2009 Christmas in Brunei

We celebrated a simple Christmas in Brunei this year. As Samuel is now 5 and Jesse coming to 3, they can now understand the story about Christmas better. Daddy spent some time to explain to both Samuel and Jesse the true meaning of Christmas. The birth of Baby Jesus some 2000 years ago.

This year, Samuel started to ask alot of questions about Christmas, Jesus, Jesus' Birthday and also lots of questions about Santa Claus, snow, snowman, presents, etc...

On Christmas Eve, we had a simple family dinner. Christmas Day, we attended the Christmas Day Service in Church.

As there was snow display in The Empire Hotel, we brought Samuel and Jesse there to enjoy the show too.

Jesse is Santa Claus?

We were having our family dinner together at home on Christmas Eve. Jesse, as usual, eats by herself and was abit messy. She had mayonnaise all over and it reminds her of daddy while he puts on his shaving foam. Jesse calls daddy "Santa Claus" whenever she sees daddy having a shave.

When she knows that she looks like "Santa Claus" she said "Hohohoho I'm Santa Claus" :)

Jesse's New Sunglasses

A photo of Jesse wearing her sunglasses in daddy's car

Jesse always wanted her own sunglasses. Everytime when Samuel wears his sunglasses, Jesse will ask mummy "Where is Jesse's one?"

A few days ago, we decided to get her a pair of sunglasses. She is so happy, she wears it everywhere (even at home, at night) hehe

Jesse's Drawing

Jesse's fine motor skills are much better compared to Samuel when he was her age. Jesse is able to hold a pencil the right way when she was young and she can also trace numbers and alphabeths when she was 2+. She could also do simple drawings.

Jesse is more creative. Samuel is not as creative as her, most of the time he only draw by looking at pictures.

This is one of Jesse's drawing a couple of weeks ago.

Samuel's Graduation (Joyful Kids Montessori School)

Samuel has graduated from his Montesorri course. As he brought home his mortar board and his graduation robe, we took a few photos of him and with him at home.

Family Photo
Daddy & The Graduate

Mummy & The Graduate

Samuel & Jesse The Graduate?

Samuel Posing Sideways
Samuel Smiling
and Samuel again . . .

Mummy's Girl? Daddy's Girl?

Lately, I noticed the change in Jesse. She no longer only attach to mummy. She used to be extremely choosy. She only wants mummy, only love mummy, her one and only, Mummy! This was what she used to say.

Now, she started to enjoy being with daddy, especially right after I scolded her. She only wants daddy. Even after sometime, she still doesn't want mummy, because mummy scolded her. If daddy is not there, she will go to the maid.

There was once, she woke me up at 3am. She wanted to pee. I brought her to the toilet and she wanted to wipe herself after she peed. But instead of wiping, she just threw the toilet paper into the toilet bowl. I told her that she needs to wipe before throwing it inside the toilet bowl. I took some toilet paper again and before I wiped her she wanted to take it from me. I refused to give it to her. She started crying. I wanted to carry her from the toilet but she didn't allow me to. She came down by herself crying. She went to daddy after she woke him up crying.

Daddy comforted her and put her back to her cot hugging the big bolster. She refused to look at me. When I tried to touch her, she pushed me away.

She is now, sometimes daddy's girl but most of the time, still mummy's girl :)

Australia Loots

This is what we bought from Australia (forgot to put my clothes and samuel's sport shoes). We brought an empty hand carry luggage thinking it should be enough for us to shop but we were wrong.
Ended up I have to get a medium size plastic bag to keep our dirty clothes so that we have more space for our loots :)

Day 9 - Brisbane - Brunei

We did our last minute packing and went out to do abit of shopping before we checked out from the hotel.

We took a taxi to the airport. When we were at the airport, we did abit of last minute shopping and had a quick lunch. We shared a footlong teriyaki chicken subway sandwich. :)

We boarded the flight and Samuel was so excited to watch Dora on the inflight entertainment system.

Thank God, both Samuel & Jesse slept during the flight.

We landed at the Brunei Airport at about 6.30pm (slight delay) and only reached home safely at about 8.00pm.

Day 8 - Park Road, SouthBank Parklands, Brisbane

While we were deciding to tour around Brisbane city, we were quite selective on what we want to see. Initially, we wanted to take a Hop-On-Hop-Off tour, after much thought, we decided to only go to Park Road to check out Brisbane's own Eiffel Tower.

We took a train there in the morning and had a nice breakfast. It reminds us when we had our honeymoon in Paris and had the nicest croissants for breakfast. Mummy had croissant, bacon and egg for breakfast. Just the kind of breakfast we had when we were in Paris.

We walked along Park Road, took some photos and we went back to the train station to take a train back to SouthBank Parklands.

This time, we brought Samuel & Jesse to the far end of Streets Beach where there are lots of small fountains.

They both enjoyed themselves very much playing with the small fountains. They spent alot of time there and we later went back to the hotel by train. Jesse fell asleep when we reached the Brisbane Transit Station.

We went back to the hotel and daddy stayed back to look after Samuel & Jesse while mummy went out shopping. Daddy put Samuel & Jesse to sleep (afternoon nap) and rested too. When Samuel & Jesse woke up, daddy bathed them. Mummy came back to the hotel with dinner.

After dinner, we went downstairs just to check out our hotel facilities. :)

We started packing up and put our little ones to sleep early.

Day 7 - SouthBank Parkland, Brisbane

We woke up early in the morning and get ready to check out from the hotel. We pre-arranged our coach "TransCoach" to pick us up and send us to our hotel in Brisbane.

When we checked into the hotel, we immediately walked towards SouthBank Parklands.

We walked passed a bridge and near the "Eye of Brisbane" we let Samuel try out an interesting suspension bungee jump. Initially, we thought Samuel would be scared. When warmed up and started jumping, he jumped and jumped higher with joy.

After that, we went straight to SouthBank Parklands' most attractive part, the Streets Beach. Its amazing how Brisbane has a sandy fresh water beach, right in the middle of the city.

Samuel and Jesse both had a great time in the water.

When we walked back to the hotel, both Samuel & Jesse were tired. When we reached the hotel, mummy had her chance to go shopping along Queen Street Mall while daddy bathed and put both our little ones to sleep (afternoon nap).

When mummy came back, we went out for dinner at Subway. We went shopping along Queen Street Mall. It was nice with a lot of street performers as Friday nights are "late night shopping" nights. We bought some toys in Myers and were the last to leave the shopping mall. :)

Day 6 - Pacific Fair, Gold Coast

We thought it would be dusty like Day 5's sand storm. Thank God the weather was nice and clear. I guess the strong wind has blown away most of the dust/sand.

We took a bus to Pacific Fair for more shopping :)

As usual, when we go shopping, we seldom take any photos. Here we went to Toy's R Us and so many other shops.

We bought our favourite toy here at Early Learning Center. Its a "Bubble Machine".

After shopping, we went back to the hotel to pack up before leaving back to Brisbane on Day 7.

Day 5 - DreamWorld, Gold Coast

We woke up early and get our children ready to catch our bus to DreamWorld. It was a windy morning and while we were waiting for coach "SurfSide Coach" (Orange coloured bus).
Daddy took some photos of Samuel while we were waiting for the bus. He opened his arms wide cause it was nice and windy.

We reached DreamWorld at 10am. We immediately went in and checked our WorldMap. The first thing we wanted to do was to take the train to see the animals, kangaroo, koala, tiger, etc... When we went to the Central Train Station, we missed the train. While waiting for the next train, we went to Wiggles World.
Samuel took photos with Dorothy and Captain Feathersword. When Jesse saw Dorothy the dinosaur for the 1st time, she was kinda scared so only Samuel took photos with Dorothy and Captain Feathersword.

After that, we went back to the train station and it is our 1st time sitting on a real steam engine train :)
We took the train and hopped off at the next stop. Here, we went and took some photos with kangaroos. We then went and took some photos with a koala. Samuel and Jesse got a chance to touch and pat a koala. Once we checked out the kangaroos & koalas, we were all excited to go back to go to the Nickelodeon World for some rides. :)

We went for the Tea Cup Ride.

Samuel & Jesse took some photos with Henry the Octopus We then went to take a look at the Bengal Tigers
After that, we went and watched Live performances of Sponge Bob Square Pants.
While watching Sponge Bob Square Pants, the sky starts to turn orange. We were wondering whats happening and was told that we're experiencing a sand storm. It was quite dusty but it sure didn't stop us from going for more rides.
After the rides, we had our lunch. While eating, we were expecting Dora and Boots to come take photos with our little ones.

When Dora and Boots turn up, Samuel and Jesse were both jumping with joy. Jesse was so excited that she continuously waved at Dora saying "Hi Dora".

We lined up for a short while and Samuel & Jesse had their chance to take photos with Dora & Boots.
Our last ride before we left DreamWorld was the Captain Sturt boat ride. It was mummy's slowest boatride ever. :) Though it was a slow boat ride, it was an interesting one for Samuel & Jesse. While the they looked out of the boat, they saw ducks swimming in the river next to the boat. There were fishes in the river too.

Finally, we went back to the hotel. While mummy bathed our little ones, daddy went to get us dinner. We rested early that evening and it was the last themepark for this trip. :)