Gown Fitting

Gal is preparing for her big day...she's so beautiful!

Here are some pictures tho it seems to be blurry:

Ear Piercing

Gal had her ears pierced on 9 Aug 2009 which falls on S'pore National Day and Guan Yin Dan. My mum said that it will be good to do ear piercing on Guan Yin Dan so we went ahead to do it on Sunday.

Gal felt the pain after the 1st earring is inserted on her right ear and she cried so loud that everyone is looking at her...she didn't want to do again on her left, she used her hand and shoulder to cover her left ear for a long time and I have to keep coaxing till she lets down her awareness and the 2nd one is inserted...sad to say, the left one is not aligned properly due to her struggle...so I will bring her to pierce again at another shop when hubby is back.

In our days, we do ear piercing in goldsmith shops so we tried to find goldsmith shop to do the ear piercing for gal in chinatown but nowadays, they do not have the service anymore. In the end, we approached a shop which does tattoo and piercing which is operated by "Chinese"...I'm not biased against Chinese but the professionalism is really not there...I regretted to have gal's ear pierced there because of the following:

1) I do not know if the "gun" they used to pierce is sanitized cos I did not see her using anything to clean it before use...
2) She did not apply the alcohol patch to gal's ears before inserting the earrings...
3) She only brought out the alcohol patch upon MY REQUEST! which was after the right ear is pierced!!!

For the past few days till now and the future, I'm really worried for gal's health...I'm at fault, I let down my caution on these little things, I should have asked and checked properly...

Lasik

Finally, I did my lasik on 26th July 2009 at The Lasik Surgery Clinic @ Paragon Medical Centre.

Here, I'm going to pen down my experience of the process.

Basically, the visit to the clinic consists of two parts which is the Evaluation and Surgery procedures. You can choose to have both evaluation on the same day or on separate days if you are a suitable candidate. For me, of course to save time, I choose to have both evaluation and surgery to be done on the same day.

From my case, the whole evaluation process took about 3hrs...and luckily, my parents and brother is there to entertain gal(brought her shopping and play) while I spent my time there. After all the evaluation process, I'm directed to see the doctor which I have assigned. I assigned Dr Marc Tay to be my surgeon for the surgery as my cousins and brother had asked for his service before. He told me that my cornea is higher than normal and suggests that I go for the Intralase(Bladeless process). Actually, I've decided to go for Inralase before Dr Tay's advice.

I was told that the surgery will takes about 2hrs so I have about 1.5hrs to spare to have my lunch as my surgery time is at 2pm.
At 2pm, there were three of us who will be doing the surgery and I'm the second to do it. In the resting room, eye drops were given to reduce the size of the pupil prior to the surgery. My pupil is not able to reduce its size when my turn is due..so I have to wait. My pupils finally reduced after the 3rd attempt of the eye drops which is about an hour or more later.

During the surgery, a rubber suction is used to suck the eyeball up(felt like someone digging the eyeballs) and to prevent it from moving and I can actually feel the laser cutting the cornea as it's warm. After it is cut, the vision is blurred and then transferred to the laser machine. I can see the surgeon open the flaps of my cornea and then each eye is being laser for 42s and 45s respectively. During the laser process, burning sensation can be smelt. After the laser process, I saw the surgeon closed the flap and brushing it to make it smooth. I was assisted to rest at the resting area again for 10mins, antibiotic eye drops and eye shields is given to each eye and I'm ready to go home.

During the journey home, I hardly can open my eyes, I even had my diner with my eyes closed. Basically, there's nothing I can do but to close my eyes to rest and luckily gal is well taken cared of by my parents. Two sleeping pills are given and we can take one after diner so that we can rest peacefully without disturbance. After a day rest, I can finally open my eyes and is able to see about 75%.

There will be three post up reviews. The 1st review is the day after the surgery and the second is about 2 weeks later. As for the third, I'm not sure yet but for me, will definitely be before I fly off to France again. As of today, the 10th day, I can say that I can see clearly with my left eye and as for my right eye, it's still blurry, will consult the doctor again when I go for my 2nd review...

My advice to those mummies with kids, pls go for the evaluation and surgery yourself and arrange the staff to bring you to the taxi stand and have someone to pick you from your block. Treat it as a ONE day OFF, don't worry about kids, babies etc...cos really can't do anything after the surgery.

I would like to say a BIG THANK YOU for hubby who supported me fully to go for the surgery and of course, my family members who took care of gal while I'm waiting at the clinic and resting at home.

Home Trip 2009

Well, the title says it all.

Yes, we are going back for our deserved home trip sponsored by hubby's company and we are taking off tomorrow 24th July 2009.

If you asked me whether I'm looking forward for this trip, I can tell you frankly my feelings are so so only. But when I tell Avril about this trip, she's so excited... she's excited over the plane ride, seeing all close kins and all the fun which will be expecting her when she's back...

We are all packed and ready to go.
To our families and friends in Singapore, here we come!
To our friends in France, we'll be back!

Tournesols et Cognac

We made a trip to Cognac on 18 July 2009 as our main purpose is to have some pictures taken with tournesols aka sunflowers.

We decided to go into the town of Cognac to join the Remy Martin guided tour, it had been abt 7-8years since we last visited Remy Martin located in Cognac. We had a different experience this time round as we get to enjoy their in house macrons and tomato with goat cheese to go with the different types of cognac specially prepared by Remy Martin. It was a wonderful experience.

From Drop Box

Sunflower fields can be seen everywhere near this region at this time of the year. Of course, we stopped to take some breath-taking pictures though the models are not fantastic but here they are...

From Drop Box

PS: Thanks Beny for these wonderful pictures!

Summer 2009

Some activities done during this summer...

Steph invite us to her place for swim and the kids really enjoyed themselves..

Kids Parc again with and without Papa...Papa do not dare to try out the new ride tho its meant for kiddies...kekeke...As it's the 1st time for me to take this type of ride, it's really thrilling! Luckily its meant for kiddie, I don't think I'm brave enough to take this ride for adults in carnivals...heheheee...

Conclusion from the pictures, Avril really enjoys all the water activities ;p

Gala de Gym 2009

Here are some photos taken during the Annual Gym event on 27 June 2009.

Avril was to do some workout which was setup by the instructer and she had to do a dance too after the workout. But I was disappointed(sad and angry!!!) that gal did not managed to do the dance as she was crying non-stop when she was hit by a French friend accidentally during the rest time(meaning running and chasing each other). Hence, no photos were taken for the dance...

Getting ready...

Gala de Chambrelent 2009

Avril's school had a Gala on 26th June 2009 which also marks the end of the school year and the start of summer holidays. Although the last day of school is on 2nd July 2009 but all schools will hold this event annually. The gala includes dance, games and food for the kids...

This year is a special year for Avril's form teacher, Agnes who is also the principal as she's retiring. The three of us(Singaporeans) shared a gift(a Swarosvki necklace) for her on behalf of the kids which she put on during the gala(can u see it?)...;p

From Drop Box

Attached here are some of the dance videos taken by Jasmine:

Bonne Fete Papa!

Happy Fathers' Day!

We had a Fathers' Day celebration on 21st June 2009 at Serene's place. This celebration was not made known to the fathers except for the host. All children(or I should say mummies) are to prepare a surprise gift for the fathers.

We planned a potluck lunch on that day but before the lunch, we asked the fathers to bring the kids to the indoor pool in the morning before heading to Serene's place. As usual, the kids had fun and thanks to Serene who always has lots of fun ideas for the fathers and kids to play together...

Our gift to Papa...a box of Tools chocolates...

From Drop Box

Hubby at Work

Finally, saw a video of hubby at work scenario...
Here it is showing how they work with the aircrafts during the Cazaux Airshow 2009 here earlier this month...can u spot him?

Gala de Danse 2009

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Ta Ta Ta Ta....presenting Avril's 1st Dance Performace on the 20th June 2009 at L'Olympia Arcachon with friends, Shannon, Jolie and Lixuan...
(Thanks Jasmine & Jason, parents of Shannon for the great video! ;p)

Pictures before the performance...

From Drop Box

Busy Weeks Ahead...

Well, why am I so busy? or maybe I should say us(Avril and me)....
Here's the list of the activities going on...

1) Gala de Danse (Dance performace by Avril)
2) Fathers' Day Celebration (Potluck)
3) School Year End Carnival (Dance performace by Avril)
4) Farm Visits (by Clapotis aka childcare)
5) Gym Year End Gala (Gym performance by Avril)
6) Summer Sales (Starting from 24th Jul)
7) Packing for holidays... ;p

Will update again soon...keep alookout!

Kids Parc

Here are some pictures during one of our days in Kids Parc...

 

Bonne Fete Maman!

Happy Mothers' Day!

Over in France, Mothers' Day is celebrated on the 1st Sunday in June. This year, it was on the 7th June 2009.

Although this year is the 2nd year Avril had given me this special gift but the feeling is different whenever I received the gifts each time.
This year, Avril had made two Mothers' Day gift. From the childcare, she made a card and from the school, a basket of flowers with a gift box and a plant thermometer(I guess this is the only thing which the kids had painted themselves...;p)

From Drop Box

Chef Avril

Avril made some Huat Kueh with Papa on a fine Sunday when mummy was not feeling well. It was easy as we used the Huat Kueh instant mix(given by Aunty Ivy) to make it. It was yummy!

From Drop Box

Carnival

Backlogs again...pls pardon me...;p

Carnivals like "Chinggay" can be seen whenever Easter Day is approaching.
I took a quote from Jasmine's blog, "It was some kind of celebration to wards off evils before Easter Day?? I am not too sure even though I have searched the internet.@_@"

Well, the school organised a Carnival on 20 March 2009. All children are to be dressed to attend the function. For us, the S'porean kids, we have 2 Princesses and 2 Darth Vaders...they were so excited about it...and indeed they enjoyed themselves on that day...see for yourself...

Semaine des Arts a l'ecole

It's the School Arts Week on 14 May 2009 to 19 May 2009. We, the parents were being invited to the Open House for the opening ceremony on the 14th May 2009.

I think the kids had done many craftworks as they are not able to remember what they had done in the class when being question by us during the expo.
Thanks to the class teacher who has given us a note beforehand on what are the craftworks which will be displayed...(which we discovered much later..hehehee)

Here is the list of craftworks on displayed by Avril's class:
1) 2009 Table Mat
2) Photo Frame
3) Tissue Box
4) Coasters
5) Multicolour Bracelet
6) Flower pot
7) Flower Swing Disc

I found 6 items during the expo except the flower pot..I've no idea where it is displayed. Anyway, their works are allowed to be brought back so I managed to take a picture of all Avril's work.

Some pictures to share...

Weekend GetAway to Amsterdam

After sending my dad off at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam on the 4th April, we toured around the city for 2 days.

We managed to go to Keukenhof, the flowers park followed by a city tour by bus and canal cruise for the short 2 days stay.

Ah gong Backlogs...Finale?

We tried to maximize our time spent with Ah gong during weekends but sometimes, it's just too tiring driving around...so here are some other misc pics to share...

28 March 2009 - Lunch at Entrecote Resturant in Bordeaux
This is the only restaurant with queues before it's opening hours(rarely scene in France). This restaurant serves only Entrecote, just like the name of the resturant. Once you are seated, you will be indulge with the ambience and the 1st question to be asked by the waitress is,"How you want your entrecote to be cooked?" There are no other choices of starter and main dish to choose from except entrecote and it costs 16,95euros(if not wrong)...but it's really YUMMY!!!


29 March 2009 - Playtime at Chambrelent playground
Since it was a nice and sunny Sunday, we went to the playground outside the school with Jasmine and May families...


16, 18 and 22 March 2009 - Arcachon Beach, Park and Sunday Market respectively

Ah Gong Backlogs...cont'd

More pics...

21 March 2009:
On this day, we had a long day with visit to Cognac, then to Bordeaux to attend LV Cocktail organised by Louis Vuitton meant for Singaporeans...;p

Our 1st stop Cognac, the homes to Martell, Remy Martin, Otard, etc...
Fact: Starting in the 17th Century, they were transformed in eau-de-vie (literally, "water of life") and improved by ageing in oak casks. Cognac is born. And this is how the adventure of a city that was to become the capital of a world class business began. For more info, refer to link:
http://www.cognac.fr/cognac/_en/2_cognac/index.aspx

As it's a 2hrs drive from home, days before we depart to Cognac, I had checked online for visits to Remy Martin, although the visit to the Chateau will not be open till mid April, but I suppose that the boutique will be open...hiaz..to our disappointment, the WHOLE cognac is a sleeping town when we reached...therefore, we took only 2 pictures witnessing Ah gong really went to Cognac...

Ah gong at the front gate of Martell...


With disappointment, we depart Cognac to Bordeaux to attend the cocktail which is organised by Louis Vuitton. Although, this is not my first time attending the cocktail but it's my first time taking pictures in the boutique...kekekeke...
Since this is a cocktail, of cos, there are some finger food(I should say it's authentic French cusine, really nice and presentable) and drinks(Champagne, juice, etc). On top of the food, they have special service catered for children...can you imagine, two beautiful ladies entertaining our kids...see for yourself...
But before reaching the LV boutique, there was a funfair going on, and we spent some time there with Avril...and after the cocktail, we had diner with my neighbours in a Japanese restaurant.


PS: Even if you are not getting anything, you can enjoy these food and services too...kekekee....but if you purchase something on this day, you will be able to receive a special gift by LV...

Ah Gong Backlogs...

Okie, I know that it's overdued as Ah gong has already went back to Singapore safe and sound but pls bear with me...

Here are some places where we brought Ah gong around when he's here with us...

1. 14 March 2009 - Saint Emilion (Vineyard)
Saint Emilion is about an hour drive from home and we brought Ah gong to see the vineyards, the wine cellars, sceneries etc and not to forget wine tasting. We managed to get in time for a wine tasting session by an underground cellar, Clos des Menuts Grand Cru and it's free with just a little tips if you are not purchasing any wines from them...we were given to taste 6 different types of red wines and 2 white wines...it's really great!

2. 15 March 2009 - Gourette (Ski)
No time to loose...we brought Ah gong to Gourette to ski...you must be guessing if Ah gong really ski...I think you have guessed it right...he didn't as something happened to him before we can reach the snow mountain.
While we were on our way to Gourette, our dear Ah gong is hungry but he NEVER say it out which leads him to having car sick and vomitting at the foot of the mountain. I was hopping mad(actually quite worried) at him as I had prepared in advance bread, biscuits and drinks to munch in the car if anyone of us is hungry during the journey and the bag of FOOD is right under his legs!!! After he "merlioned", he told us that he needs RICE to replenish his energy, ALAMAK! where to find RICE at the area of the ski mountain...so with no other choices, he just have to indulge himself in his bowl of carbonara and our fries...
After the meal, the three of us (Ah gong ask us to excludes him) played with the sled till we have to strip as it's really HOT!

more backlogs...keep alookout...;p

Playtime at Bordeaux Lac IKEA

Avril makes her 1st entry into IKEA playground with Shannon on last Saturday, 11th April. The rules and regulations stated that the playground is strictly meant for children ages between 4 to 7 years old.

Woohoo, Jasmine and I are so happy that finally the girls can invade into the playground as everytime when we went to IKEA, we had to tell them that they are still young to enter...and finally, we can shop without worries/in peace for a max of 1hr...kekeke...