Summer break 2022: Estonia, Finland and around the region

 

Spring break in Cernobbio, Como & Morcote

 

Another one for the books

Adamian: Mama, look, Ayden is polluting the planet! (food wrapper on the floor)

Ayden: Can you unlock the child lock switch on my door? (But Ayden, next time a robber might again smash your window to get inside the car)

Ayden: If that didn't work, the robber would anyway smash the front windows to get in. (Good point)

Adamian: calin! (he asked for it in the morning before I left for work)

 

Adamian: At what age do we move out of the house?

Me: I don't know, 18? 20s? When you have a job?

Adamian: (started to cry)

Me: You don't want to move out because it means you won't be with mama and papa?

Adamian: (nodded his head while still crying)

Me: Awww (hugged him), you can move out whenever you want ok.. Even your tontons still live with mamy and papy in Melbourne (me smiling and also thinking how cute Adamian is for even thinking that far ahead)

Adamian: (waking next to me one of the weekend sleepovers) 'I like the sun rise, it's yellow outside' (and he held my held as we sleep and shared my pillow)

Adamian: there are 3 sushi (makis) left, so if we each eat one we can finish it! (me, Ayden and him)

Ayden: Can I buy the chocs for Mr Director? - Mama is an evil baby - Homborger hamborger, ,mystery box - It's raining tacos! - Sniff sniff

Menton

 

Bourg en Bresse

 

More cute sayings

Adamian: Mama is a zombie travaille

Adamian: What the! Man.

Ayden: Mama cari kraja arah Supercell developer of Brawl Stars

Adamian: I love you mamunyi (me), papunyi (Antoine) I love you Aydenyi 

Sometimes I hear Adamian saying 'I love you Ayden' so aggressively until Ayden says I love you back LOL

Adamian refers to Emojis as "Here I am" because of the emoji gloves

Adamian: Miels pop! Miam Miam Miam! (from cereal ad)

Adamian: When I grow up I am going to be an artist.

Sweet memories

 It was windy walking home from school. Ayden hugged me and we walked in a cuddle. He said that penguins do the same when it's too cold. :)

Bathroom walls redone

 

Painting the exterior sure made a difference to the house

 

Summer vacation in Avignon

Despite Antoine having had to do tests at the Pharmacy 3 times, we managed to travel around the Occitane region. There were not as many people as I thought there would be, probably because people went up North or avoided touristic areas. As Antoine only got his first dose of Pfizer, he had to prove he's negative for COVID-19 at all establishments: hotel, restaurants, museums, attractions, etc. I just showed by vaccine card since I got mine done in Swiss and do not have the QR code for the french health app.

I really disconnected this time around and wow it was so tough to go back to work today...

 

 

A list of my favourite movies (some mainstream and some underrated!)

 Platform (Spanish)

Battle royal (Japanese)

Searching

The invitation

Peppermint

Fargo

Upgrade

Three billboards

Riders of Justice (Danish)

Crimson peak

Gone girl

Ip man

Room

Blood simple

Snowpiercer

Extremely wicked shockingly evil and vile

The machinist

Equilibrium

A quiet place (I and II)

The wrong missy

Maleficent (played by Angelina Jolie)

Anna

Parasite 

American Pyscho

Titanic (classic)

Get out

Clueless (another classic)

Truman show

Split

Ex machina

The shape of water

The lovely bones

The handmaiden

Starship troopers

Pan's Labyrinth

The Guilty

The nice guys

Wild tales (spanish)

Under the tree (Icelandic)

14 peaks (Documentary)

Nobody

Mainstream ones:

Wonder woman (not the second one - WW84 wasn't that great)

Thor Ragnarok

Oceans 8

Charlie's Angels (with Kristen Stewart) 

Captain Marvel

All the movies with Harley Quinn in it (played by Margot Robbie)

Star Wars movies

Harry Potter movies

300 

Twilight

Venom

Aquaman

James Bond Casino Royale

John Wick

Shang Chi

Netflix:

The Witcher

The Mandalorian

Ted Lasso

Another list for the record

- Adamian to Ayden: 'Don't go to papa. It's a trap' (when Antoine told them to come there is a present).

- Mama: 'So what shall we do tomorrow on my day off?'. Adamian, 5 yo: 'Restaurant!'

- Ayden noticed a small amount of glitter on the carpet! He also noticed new tyres on the white car the day Antoine changed them.

- Adamian: 'I'm a genius!'. Also Adamian: 'I'm a cool cat!'

- Adamian: 'If you won't let me sleep with Ayden, I will not say I love you!'

- Ayden: 'So what happens when you retire? Where do you get your money from then if you don't work anymore?'

- One morning, found vicks on the floor. Adamian rubbed his feet with it, when he woke up in the middle of the night with a stuffed nose.

- Ayden wrote 'Important!' on a note which came from Philip's mum addressed to me.

- Ayden on 10 April 'How many days till 31 December?' Uhhh

- Ayden hugged me and left a sticker on my back!

- Ayden and Adamian in Solothurn: 'Danke!' 

- 'C'est toi que tu va'

- Adamian 'Why didn't you kiss me?' when I tiptoed out the room, thinking the boys were fast asleep. 

- Adamian and Ayden copied me: 'Another day, another dollar'

- Adamian is peculiar when it comes to his bed (need to ask first if you want to nap/sleep on it) ;p

- 'El primo!' 

- Adamian ' are there also camels where there is snow?'

- Ayden 'If the painter damaged the roof, does he have to pay?'

- Adamian 'Does the bus explode if too many people get inside it?'

- Adamian 'Papa, I touched a snake at the zoo. But it's not poisonous!!'

Tried and tested - best movies for kids!

I have two boys - 8 and 5 year old, and it's real tricky sometimes to pick movies they like which are not dull and at the same time PG rated. 

Here are some duds:

- Lion king

- Alvin and the chipmunks

- Flubber

- Lilo and stitch

- The neverending story

- Indiana Jones 

- Hot shots (1)

And here are some winners!:

- Castle in the sky

- Monsters Inc

- Labyrinth

- Turbo

- Wall E

- Pikachu

- Harry Potter & also the non-Harry Potter magical movies like the Fantastic Beasts

- Pinocchio (yes the classic Disney)

- Big hero

- Star wars (yay!)

- Iron Giant

- Spiderman

- Cars

- E.T.

- Lego movie

- Honey I shrunk the kids

- Mr peabody and Sherman

- The grinch

- Shrek

- Thor Ragnarok

- Finding Nemo

- Any of the Minion movies

- Puss in boots

- Transformers

- Mandalorian

- How to train your dragon

- Sonic the hedgehog

- Incredibles

- Cloudy with a chance of meatballs

- Onwards

- Back to the future

- Sandlot

- Asterix

- Home alone

- Avengers

- Johnny English reborn 

- Simpsons the movie

- Toy story

- Inside out

- Angry birds

- Shaun the sheep

- Hugo

- Chicken run

- Sing

- Mr Bean

- Shazam!

- Spirited away

- Rise of the guardians

- Flushed away

- Night at the museum

- Megamind

- Police Academy

- Arthur Xmas

- Shanghai noon

- Wolfwalkers

- Ponyo

- Spiderman: New Generation (cartoon)

 

-> You're welcome :p

Cuteness overload

 Another list for the books:

- Adamian came running like crazy to me while I was weeding in the garden saying,' Mama come it's important!'. When I asked what he wanted, he said he needed his vest because it's cold and he wanted to join me outside.

- 5 Feb 2021 - I hid a new lego set for the kids' entertainment during vacation above the cupboard in Adamian's old room. Ayden noticed it the moment he came back after school. It was not even at his eye level, nor did he even need to go to the room for any reason. He just noticed it. Right away. I remember even telling Antoine about it and saying let's test how quickly Ayden would notice it.

- 22 Mar 2021 - Adamian fell at the dinner table and I gave him a cotton pad to dry his tears. When he saw blood coming out of his nose, he panicked and the reaction was kind of cute? Can't explain it.

- 7 Apr 2021 - Came outside to check on the kids in the garden. I just see Ayden's top half inside a hedge with Hugo holding onto his feet, and Adamian watching. Too funny. He was getting a ball stuck in the hedge.

- When I pretended to 'complain' about one over the other, I just get a response 'Not my business'. Which is the exact thing I say when they come complaining to me LOL. 

- 'Ehhh Laisser mon banane' (Adamian)

- 'Kotey avec le poile' (Ayden)

- Mains en l'air! (Hands in the air) - Adamian

- Adamian was scared to see Ayden's dry lips (blood) so Ayden put on a mask.

- Adamian on the phone from Lyon: Mama? En fait, I love you! *flying kiss*

- Ayden on the phone from Lyon: What, you had noodles? Me: Not your favourites ones. Ayden: Ouf.

- 'Non, non et non!' Adamian's sleeptalking.

- Ayden noticed a new keychain for my housekeys (Australian): they were for my motorbike. He noticed right away.

AGAIN

France is again on another lockdown from the third wave of Covid cases. It started last Saturday 3 April. The curfew 7pm to 6am still stands but this time:

- Kids stay home the week before their vacation starts (so parents again are expected to fill in for the teachers while at the same time working their own day jobs)

- Travel beyond 10 km from your residence is prohibited unless for essential reasons

This will last for one more month.

God, please give me the strength and patience to endure another round of this confinement...

Ayden & Adamian

Last weekend, Ayden and Adamian were playing out in the snow. Antoine and I were both teleworking at the time. Ayden went inside. Ayden panicked thinking that Adamian went missing when Adamian didn't reply to his calls to go inside the house. I went outside quickly and found him - asked him to go inside. Ayden cried right away thinking for a second that Adamian went missing or that something bad had happened to him. 

I gave Ayden a hug and told Adamian to never play outside the house alone.

Side note, I also caught them reading books with their torch lights before bed in the same bunk bed (top one).

Too cute. Too cute.

Had to blog this cuteness

The other day we were talking about random things. Somehow we got into the topic of old age. Adamian suddenly looked at me very seriously. He asked me if there was a machine that could stop people from getting old. I said it doesn't exist. And then, he started crying like crazy. He said he didn't want me to ever die! After comforting him, he asked if he could sleep with me that night.

I didn't.

But I did sleep with him and Ayden exceptionally last Saturday night in our bed. Antoine graciously agreed to sleep on the sofa.

Life predictions

Just wanted to record my readings today for future reference. So for fun, my best friend and I decided to hire someone in Korea for a small fee to do a reading on what our future holds. I note again, it is only for fun..! My bestie did the translation from Korean to English during the one hour, and I wrote some notes down on a piece of paper.

Here is what he said is in store for me:

- Everyone has a different flow in life. The flow could be up and it could be down. It is a cycle of 15 years... so from the age of 1 to 15, 16 to 30, 31 to 45, 46 to 60 and so on. I am currently in my third flow - between 31 and 45. For each cycle, depending on when I was born (date and exact time) - a month is considered lucky compared to others. For 31 to 45, it is usually around August for me, and for 45-60 it will be around September (it moves).

- He discovered that I am a 'seed' in winter time. There needs to be some modifications or adjustments. This is not good because my flow should be in line with the rice harvest. Seed in spring, flower in summer, plant in autumn and rice in winter (this adds the most value because rice is more valuable in winter when it is cold and other foods are scarce).

- I am born with a good energy however, because for a female I should be born as a moon energy (and this is aligned). Males should be born as a sun energy. This makes sense for a heterogenous relationship when the sun and the moon should work well together.

- He said that 2010-2015 was a bad period for me (declining flow) - in this case I agree because career wise it was not the best period. 2004-2009 was good (I agree with this too). 2016-2017 my luck started to develop.

- 2020 and 2021 are the best periods for me in general. 2022 the flow peaks down again and some 'malfunctions' are expected. This could be in the form of abortion, or removal of body part. A hobby or habit may be taken from me. This is expected to last until 2027. There is nothing that can be done because it is out of my control and it is not my fault. My boss might also take revenge on me so he recommended for me not to hate him (as this could backfire). I could be excluded or not seen favourably. Or - even if I worked hard, only a part of the hard work will be visible.

- For 2021: the earliest lucky months for me will be in Feb-Apr 2021 and the latest the luck would come in would be in 2022. 2021 is a great year for me. July is seen to be the luckiest month for this cycle. Even if I do not try, my abilities will be seen and appreciated by many. So if I made an effort, things would go extremely well for me. This is a good time for me to create something, achieve success and even change the direction of my life. If I was to be offered a job, he said why not? I should get it unless it is beyond my abilities. There is a lot of movement in the beginning of the year for me.

- Financially, 2019-2024 would be good. Expenses might be low.

- For when I am between 46-60 years old, the following career options will offer satisfaction: cooking, taxes, accountant, law, exercise, medicine, therapy and travelling. I may even move countries during this period.

- The flow is explained in the concept of the development of a butterfly. From caterpillar to cocoon to butterfly. At the moment, I am a full butterfly. But later in 2022, the butterfly will have to disappear and the cycle will start again. 

- I should be careful with my health in 2020-2025.

Even if it isn't true, I had fun with the process!