Friday, September 24, 2010

9th months


Two days after she turned 8 months, she started to crawl. Now she is venturing into every corner she could reach in the apartment, we need to constantly keep an eye on her.


We have no choice but to put her in a closed playground. She does not stay too long inside, she yells and yells until we come to pick her.


We added French green bean to her diet. You can see that she loves hams, they were added into her mashed potatoes.


She loves to be carried around, so it suits her well to sit on daddy's shoulder.

The highlight of the month is of course her first long distance trip to the Jura Mountain and Switzerland.


She slept most of the time during the journey. When she woke up she got great-grandma on each side waiting to pamper her.


She fit well inside daddy's backpack. She is ready to go hiking with him.


Discovering hiking with us in the Jura Mountain.


Arrived at the destination after 1.5 hours. Bravo Aelig!


Crossing the French border towards Geneva Switzerland. This was the first time both Aelig and the 89 years old grandma visited Geneva. Hubby and me had been there in 2009 when my family visited France.


Posing at the lake Les Rousses overlooking Switzerland.


Visiting a cheese factory. See how many cheeses are stored here for fermentation.


The cheese girl.


This is not an advertisement. Anyhow, if you would like to hire her to endorse your product, please contact me. :-)


Four generation: great-grandma, grandpa, daddy and the little Aelig. She is a lucky girl to have so many family members who love her dearly. The next milestone in her life is to fly over to Malaysia to be with another group of family members. Another family reunion in her agenda!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Doggy bag in France: yes or no?

I found it funny that sometimes I could do things that hubby won't simply because I'm not French. He won't do it because "ça se fait pas" = not a common practice in France.

Example, our grandma treated us to a fine Indian restaurant during our vacation. Both of the grandmas are not big eaters resulting in a lot of leftover. We finished their plates but there were still lots of rice untouched. Those were very delicious rice and I didn't want to waste it. When the waiter approached us, I nicely requested a doggy bag and he agreed immediately.

Once the waiter left, one grandma told me that she would never asked because in France they do not ask for a doggy bag in restaurant no matter how much food left. They all admired my courage to do this as they think it was the right thing to do.

Well, sincerely I do not see this as problem. I know it is not common in France, but I would rather ask then waste the food, plus the waiter could very well rejected my request if he felt reluctant. Instead, he properly packed the rice and it served us well for the next dinner.

We don't always have to do what the French do, do we?

Sunday, September 19, 2010

They worth our respect

Despite the car incident, we arrived safely in Divonne Les Bains and had a splendid time hiking around the area.

I would like to pay my respect to both hubby's grandmas: one is 80 and one is approaching 90. They hiked with us on the Jura Mountain. Together with them we did several hiking and managed to have magnificent view including the Mount Blanc.


Grandmas making effort and following us up to the mountain.


She had some problem with her feet, each step brought her pain but she didn't give up.


A little victory gesture à la Malaisienne when we arrived at the destination.


We are rewarded with a breathtaking view!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Talk about bad luck!

We were supposed to be in Divonne Les Bains today for our one week precious vacation in the mountain.

Things didn't turn out as planned, our car broke down on the way there. Smoke coming out from the engine and we thought the car would caught in fire. It was 3am, we were cold and tired with a baby and two grandmothers. Our insurance sent a towing car two hours later. They sent a taxi to pick us up and booked us a hotel in another city closeby. Since it was the weekend, the Renault garage was closed, and the insurance agent had a hard time finding us a rental car, everything was fully booked. Finally, a taxi sent all of us back to Nantes.

We will try again with my car tonight. Wish us luck and hope we could restart our journey uneventfully.