My very own cupcakes!

Living next door to Kitchen of Jasmine, provides me with a daily set of challenges not to eat everything in sight everytime I go in there. So I was not disappointed with the most awesome cupcakes they made me for my birthday. Chocolate on chocolate with hidden strawberries in some of them. I had a couple and kept more for the following day. More of the same next year please! 

Timeout in Singapore

Donncha did not come home last weekend as it would have meant being home for only 12 hours so I flew over to Singapore with clean socks and shirts for his next trip!

For dinner we went to this fantastic Japanese restaurant. Probably the best Japanese food we have had outside Japan. The fish is air flown daily from the fish markets of Tokyo and it was so fresh that everything just melted in our mouths. The best was the scallop sushi topped with fois gras and lightly seared by a kitchen torch.  I now wish I had taken a picture but it's a fairly small and intimate place with the sushi bar as the main seating area and I am never good taking photos in such places. Well done to Rini and Ingo on their recommendation and and even more so to Donncha for taking it up. We will certainly be going back!

For shopping the following day we headed out to Vivo City everything under one roof and we both loved it especially this National Geographic shop which we have never come across before and spent ages in.

Smart boys on Chinese New Year

Firstly the McCarthy Family wishes all our Chinese friends a Happy New Year and hopes that the year of the Ox will bring good things to all of us - no harm having positive thoughts despite the grim global financial outlook!

We did some very brief visiting with the whole family late in the afternoon. Jack and Ayden refused to wear the Chinese outfits I bought them instead opting for these very smart shirts complete with ties that my Mum bought then for Christmas and they looked very smart.

Jack did not want his picture taken and this is the best I did but doesn't he look great with the shirt and tie. He called it his work shirt just like his Bapa! And check out Zara in a beautiful dress in the background. I'm sorry I did not manage to take a picture of the girls as Iman was in a similarly beautiful dress.

And Ayden looked dapper in his shirt and bow tie!

Time for the lions to dance

It only happens once a month and on that one Sunday the kids are guaranteed to be giddy with excitement. What am I talking about....kids hash of course. And the one last sunday was even more special as it was the Chinese New Year run. 

"I can go up by myself"

Ayden enjoyed being carried around. 

It was also great to have David Abberton with us.

Ayden enjoying hot dog after his "run"

Being a special run the kids got tshirts and there was also a lion dance. Probably the closest the kids (and me!) have been to one of these performances. The troupe came from a Chinese school in Labi and they were fantastic. Ayden and Jack were terrified when the drums started and Iman clung on but did manage to let go and take a closer look. We were handed out red envelopes to feed to the lions for luck but Iman wouldn't do so in the end I had to. By which stage the lions had worked up into a frenzy that it was not easy to get to its mouth and now I'm wondering if I was supposed to put money into it first!

This little guy on the drums was great!

The Daddy hashers giving the lion a "real envelope" for plenty of hashing luck! On On... 

All Night Long....

For over a week we have had our fair share of rain and storms but nothing prepared us for the rain storm that we experienced last night. I can honestly say I have never seen so much rain in my life and it lasted over 5 hours. Today a good part of the country is without electricity and will probably go another night without it as the main power station was flooded. Certain areas experienced floods and driving around today I could see houses being emptied to be cleaned. There have also been minor landslides including several houses collapsing killing at least one woman. I myself was lucky to get home from the hash. We had to go further up the road to send my friend nellie home and had to drive through two flooded sections of the road. Luckily we were able to go though without much problems but many others couldn't drive through and I understand that the waters did not recede until 3 or 4am. Thankfully we had some blue sky today and is hasn't rained again tonight. Touch wood we get a break from the rain for a while. 

Iman's Birthday

Here are the long awaited pictures from Iman's 6th birthday last saturday. Apologies for the delay but our connection at home has been very slow recently plus I haven't been able to find time to post.

We started the day early with presents from us and the boys.

Thanks Grannie and Grandad for the HSM cheerleader outfit.

Just before the birthday party. Iman had 27 friends altogether and the pool got very busy.

Iman's bomb dive

Kitchen of Jasmine made Iman a this fab chocolate cake. The "water" was blue jelly chunks which actually went down well with the kids.

Party getting into swing

Iman ready for food and cake

All patiently waiting for "Pass The Parcel"

Zachrey is the lucky man!

The pinata!

Jack and Iman waiting on the side for the pinata to break

The scramble for the loot

So many presents!

And we all got excited opening them!

Iman was very happy with her party and all the presents. Thank you everybody!

McCarthys on Stage

In December Jack and Iman attended Maya Roy's disco themed birthday party. Jack wore his trendiest pants and jacket and loved being a star on stage. Likewise Iman enjoyed posing on the catwalk and I think even won the competition.

Jerudong Park outing

The most common question we get asked as parents is 'When are we going to Jerudong Park?'. At a point in time, it was a playground built with a vision but those were different times and it's now showing the decline associated with an unwanted toy.... I'm confident that Michael Jackson would fail to recognize it these days....

But as you can see, the kids love it and manage to look great in this photo !

New camera means more actions shots and no better person than Iman to oblige.

Ayden and Donncha having a chat - Donncha enjoying the warmth again after a week in Dusseldorf at -20. It's Ayden's first proper outing to the park but he was not keen on any rides which suited Donncha fine!

Kids having a blast and showing no fear of heights.....

Target practice - nobody showing much talent in this department

The trip was a success but we're confident that tomorrow morning as we pass by on the way to school, we'll again be asked 'When are we going to Jerudong Park?'. Living two minutes away and passing it every day guarantees another visit soon!

A Canon 450D!

It has been a pretty quiet week for us - Iman and Jack went back to school on Monday and Donncha has been away all week only returning this evening. The only news I have is a new camera!! For a few weeks now Donncha and I have been toiling with the idea of getting a dslr but not sure which one. The decision was made for us by my parents who surprised me with a Canon 450D. They had to give it to me in advance of my birthday when they heard we were going to buy one. All very exciting and I have been reading the manual when I can and trying to make sense of it all. The photos are not going to improve overnight but for now I am enjoying fiddling with it.

This afternoon Jack and Ayden were outside playing with the tennis rackets Santa brought them and I tried to take some action shots. Jack is showing real potential with a racket. Wish I could say the same for myself and my new camera!