My Watermelon Boy

Unlike his regular meals, Ayden never needs much convincing to eat fruit. His current favourite is seedless watermelon which he enjoys either as juice or as he did this morning, a juicy cold slice ~ and he enjoyed every single bit of it!

Mother's Day 2010

Happy Mother's Day to all especially to my mother and my sisters - love you all very much. And not forgetting Grannie Liz McCarthy (who's very lucky as she get's Mother's Day wishes twice a year!)

Iman and Jack made lovely cards and presents and we had breakfast with the usual commotion!

Sports Day 2010

JIS Juniors sports day today. Not any different to Last year except Iman and Jack have moved up one year and got taller! The good news is this is Iman's last year in the gymnasium and next year gets to do athletics on the sport field ~ albeit in the morning sun. But Jack (and eventually Ayden) will be in the gymnasium for a few good years yet! But saying all that all the kids had a good time today and cheered away for most of the morning....

Miss Medals!

Iman enjoyed another successful swimming competition this morning taking home 4 medals - silver for breaststroke and bronze for freestyle which were both excellent swims by Iman. Two medals for relay events - including a gold for one relay but there was only the one team entered!. And even better Donncha was here with us for a morning under the sun. Credit must also go to the hosts of the event (JIS) which was completed in one morning for the same number of races spread over two days for the last competition! I guess it looks like we will be doing this for a while.

No more Monkeys jumping on the ............

A first for the McCarthy clan - Ayden was happily climbing around his grandparents room, when he decided to balance and swing with support from two chairs. Unfortunately, he lost his balance and went head first into the corner of the coffee table - there could only be one winner.

A rush to the hospital with Maria and his Auntie Nana speeding off, leaving Donncha on a conference call (not a good choice!). The doctor happily recommended paper stitches for Ayden which would work for kids that sit on the couch for 7 days and don't move. As most of you know, Ayden has a little more energy than that and it was Friday, so we all headed off to the Yacht Club. After dinner and a run around the play area, it wasn't long before the plaster and paper stitches were gone !

Off we went, back to the hospital, this time for a much more practical solution. A slightly nervous Ayden was extremely brave as the doctor inserted a single stitch which we hope will remain in place for a week needed for a nice scar to appear.

As you can see, he's happily back to normal and proudly displaying his first true war wound !

Sunday afternoons....

I took Iman's underwater camera yesterday and despite the flashing low battery, I took these pictures of the kids ~ and I wasn't even under the water! On seeing the pictures, Jack said "Hey... how came Iman and Ayden can open their eyes?!"

Then Iman managed to get hold of this little rowing boat which they literally "spun" around in for ages.

More please!

What a weekend Iman had - she eventually finished with 4 silvers and 1 bronze! And best of all she wants to swim more. Very sweetly she was said to me "Thanks for signing me up for Dolphins club Mama". And thank you Iman for being our star!

Iman's 1st Swimming Competition

Iman enjoyed her first experience of competitive swimming outside of school today taking home two silver medals - for 25m backstroke and 25m butterfly. The competition is between swimming clubs in Brunei and one club from Miri. She's over the moon with her medals and we are both so proud. Unfortunately Donncha is still stuck in London :(

Reeham is 1

Little Reeham turned 1 on the 1st April so these pictures are long overdue. He'a a great little guy to have around the house and always very happy. He should be walking soon in the next few weeks which will make life more exciting and already he's saying some words including "Aba" ("Abang" for Jack). The kids adore him and miss him whenever we are away - the long summer break is going to be challenging!

Jack's birthday @ The Empire

Instead of the usual birthday party at home with bouncer slide, we decided to go to the Empire with all the cousins for Jack's birthday. It was a good decision with everyone having a good time. The birthday boy was all go and enjoyed being with his best buddies!

Ayden and Reeham enjoyed hanging out in the kids club - and it was Reeham's first swim ever!

Fab StarWars cake by KOJ

Sunset @ Piasau Miri

Or as Iman and Jack call it the Flying Fox place and even better Ayden's renamed it the "Flying Socks". What a great location and always so relaxing - especially now that the kids are old enough to hangout in the playground together and perfect with the new balcony overlooking it. And the sunset.... I could sit there everyday.

Ripped Off and then Stuffed (by someone we know !)

Being the proud parents that we are, we happily took the kids back to Dragon Seafood in Miri for dinner following successful visits previously. After sitting by the pool for most of the day, I think we must have been suffering from sunstroke as we agreed that it made sense to buy Jack the 2kg Lobster that he wanted without consideration for the cost. He then proceeded to argue that he didn't like the lobster and only really wanted the sauce.

Cost of Lobster ..... 414 RM, 180 BND or 90 Euro ........ = No pocket money for Jack for a couple of years !! Picture of the offending lobster dish below !