Stuttgart

We spent Good Friday to Easter Sunday in Stuttgart. Had a great time catching up with Dominic's relatives. It was the first time Lucas & Chloe met their German counsins. Very historical...
A day after we arrived, we went to Stuttgart town. Dominic's old friend from his school in UK came from Paris to meet up with him. We had lunch together and did some sightseeing around Stuttgart.
Easter Sunday is the biggest holiday in Germany, even bigger celebration than Christmas. Everything is closed. We had plenty of food, wine and chocolates and of course laughters.
Weather was still cold and at times windy. At least it was not raining.

We had lunch with Dominic's friend, Lionel. We had Swabian food, kasespatzel.

Yes, that's MY shop!!!

We took a tram (but called S-Bahn) to a town up a hill. This tram is a mini version of San Franciso's. Nice houses along the hill.

Everyman's dream, Mercedes! We visited Mercedes Benz Museum and it is very impressive. When Dominic asked me to snap this picture, he said 'Guys only, in front of Mercedes'.

While we rested our legs and had beer inside the museum cafe, the kids had a great time playing with the lego. The older models of Mercedes in the background are 'cash and carry'.

Second egg hunts and more goodies.

White asparagus or spargel, are a delicacy in Germany and only available in early Spring. We love it. The aunty took us to the farm to buy fresh and she cooked for us. She even  bought a few kilos for us to carry home to my in-laws. She is such a wonderful aunty.

Third egg hunt. The kids are beginning to like Easter more than Christmas.

Lucas and his cousins, Marvin, Doreen and Janet.

Another playground....

Lucas is in haven...

Journey to Germany

The journey to Germany was not too bad despite the 13 hours flight and 16 hours in total.
We took Singapore Airline and transit in Singapore for 2 hours. Had our dinner at Hard Rock Cafe in Changi Airport.

I was prepared with all the pills to make the kids drousy but did not use them at all. They were doing quite good. The flight to Singapore was only 45 mins and not a problem at all. The flight to Frankfurt was 13 hours. It was a night flight and the kids went to sleep 2 hours after take-off. They slept for 6 hours and by then half of the flight time were gone. The remaining time was spent of iPad, playing games on the console and eat. I had 2-3 hrs sleep.

We arrived Frankfurt on Good Friday at 6am and at 6 degree celcius!! Wasn't expecting it to be so cold. Then we had to take a train from Frankfurt to Stuttgart to visit Dominic's relative. Then it was our home base for the next 2 weeks.

We all handled the jet lag quite well. We managed to stay awake until 7.30pm. and slept thru the night until 7am the next day.

  At Changi airport, and very excited about the trip.

Arrived at Frankfurt airport after the 13 hours flight. They both looked tired. Looking at the A380 that flew us there. We were pretty disappointed with the A380 economy class. It is just like any economy class, no bigger leg room. Just bigger plane with a lot more seats.

Waiting for our train to go to Stuttgart where Dominic's aunty lives and with whom we stayed with when we were there.We were pretty underdressed. It was 6 degrees celcius. 

First meal in Germany. Dominic's aunty prepared us breakfast. Hot chocolate and home made cookies.

Egg hunt came early. Dominic's cousin and family came to have lunch with us on Good Friday. They hid the presents in the garden and the kids have to find them. In Malaysia, the grandparents will hide the presents inside the house. The chocolate will melt in no time if it is in Malaysia's garden. That's the beauty of cold weather. 

 Lucas meeting his cousin, Joshua for the first time. They get along very well and were playing together.

Lucas and Chloe enjoying the playground. In fact, the kids enjoyed all the playgrounds. That's when they are the happiest. We visited the playgrounds in all the cities we visited and without failed, we had to make a stop to the playground everyday. This is taken from the aunty's neighbourhood playground.

 

The difference between Malaysia playgrounds and Germany playground is the ground in Germany is usually filled with sand and wood chips. The kids love the sand.

We took a walk in the aunty's neighbourhood. Look at the weather. It is supposed to be spring but sure looks like winter. Mind you, this is at 4pm+.

What Have We Been Up To?

Time flies....you hear this all the time.
We have some changes and seems to settle down quite well....
Dominic is on a project in town and now lives in a service apartment in town and comes back during weekends only. Because he is not around, I have to make some changes since I can't do it all...
On the days I have to go to office, Lucas comes back from school in a van (transporter). I can't pick him up anymore...
I stopped Chloe from here current playschool after this term which ends in end May. My original plan is to keep her there until term 3, because I can't send her home everyday anymore, so I stopped her. She will be at home for 2 months until Lucas has her term break starting end July and hopefully they both will go to the same school in September.
I dropped both kids to school in the morning, then go to work. I arrive office at 9am if the traffic is good and 9.30 to 10am if traffic is bad. Then at 11.30am I have to leave office to send Chloe home from school and will only be back to office at 1.30pm. Because I spend quite some time on the road in the morning, I have to catch up my work at night, after the kids go to bed. I can clock up to 150km on my car in a single day, but it is not the mileage that's bothering me. It is the traffic.
Hence, I have to stopped Chloe from her playschool. I felt bad as she enjoys her school...sigh...Oh well....only 2 months, then Lucas will be on his 6 weeks holiday and they can play until their hearts contents.

We went and came back from Germany.....

Naggy Me

A lot of serious conversation happened when I send the kids to school. I guess that's when they are buckled in and can't jump or run around.
Yesterday, on the way to school.....

Me: Lucas, remembered to do the homework Mummy told you before you play with your iPad.
Lucas: Mom, why do you keeping telling me things I've already know!
Mom: Err....if you know it, why didn't you do it?
Lucas: I've already know that and don't keep telling me!

Me: Lucas, today is Tuesday, you come back with Mrs Tay, ok.
Lucas: Yes, I know that! Every Tuesday and Thursday, I come back with Mrs Tay.

Hmmm....Lucas is already indirectly complaining that I'm nagging him. I must consciously tell myself not to do that! Gosh.....he is not even 6 year old!

Other events,

We were weighing ourselves.
Lucas is 17.1 kg and Chloe is 12.1 kg.
Lucas: Chloe is 5 kg less than me but she is only half my life (he meant half his age).

Once, I put a drop of Tabasco sauce on the kids' lips cause they refused to stop playing with their saliva. Today, Chloe came to me:
Chloe: Mom, kor-kor is blowing saliva.
Me: Did he?
Chloe: Yes. Put chili sauce on his mouth so that he remembers not to do it again.
Me: Errr....ok.