Mr. Fast

Ayden only knows of one way to get around : F A S T! When he's on two legs he only runs. He runs around the house, up and down the stairs, in the garden. Last week he fell over and blamed a rock got in his way! Even when its bedtime he runs into bed often crashing before he gets there. 

When he's on two wheels his little legs are peddling as fast as they can go. His battered bicycle needed some repairs today and he went to the cycle shop to get his brakes fixed and a stand put on. And as soon as he got back he zipped back and forth happy to have working brakes and doing new "tricks". I watch him clenching my teeth but boys will be boys and Mr. Fast's knees are testament to that!

7-9 Swimming Competition, Mumong

Another swimming competition this afternoon. This time solely for the younger swimmers ages 7, 8 and 9. As Iman was not swimming she spent the afternoon with Donncha and so it was just myself and the boys. 

Ayden is now in the 8 year old category and swam 25m fly, back, breast and free. He had a very good afternoon and finished with a bronze for backstroke, silver for free and fly and a gold for his breaststroke. What was even more exciting for Ayden was many of his mates in his year group at school participated in their first competition in the 7 year old category. Afterwards in the car Ayden said, "I'm very proud for those that swam in their first competition". Such a nice thing to say.

Jack swam in the 9 year old category and competition was very tough. Jack missed a medal by one place for the free and likewise for the other strokes he came 5th and 6th place. He was sad and a bit disappointed but we are so proud of his achievements all the same.

Six Nations 2014 - Ireland vs Scotland

It was my first trip to the Aviva Staduim in Dublin and my first international rugby game. For starters we won with the weather considering it was chucking it down the day before and the day after. Secondly what a great first game it was to be at, with Ireland winning and it was a great experience to witness that. What overwhelmed me most was the sheer volume of people there. I had never been in a stadium so big and so full. And what more, every time a penalty was taken, the whole stadium went so silent that you could almost hear a pin drop. Looking forward to going to future games especially with Iman, Jack and Ayden.

Miri Age Group 2014

The kids and I travelled to Miri last weekend to compete in the Miri Age Group swimming competition.    Despite the wet weather it was a lovely weekend and kids had fun competing and socialising. Iman competed in the 9-10 girls age group and both Jack and Ayden competed in the 8 and under.

McCarthy brothers competing in the same heats again!

Fuelling up with "Mountain Dew" which is not allowed any other day!

The boys 8 and under 200m free relay team winning gold!

Iman came home with 3 medals

Gold in 50m breaststroke

Silver in 100m breaststroke

(no points for guessing what her favourite stroke is)

And a bronze for a relay event

Jack came home with a Gold for the boys 8 and under 200m freestyle relay. The team were himself, Ayden, Aaron and Alex. They had a rocky start but took over the other two teams to win the gold. 

And Ayden came home with 

Bronze for 50m breaststroke

Bronze for 100m freestyle

Bronze for 50m freestyle

And Gold for the relay event

Iman's 11 Birthday Party

Iman had a lovely birthday party with her closest 19 friends (!!!) in the weekend. Strugging as to what to do with 19 10/11 year olds we thought of pillowcase painting. Thankfully we were able to source everything for it last minute (which was very un-Brunei!) and what a success it was as it kept 19 girls occupied for at least an hour and a half.

 Iman's chosen cake was KOJs latest creation - chocolate banana cake

Ayden was allowed to hangout with the girls

Quite a few of the girls stayed in the pool till the evening

And some girls did what they do best - hanging out in the kitchen and having a good chinwag - how some things will never change!

And here were the finished painted pillowcases of various designs and colours. Though the recurring theme in many of them was a big moustache. The only explanation I can give for this is I showed them examples of what they could do from pages I had saved, and one on of the first ones there was a big moustache!

Of the 19 girls, 9 slept over and this was the aftermath the following morning!

Iman loved the party and despite numbers it was one of the more relaxed parties we have hosted. One of her friends gave her a hamster and this has been keeping her busy!

Happy 11th Birthday to our Iman

The house was buzzing much earlier than usual this morning - the excitement of presents! Iman is now an eleven year old and her presents are certainly getting more grown up!

She was very excited to get to school with a box of cupcakes and I was hoping a picture with her friends but this was the best I could get!

Amed, Bali

We're in Amed on the East Coast of Bali. The car trip from Kuta took 3 hours and amazingly the three never took out their electronics once. We saw Mt Agung - the highest mountain in Bali, daily going-ons of Balinese life (kids fascinated with teenagers riding their mopeds), rice terraces and much more. 

Amed is very quiet and we are in the middle of a Balinese village with not much else around. "Life In Amed" is so far perfect for us. A swimming pool, excellent food and a villa on the beach. 

"The Tooth"

Last saturday night, the event which we have been waiting for at least a couple of months eventually happened - Ayden's "Nanny McPhee" tooth fell out. Ayden has had a tooth growing before the baby tooth fell out and as the adult tooth got larger the baby tooth was pushed further and further out. He was very happy to have the offending tooth fall out and get another visit from the tooth fairy who was most happy to eventually claim the whopper!

The main purpose for Bangkok - Patana Feeding Frenzy

After two free days in Bangkok we spent the next two at the Patana School 50m pool for the Feeding Frenzy competition. This was Iman's second time at the competion and first for Jack and Ayden. With over 500 swimmers from the ages of 7 to 18 representing International school from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore; it was a very tough competition. 

The first day being the long course events, Ayden and Iman competed in 100m free, 100m breast and 200 free. And Jack in 100 free, 100 breast and 100 fly. And the second day was 50m with all fours strokes for all three.

Being in the same category of boys 8 years and under, Ayden and Jack swam together in 4 heats together. Here's Ayden showing Jack his ribbon for heat winner in 100m breast.

Panorama of pool thanks to Hubert Menard

On the starting blocks and both in the middle lanes, Jack and Ayden fight it out in their 50m breast heat.

The small JSC team with Coach Eva

The medal and ribbon total for the JSC team. What's lovely about this competition is not only do 1st, 2nd & 3rd  places get medals but 4th - 8th get ribbons as well. Ayden finished with 3 ribbons for heats and 

4th for 200m freestyle

6th for 100m breaststroke

5th for 50m butterfly

8th for 50m free

Aside from the 200m free all other events had up to 30 boys in each race and Ayden was the only 7 year old to feature in the top 10 of the group and finished 10th overall.

Jack did equally well with the following and finishing 12th overall

5th for 100m butterfly

7th for 100m breaststroke

8th for 100m freestyle