Munich holiday

We spent a few days in Munich over the long weekend. Thursday the 14 May was Ascension Day. The boys skipped half a day's school on wed as well as school on friday. We drove 900km to reach Munich which meant that Wed was spent in the car. Sunday's return trip was the same.

We knew that the weather would be cold and grey so we went prepared. On Thursday, we met up with Nicole and family. We met Sara for the first time. The last time we were in Munich, Nicole announced the good news that she would be a mother. Now, Sara could walk. Two years passed fast.

Under the light rain, we walked towards a few different parks. The boys had fun playing at the various playgrounds. It was really "park-hopping".

On Friday, Seb went to visit the Hi-End show. As for us, we visited the BMW World with Nicole. There were a lot of tourists trying out the various BMW car models. There were also MINIs and I tried it with the boys.

There was a small three wheeled car zipping around. Mainly kids took turns to take a ride. A staff member drove it. Look carefully. The car door was actually in front and the steering wheel was attached to the door. It was a cute prototype.

I like this BMW below. It is compact and small. However I am not too sure it is on sale in France.

On the second floor were the BMW motorcycles. My boys tried on all of them taking turns to be the rider and the passenger. They spent much more time with the motorcycles than the cars.

 After the free visit to BMW World, we went back to Nicole's place for lunch. The boys helped to push the pram. Sweet darlings.

 In the afternoon, we strolled along the street and headed to the Deutsches Museum (Technology and Science). A2 was crying as he did not want to visit a museum. He wanted to play in the park despite the rain.

But once he was inside, he forgot about his protests. The boys were amazed to see different kinds of transportation. Old boats, new boats, big boats, small boats. And there were planes and helicopters. And there were trains and space shuttles. A1 loved the astronaute area.

After the museum visit, I went back to the hotel with the boys. Seb joined us and we headed for dinner nearby. We stayed at Novotel Munich which was very well situated in the centre of Munich. There were many good eateries nearby. The down side was that I did not appreciate the bed so did not sleep well during the stay. 

The next day, Seb went for the Hi-End show again while we went to the zoo with Nicole and family. Before that, we had breakfast just in front of the city hall. It was not unusual to see the Germans in their traditional costumes. 

 Munich is really a family friendly place. In the zoo, there were a few playgrounds. The size was just nice for an afternoon visit. We saw many animals and while having lunch, the boys played at the playground.

 We left the zoo and headed to a nearby beer garden for afternoon snack. Seb joined us there. Along the way, we passed by the Isar river. There were people BBQing along the beach with their portable BBQ. Children splashing in the calm water. And at another bank with stronger current, teenagers swimming. There was even a small island for nudist. Crossing the bridge, we could spot a few exhibitionists.

No visit to Munich can do without a drink at the Beergarden. However this was the first time Seb and I did not get a beer. The boys played at the park and a boy tore off the paper hat from the zoo that A2 was wearing. A2 came crying and would not want to go back to the playground with 'bad kids'. He wanted to go to a playground with 'good kids'. My funny boy. After a while, he went back when he was sure that boy was no longer there. We chatted and snacked until it was time to go home.

For dinner, we had tapas nearby our hotel. On the way back, the boys played a game counting the cars parked along the road that were the same brand as mine or Seb's. In the end, there were more BMWs than Volkswagon. Wow. Indeed, there were mainly German cars in Munich but there were a significant number of BMWs. I wonder if they were much cheaper there.  

On Sunday, we checked out early from the hotel and had breakfast at Nicole's place. We bade our last good byes and drove back home. This time, we did not stop long for rest and meals and reached home in a record of 11 hours. It was not easy for the boys and I am glad that they were patient boys. 

Flowers

It is first of May soon. As with French tradition, we give a brin of lily of the valley on this day as a good luck symbol for the rest of the year. My friend told me there were lily of the valley growing in the forest nearby so I asked her to show me. We went this morning and she showed me where they were. It was not a trail that we usually took when walking the dog. It was a pleasant walk catching up with my friend and I managed to get a brunch of these delicate flowers. I had given some of the flowers to three neighbours.

In return, a neighbour gave me a brunch of lilac freshly cut from her trees. They smelled so good. 

Not so long ago, the same friend told me that at another forest which was about 5 mins drive from home, there were daffodil. On a sunday when visiting the boys' grandparents, I told the boys that we were getting flowers for grandmother. I directed Seb to the place and when we reached, I asked the boys to get off the car to join me to pick flowers. A1 replied 'I thought we were going to the florist. No, I do not want to go pick the flowers.' I asked A2 and though he usually followed his brother's decision, he was kind enough to come pick flowers with me. That was sweet of him.

One advantage of living in the country side is having free flowers. Spring is here and the forest is green once again. A really lovely sight. That is another advantage.

A1 turns 6

Few months ago when I asked A1 what he would like as his birthday party theme, he told me without hesitation that it would be Mickey Mouse. So, on saturday he had a Mickey Mouse birthday party with his friends.

I made Mickey Mouse birthday invitation cards and slipped the invitation paper into the pockets for ten children. I would like to keep the party small with 6 guests and A1 obliged by giving me just six names though he had many friends whom he played with in school. Seeing him carefully choosing the names of the six children, I relented and told him to just name who he wanted to have at his party. In the end 9 children turned up. 

 As I had left over black felt fabric from last year's party where I made pirate hats, I bought red felt and sewed 11 Mickey Mouse goodie bags. In the goodie bags, there was Mickey Mouse pencils (my brother gave me a few dozen last year), Mickey foldable fans or Mickey purses which I bought from Daiso in Singapore and sweets and bouncy ball and Mickey chocolates that I bought from our recent trip at Disneyland Paris.

This time round, I made a Mickey pinata from cardboard. Compared with the Green Globlin pinata, this pinata took less time to make. The kids were surprised to see plastic plates serving as Mickey's ears.

The night before, I made Mickey and Minnie sugar cookies. They turned out better and tasted better than the Mickey birthday cake I made.  

 On the day itself, my friend lent me her girl's Mickey and Minnie. I put the pair on the garden chairs to watch over the bowls of sweets and cherry tomates and cookies.

 For games, it was Seb who organised. We had team games and the children enjoyed themselves. With the good weather, they had fun just running around the garden.

  And again, my pinata was unbreakable though it was made of thin cardboard. We had a hard time breaking it. The children were happy with the sweets and goodies in it.

A1 received many presents as usual. When mothers asked me what A1 would like as presents, I checked with him. He replied 'I let you decide.' That is so A1. He is contented with any present. So I told the mothers to give him a surprise.

He got a small car, a Planes toy, a Captain America toy, a set of Sports UNO (waterproof), a LEGO camping car set which took him an hour to build by himself, a mini NERF gun, a cross bow etc. As we do not buy toy guns for our boys, A2 was excited with the NERF gun. A1 being a kind big brother offered the NERF gun to A2 while he played with the cross bow. We gave strict instructions to never point the weapons at people and animals. Handsome had already swallowed two out of the three NERF foam darts.  We had to buy a few more.

At the last thirty minutes, I took out balloons and twisted swords for the children to play. We also blew bubbles. One boy was chasing the bubbles that he run into the hedge and suffered a cut just below his eye. He was crying and covering his eye. It took a few minutes for the bleeding to stop. That was the stress of having so many children in the house.

After all the children left, while having dinner, A1 thanked me for the party. A2 added that I was the best of all mothers. I was delighted that the boys had a good day and appreciated our efforts. I shall gladly do this while it lasts. My colleague's daughter who was turning 18 asked her parents to leave her the house alone for her birthday party. My colleague had to plan an evening and night out with her husband to leave the house. That would be in a dozen year's time for me.

Happy Easter Sunday

It's Easter Sunday today. It is funny to watch my two boys looking for eggs while the older cousins watched and helped. The cousins were the one who hid the eggs. Only a few years back, it was the adults hiding the eggs for the children. Kids do grow up fast. 

We were blessed with lovely weather. The sky was blue.

Among the chocolate eggs were a few beautifully crafted chocolates. Of course, they were table center pieces and not hidden for the boys to find. Such a delight to the eyes that I do not bare to eat it.

There were about a hundred chocolates in total. As usual, the harvest was shared among the four boys. Here is the basket full of chocolates for A1 and A2. To be taken with moderation, of course.

Our driveway

Recently, we got rid of the gravels covering our driveway and replaced them with nicely laid setts.

Seb and I could not stand the gravels though it is common to have gravels covered driveway due to the low cost. When coming home, it was easy to pick up the gravels into the house with our shoes. Also, we often had to tell the boys to stop playing or throwing or kicking the gravels around. 

After much discussion and getting quotations from different contractors, we decided to pave our driveway with setts. Another option was having asphalt concrete like the road but in red colour. Seb felt that setts made the driveway looked more classy and it would last longer.

So the works begun with a compact excavator digging up the gravels and the soil. Then, a big truck came to remove them.

After that, the dump truck came with a mountain of fine gravels which was flattened.

Once the preparation works were done, came the moment to pave the setts. The contractor laid the sett one at a time on our 100m² driveway. It was a tough job. The setts were heavy.

When that was done, cement was poured over as the joints between the setts. We waited a few days for the cement to harden and the finished product was one beautiful driveway.

All these in a total of 13 working days. Two and a half week. We are very happy with the result. The boys can now cycle from the garden to the driveway. Round and round the house. Seb and I do not miss the gravels at all. The above photo was taken when the setts were wet. When dried, the setts were lighter in colors and more lovely.

There are still a few things to do to improve the house. We can cross out the driveway on our list. So far, we had done major works to our garage, changed the front and back doors with better thermal isolation. Not to mention fix broken down fixtures. With spring here, it is time to take care of the garden.

Batam

We spent 4 days 3 nights in Batam just before Chinese New Year. It was a big family gathering with my family in Singapore and my brother's parents-in-law. In total, there were 11 of us. My brother and my sister-in-law (SIL) helped to organise the whole trip. We stayed at Harris Waterfront. My Singaporean friends asked why we stayed so long at Batam and why we chose the hotel which was secluded.

Singaporeans usually would stay for 2 days one night at the center of Batam to enjoy massage, shopping and cheap food. We prefered a quiet place with a big pool. Harris Waterfront suited us well. It was a distance from the center (30mins drive). And 4 days 3 nights was just right for us to chill and relax. 

The older folks in the group headed to the center everyday to enjoy the above three activities I mentioned. Our boys stayed in the pool the whole day. They enjoyed themselves a lot in the water. 

We hired a mini-bus with a driver for two days to bring us to places. On one evening, we had a seafood dinner at another end of Batam. The boys helped to pick fresh scallops. We had crabs, flower crabs, seashells, fish, scallops etc. It was a feast yet we only paid SG$130 in total. That was really cheap.

In the bus, A1 and A2 were happily counting the many motobikes in Batam. We were amazed to see whole family on a motobike. The boys were alarmed to see that some did not wear a helmet. I could not understand how the adults would wear a helmet while their children were unprotected.  

While Seb took care of the boys at the pool, I did go out with the folks for massages. I paid 20€ for 90mins of massage. Recently, I went with a friend for a massage in France. I paid 100€ for 50mins. I do miss the cheap and good massage in Batam.

We had a good time in Batam. Two years ago, we visited Bali. We couldn't compare the two places of course. But seriously, Batam is good enough for us. The boys were just happy to be at the pool. Seb however would prefer a place with a nice beach. Maybe the next time would be Bintan.

We really enjoyed this family gathering. My boys got closer to my family during this trip. As for me, I am thankful that my SIL planned everything for us. I did not have to take care of logistics which made the stay even more relaxing.

I would recommend this hotel. There was not a big crowd maybe because of its location. My 2 boys had the big pool to themselves on one afternoon. This place is affordable and though it might be run down in certain areas, the friendly staff makes the stay really pleasant. They even performed welcome dance and breakfast dance. It lives up to its motto. Simple, Unique, Friendly.

Homesitters

During our recent Singapore trip, our concerned friends asked what we did to our pets. I explained to them that we got housesitters to take care of our house and pets. Most were amazed by this unexpected answer. Further discussion led most to conclude that this arrangement was not for them.

At first, this was what Seb thought too. He was not comfortable with the idea of having strangers staying in our house while we were away. But I had a colleague who had had his house looked after while he was away and things turned out fine. Putting Handsome in a pet hotel during winter was harsh and he would be miserable. Bao Bei too would not be happy away from home. While on Facebook, I saw an ad from TrustedHouseSitters. I clicked on it and read more about the service. Everything was listed clearly on the website and it had good comments from reliable references.

I took up a month's membership, put up a posting description our house, our pets and the dates we were away. Right away, I had almost ten requests. Mostly retired couples who wanted to see the world while helping out to take care of the house and animals. There were children books author, retired researcher, professor and teachers among these candidates. Most were from USA and Canada. As this TrustedHouseSitters is an UK website, most members are english speaking.

Since all of them have reports on police check and experience in taking care of animals, it was hard for us to decide who to accept. Based on first come first serve basis, Seb and I had a Skype conversation with Chris and Eve since they were among the first to write to us and were quick to reply which time I posed questions. They wanted to escape the cold snowy winter in Canada and France was an ideal place for them.

We decided on them and as planned, they arrived on a monday, stayed at a hotel for the night and came over to our place on tuesday afternoon. We brought them around the town to show them the essential stuff and the forest walk with Handsome. We had raclette for dinner and they enjoyed this chessy meal.

The next day, we flew to Singapore. During our stay in Singapore, our housesitters took great care of our animals. They were homely people and visited Paris only once. They visited Orleans, Chartres and Rambouillet and enjoyed my quiet village. I knew these because we communicated regularly by email.

When we returned, Chris and Eve continued their vacation visiting friends in Scotland before heading home. Pior to coming here, they had spent a week in England taking care of a pet lizard. All these for free. I provided free lodging for them and in return, they took care of my pets and my house. This is a win win situation.

We are blessed to have such ideal housesitters. I heard from my neighbours that the couple walked Handsome very often.

I do not mind using TrustedHouseSitters again in future if we have to be away for a long time. For the moment, pet hotel is ideal for that few days of getaway.