Hari Raya photos 2011

Before its too late I ought to post these Hari Raya pictures. Every year I vow to keep my camera handy and take photographs of the steady stream of visitors - and I only ever end up with a handful.

Collecting their envelopes

With Karli & Anna

In all my Hari Raya years of welcoming kids to the house, I have never come across a more delightful and cheery bunch as the kids below. They were all Malaysian and their stories made us all laugh. I hope we see them again next year.

And all the lovely family pictures

Amin flies the nest

After talking about it all year, Amin finally left Friday on his way to Loughborough University to study Materials Science & Engineering. We are all so so excited and proud of him but at the same time sad that No.1 nephew and cousin will be away and it will be a while before we see him. We are all going to miss him especially Ayden who is a big fan. It's hard to believe the (now not so) little boy who was born when I was in my 2nd year at college is now a first year student!!

Amin, have the time of your life, study hard and above all please take care!!

For the record ........15-6

15-6 Ireland - Australia ..... for those that know us, there is not much to be said .... photos to follow later.......

World Cup Fever @ Home

Typical of our boys when there's sport on the tv they don't want to watch it, they want to play it! So their new rugby ball courtesy of their Dublin cousins got a good kicking around yesterday.

Rugby World Cup 2011

Even though we live in Brunei and rugby is not a huge sport here, there are plenty of people with an interest in the Rugby World Cup taking place at the moment. The McCarthy household is firmly in the Irish camp as most of you will already know. However, that didn't stop Ayden's teacher from tagging a little gift onto his school bag today just to set the tone for the upcoming game (you would never guess where she is from!). Ireland start their campaign on Sunday against the States and then have Australia on the 17th which will be a big occasion in the McCarthy household.

As Brunei has a large contingent of Aussie's and Kiwi's, expectations are high for one of those countries to do something special. The English are always in there with a chance and the local support is confident as always as are the French, but we're hoping that Ireland will get a good run and give us a few good days and maybe even a few surprises (quietly confident as they say in Cork !)

New School Year 2011

Finally, after a rather long holiday the kids are back at school today! And surprisingly despite weeks of being unable to get up in the morning after returning from Ireland the kids (and me) did very well this morning and we were were out of the house by 7am! - well done to Donncha.

This year Iman goes into Year 4, Jack into Year 2 and Ayden starts proper school going into Reception (and finishing at 2pm!!!).

Doonbeg .... for one night only

With all our packing and unpacking during our visit to England and Ireland, Maria and I decided that we would try to make it away for 1 night together without the kids. Having been toDoonbeg previously for lunch, it was a straight forward choice when the offer of babysitting came from my parents. A relatively new hotel (2006), it is golfing lodge in Co Clare overlooking the Atlantic Ocean which makes for great views from the room and healthy walks on the beach.

Amazing place considering the hotel itself is a new build yet it looks like a building that has been there for many years.

We stayed in a lovely suite room which ended up being way too much space for just the two of us, but with a view right onto the Atlantic from the living room, what more could you ask for?

Turns out that our visit to Ireland this year coincided with the coldest July in 50 years and the coldest August in 25 so a walk on the beach meant that we had to wrap up relatively well !!