took this opportunity to try it out and visited the newly opened "floating museum" located in the heart of the water village itself. It's known as the Kampong Ayer Cultural & Tourism Gallery.

The boat ride was scary at first and I even ducked when we went under a bridge. The return trip however was another story. We started to like it. The boat felt even faster than daddy's car! The only downside is that mummy couldn't accompany us as she is still within her 40 days post-delivery confinement period (according to our custom) and the boat trip would not be suitable since there was definitely lots of bouncing on the water.

Then, we had lunch at the Tarindak d'Seni restaurant which is located at the Arts and Handicrafts Centre building. The buffet was great and affordable. They even have ambuyat as part of the buffet menu and we ate a lot.

After lunch, we visited the Royal Regallia gallery.

Before going home, we stopped by the fish market and bought some prawns to prepare for a special dinner. Our home-made noodles is our exclusive family dish and of course Yee-Po must taste it too. With the help of our expert dough kneader, the recipe is successful yet again. Yee-Po said that she also likes to make it back in Melbourne but ours is definitely better tasting because of the cangkuk manis; a vegetable she can't find in OZ.

After a satisfying dinner, we shared stories with Yee-Po. Since Adam, Sasya and Nazrah are sleeping over, Safiya and I got busy playing while the grown ups take the opportunity to learn more of our Chinese side of the family. In addition to those in Malaysia, now we know that we have a large group of relatives in China! We sure hope that we can meet some of them someday...

Safwan goes to school?

14th April 2010

In the afternoon today, daddy and mummy came to pick me up since daddy worked half day. Safiya on the other hand went home earlier with nini laki. To my delightful surprise, someone else came too... it's baby Safwan! I was very excited and practically announced about my new brother to all my friends. Hehehe...

Before getting in the car, we decided to drop by Safiya's classroom. Although her school finishes almost 3 hours earlier than mine, her teacher is usually around to prepare for school the next day. Miss Jo was happy with the surprise.

To make things even better, it's our first time holding Safwan in our arms. The first experience was a bit scary for both Safiya and I as he seems to be fragile and vulnerable. After a while, it wasn't bad at all. After all, he's cute and chubby!

Vegetarian dhal

6th April 2010

Last night, daddy tried making another of our favourite dish. The vegetarian dhal is eaten with paratha or Indian flatbread which we bought frozen and cook at home. Oh wow! For a first attemp, daddy's creation is absolutely delicious. Yummy!

Splash!

4th April 2010

It's our last day of school holiday today. Other schools have actually begun on Monday this week, but ours lasted for another week (most probably in conjunction with Easter). When Wawa called daddy informing of his intention to visit us together with our cousins Adam, Sasya and Zara, daddy thought that we might just make it more fun and joyful.

Mummy bought a slide pool back in Australia and it has been stored neatly in our playroom, until today. We have finally put it to the test and invited cousin Nazrah along for some water playing fun. Unfortunately cousin Syahmi was not feeling well and had to rest at home.

Overall, it was lots of fun. I made silly poses on the slide and made everyone laugh.

Afterwards, we had a special dinner. Ambuyat has always been our favourite food, and daddy thought that it's about time he try making it at home. Usually we either look for nini bini or another alternative is to eat out. Thankfully (and to our surprise), daddy's first attempt at making the dip or 'cacah' was a success. As for the ambuyat, mummy and Ngangah's teamwork also proves to be a success.

Back to school tomorrow!

Our tiger family

3rd April 2010

In the afternoon today, Safiya and I went out with daddy. Once our outing was over, we brought home a new addition to our tiger family. Unfortunately, the ones in store now has been upgraded to a new collection. Before this, we have collected four tigers of the same colour; daddy, mummy, mine and Safiya's.

We have actually started this collection around the time I was born. Of course at that time, I was about the same size as my tiger. Then, daddy bought the two large ones as I grow up, and I insisted on buying a small one when Safiya was born. Now with baby Safwan around, it's only fair that we buy another one for him.

Myself when I was about 2 months old

Baby Safwan with his new tiger

Hmmm... Looking at the two pictures above, do you think that Safwan and I are look-alikes?

Fast-growing baby

2nd April 2010

It has been 18 days since Safwan was born. As the days go by, it appears that our baby brother is growing really fast. He is more chubby and plump... all thanks to healthy and nutritious milk he obtains naturally from mummy! Hehehe... Why choose another when you already have the best, right?