Happy Birthday Mummy!

29th November 2010

It's a very special day today... because it's our mummy's birthday!

After work in the afternoon today, she picked me up from Ugama school and we went straight back home. When we saw daddy's car, we sort of expected that he must be planning something very special for beloved mummy.

And he did! Safiya ran towards the car (after mummy safely parked the car, of course) and asked mummy to close her eyes while Safiya and I directed her towards the dining room. Last time on daddy's birthday, we had steamboat. This time, we had pizza as well as rice with daddy's delicious sweet and sour fish. We also had prawn fritters for appetiser.

Daddy put candles on one of the pizzas and we sang the birthday song together.

Daddy made a special birthday card with all of our help. Those are really traces of our hands, truly!

Hehehe... mummy might be satisfied with the pizza as her birthday cake, but apparently it was just daddy's trick! He had bought mummy's favourite cake; mango cheesecake. Wow, that was good news for Safiya and I too, because we got to help mummy blow the candles twice!

Happy Birthday Mummy! We love you very much!

Birthday celebration at the Rizqun

28th November 2010

In the afternoon today, we went to the Rizqun International Hotel as invited guests to our cousins' birthday party. Of course as with other birthday parties, we had a great time. However, the exclusive place makes it even more special. On top of that, we got to chance to meet Barney!

Hehehe... Safiya was intimidated at first and refused to come near Barney. Mummy didn't give up and slowly walked up to Barney and when they were close, mummy slowly asked Safiya to touch the purple fluffy skin. Fear free, at last.

Despite the loud music, Safwan decided that he was too tired and took a doze off.

Tickly flowers

20th November 2010

Hehehe... Just want to post some pictures that mummy took when we were out and about in our small garden. Safwan likes to play with the flowers, but he felt ticklish when the flowers touch his face. So cute and adorable!

Blessed to be Bruneian

18th November 2010

During the recent Hari Raya Aidil Adha a couple of days back, Nini Bini had a small open house. One of the visitors was mummy's cousin who's baby was also one of the lucky ones receiving kurnia from Her Majesty. He then asked mummy whether she had collected the custom made cover for Safwan's bank passbook.

Apparently, our parents were not aware of it but immediately took note of the information. In the morning today, daddy went to the bank and he was delighted to see what was handed over to him.

"Blessed to be Bruneian" ~ that's what's written on top of the recipient's picture... which is exactly true! Again, menjunjung kasih ke hadapan Majlis KDYMM Baginda Raja Isteri.

A friend's birthday party

13th November 2010

Today, Safiya was invited to attend her classmate's birthday party at her residence. Amelie's mother was kind enough to let me join the party as well. We had 2 hours of fun and games with delicious lunch from McD.

Happy birthday, Amelie and thanks for the great party!

Safwan visits Istana Nurul Iman

7th November 2010

Wow! Double luck!

As many Bruneians must already know by now, close to 7000 babies were chosen by Her Majesty to receive special gifts or kurnia just for being born between 7th October 2009 to 7th October 2010. We are very grateful that our baby brother is one of the lucky recipients.

Another good news is that Safwan was invited to the Sultan's palace this morning, together with our parents, to receive the kurnia. He is really lucky, it's not everyday that one gets to visit Istana Nurul Iman (let alone be invited) but Safwan does this at only 7 months old. Even Safiya and I have never stepped foot on the palace grounds, seriously! Hehehe...

Since coaches waited before 7 a.m. at several designated places, Safwan was already up at 5.30. He had an early breakfast, took a bath and wore his baju melayu. Parents were given the option of not bringing their babies but our parents decided that Safwan will not create a hassle being a good and happy baby himself.

According to mummy, despite the thousands of people flooding the palace, Safwan maintains his happy attitude. Even when lots of babies around him were screaming and crying, he is still as cool as can be. Thankfully! Hehehe...

The treatment at the palace was first class, said mummy. They were served with heaps of food for breakfast, and nappy change and breastfeeding areas were available (complete with free nappies and wipes). Hot and cold water is available all around the palace as well.

We would like to express our heartfelt menjunjung kasih to Her Majesty Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Hajah Saleha for the kindness that Her Majesty has shown to all lucky recipients today.
"Semoga Allah melanjutkan usia Kebawah Duli Tuan Patik"

JIS International Day 2010

5th November 2010

International Day is a yearly event at JIS when all students are urged to wear international costumes, either traditional to a country or dress up as someone famous from a particular country. Last year, Brunei was well represented by my friend, Yadi, who dressed up as Awang Budiman, the mascot for Sea Games quite a while ago.

This year's event was not less interesting; it was really great to see different costumes from different countries. And what better way to see them all than in a parade. Parents were welcome to see the parade and daddy took the day off today especially for this since Friday is usually his working day too.

Safiya wore her baju kurung, while I decided to relive the glory of becoming a Brunei "prince".

Safwan was also present during the event ~ he didn't mind waking up early in the morning, thankfully.

In addition to the parade, this year our school organised another activity called "Around the world in 2 hours". After the parade, we were amazed to see that our classrooms have been transformed. Mine in particular became China and I learned how to make moon cakes, write Chinese calligraphy and so on. I also enjoyed the opportunity to visit other "countries" and gained a lot of information.

More pics from our Brisbane trip

4th November 2010

We have got lots more pictures taken during our last trip to Brisbane. Hope you enjoy seeing these photos...

The ones below were taken on Friday, the second day that we rented a car. After breakfast, we went to IKEA in Logan, just outside the city. It's as HUGE as we remember it, and still offers lots of bargains too.

Then, we went to Direct Factory Outlets (DFO) near Brisbane Airport. Yes, we did lots of shopping... it was really worth it to go there.

With a few more hours to spend before returning the car , daddy drove us back to the hotel. After freshening up for about 20 minutes, we headed for St. Lucia. We revisited our old memories... took pictures in front of our used-to-be home, our usual Asian supermarket and Nando's restaurant where we usually enjoy meals when nini bini and mummy were not in the mood for cooking.

We were also amazed at seeing a new apartment building that has been erected; the construction had only just begun when we were about to leave Australia for good back then.

Frankly I was a bit sad about leaving the old place. To cheer me up, our parents brought us to one place where we always felt happy - Guyatt Park. The difference this time, nini laki was not the one pushing us in the stroller... hehehe...

Baby Safwan was enjoying the ambience as well. He didn't mind sitting on the grass at all. We also took the opportunity taking pictures with mummy's favourite jacaranda trees (all because of the purple flowers).

Then, we went back to the city to return the car. Thankfully, business hours in the city is extended every Friday, and we took the opportunity to do some last minute shopping. We then took some photos of Brisbane city and Southbank at night.

These ones were taken on our last day in Brisbane. We enjoyed fresh strawberries for our last breakfast at the hotel. We checked out at around 9 am to catch our 12.50 flight. The flight was not that full and we very lucky that the front row seats had been blocked for passengers with babies. Since there were only two babies on board, there were 2 empty seats next to mummy. Safwan was happy sitting on his own seat during the flight ~ watching tv! Hehehe...! And oh, I snapped a picture with the pilot, lucky me!

We landed safely in Brunei at 5.50 in the afternoon. However, we got off the plane differently that time; we walked down the stairs and boarded a coach to reach the terminal building.

Overall, it was a fun vacation. Where will we go next? Hmmm...