Highland Games 2010

We enjoyed the Highland Games so much last year that we headed over to Panaga again last weekend for the annual event and we weren't disappointed.

Displays included boys toys

Kids games which won them plenty of sweets !!

Cotton candy which Jack talked about most of the way to Panaga

A wet slide and a couple of bouncers which surprisingly Ayden and Jack enjoyed more

Snakes and other creepy crawlies

Iman was very happy with her henna

And we all got into the Tug of War!!!

Ayden's Light Show

Ayden can't get enough of these mini finger torches and is forever trying to make it "night" in our rooms. I actually stocked up last week with the intention of taking them to Ireland but I didn't hide them well enough. Some very good rooting in the cupboard was done and he has been indulging!

Sunday walks

Yesterday afternoon we joined several other families for a Sunday afternoon walk. Plenty of kids with plenty of energy and enthusiasm but unfortunately there was also plenty of rain! We went in for about half an hour before calling it quits (because of the kids of course!) and headed back. It was great to see Jack get his mojo back cos recently jungle walking has not been his thing.

Oscar The Owl

This poor baby owl fell into Marg's garden a couple of weeks ago which was unfortunate for the little thing. But fortunately for him it was Marg's garden because she has done such a fantastic job of being its surrogate Mum turning her small guest toilet into a little owl den and feeding it crickets and grubs. Iman and Ayden were pretty smitten but Jack as not too interested preferring to say away cos it was smelly! I don't think I have touched anything so soft. And it was very friendly too. Once it's bigger Marg hopes to move Oscar back into the garden and back to nature.

McCarthy Kids Hash 2010

A couple of weeks ago it was our turn to lay the runs for the kids hash. We chose my favourite jungle at Lucky Gardens, which despite having a big chunk of it razed a year ago, is still a very enjoyable area to walk with its familiar and very well used Gurkha trails. We laid the three runs in the morning aided by two good friends and even with four of us we only came out the jungle well past 11 - many thanks again to you both! Unfortunately where we wanted to start the runs was too muddy so we had to make changes making them longer than we intended. The toddler run which normally should take 15 mins was longer at 25-30 mins and I was told later actually was close to 1.5km!

Going on a tangent here but after a shower Donncha felt a splinter/thorn just under his skin on his leg so I took out the tweezers and pulled out this massive splinter! - sorry a bit icky but I just had to include the picture.

Back to the site in the the afternoon to see all the hashers go in. It was a good response to all three walks despite quite a few missing the turn off for the middle run and ending up doing the long (including Iman and her friends). Jack chose not to join us instead going to the cinema to watch Shrek thus he missed out on the family "down-down"! On ya head!

Hazim's Birthday 13

Cousin Hazim turned 13 over the weekend. Dinner was lovely but even better was the hamburger cake especially made by Hanna, Hazim's mum.

A well earned retirement!

Last saturday my father was granted his retirement after over 40 years of service in His Majesty's Government including 26 years as a member of His Majesty's cabinet.

In uniform for LegCo earlier this year

We now look forward to seeing him relaxing at home and being entertained by the grandchildren especially Ayden and Jack! Also not forgetting all the jalan-jalan him and my mum will be able to do.

Giving to the Community

It was fundraising week in the Junior school this week and each year group did something different to raise funds for the Brunei Special Education unit.

On Tuesday Iman's year had a bake sale and Iman brought in the iced cookies - the total from the bake sale itself was B$500. Wednesday was Yr3s icy poles. And today was busy with Yr5 savory sale, Yr1 face painting and the Reception Disco (with plenty of fizzy orange!). And what a huge success it all was with B$2,800 raised in total!

For one day only!

With the amount of driving I do it was inevitable that I would need to fill up on the day sans fuel subsidies especially for Energy Day to give the public a sense of awareness.

With the subsidy it takes me up to B$45 to fill up and when I pulled up today I had every intention to do the same just to see how much it would cos and of course take a picture. But not only was the petrol attendant very reluctant to serve me but was aghast when I said to fill it up "Nooooo... it wouid cost you too much!!!". So not wanting him to think I was some nutter I settled for B$30 which filled to only above half tank.

Thank you subsidies!!! And very soon we will experience "real" prices again in Euros!!

Jack's assembly

Last friday it was Reception's turn to entertain at assembly and they did just that. The theme in the classroom this term has been the jungle and animals and in line with the theme they sang the song "In the jungle..." followed by acting out the story "Toucan". Then they all lined-up at the front of the stage and gave a fact each on an animal, a line given and practiced with one boy taking the mic round asking "Do you know what?"

Jack's line was:

Boy 1: Do you know what?

Jack: OrangUtans mean people of the jungle in Malay.

One other boy was very cute:

Boy 1: Do you know what?

Boy 2: No, I don't know!

Lastly they performed a dance with moves that explained some of Jack's cheeky behaviour earlier on in the week!

Amin is 17

Amin turned 17 last saturday and we had a big family lunch featuring ambuyat on the menu. Its been a while since we've had this and it was fantastic. And the person who probably enjoyed it most was Jack who just ate and ate complete with cacah sambal binjai - all I can say is he has a very refined palate!

Donncha's Thirty-something birthday

Great cake and as one can imagine there was a great rush for an aeroplane, computer and mobile phone as soon as the candles were blown. Thank you all for Donncha's presents and wishes xxx

2WD Assembly

Iman's class had their term assembly on Friday and they put on a great show for the lower school. Iman had a nice acting role and was a confident 'Fairy' in the story of 'Little Rabbit Foo Foo' ........ 'I'm going to turn you into a Gooney' ........

The McCarthy Boys !

We like these photos ...... and we're proud to have these friends hang out with us