un bon week-end
Bao and I have caught the first bug that heralds the start of sick season. Last year, one of the other mothers told me that the kids basically have runny noses from September to March. I laughed politely, but as it turns out, she was right! We probably caught something while traveling around Lucerne; The Bun had some sniffles and a cough but he's bounced back quite quickly. I'm the sickest one in the family right now with nonstop coughing and what feels like a permanent headache. I took Bao and myself to the GP on Friday and our total bill for medication alone is nearly 230CHF. The invoice from the doctor hasn't arrived yet so I don't know how much that costs - probably about 200CHF or so I think. That makes a total of about 430CHF (S$576). Thank goodness for insurance.
Coughing and sleepless nights aside, we still tried to make the best of the weekend. Saturday morning was spent at Ikea picking up some frames for a photo wall project J and I are working on. The place was surprisingly crowded, and the kids were stirring each other up so we tried our best to have a quick shop but nonetheless still managed to waste at least two hours inside. The Bun and Bao were annoying us so much that J and I decided to split them up - I took Bao home for her nap while J took The Bun to the Asian grocer to see if there was any roast duck on sale. The last time we had roast duck was in February, for Chinese New Year, and The Bun had been asking for it ever since. They came home with an entire roast duck (34CHF) and we ate gleefully, fingers glistening with oil.
Later that afternoon we went into Old Town to see a (very small) exhibition about scientists and to walk around enjoying the sunshine. It's fun to play tourist once in a while. The kids played in the playground and collected chestnuts at La Treille, which is where the longest bench (120m) in Geneva is located. We sat outside the Cathedral and listened to a busker play Bach on his violin. As we descended from the Old Town back towards the lake, the kids spent some time watching old men fish for perch from a bridge.
Eventually we had dinner at Yukiguni, possibly Geneva's first ever ramen bar. It was a nice change to the restaurants we usually visit, and the food was fairly good, albeit pricey with one bowl of noodles averaging 24CHF. The best part was getting to eat outdoors in the cool weather - I don't think we'll be doing the same in a month's time.
Today J and I somehow managed to mentally block off the sound of the children playing/arguing in the next room and got to lie in until it was nearly 9am. After breakfast we drove to a farm just outside Nyon for a panier gourmand, which is basically a fancy word for a farmer's market. We picked prunes and table grapes fresh off the vine and also bought a couple of pumpkins and some wine. The kids ran around, drank freshly-pressed apple juice, and admired the cows. The cows were actually not within sight because they were in a field behind a big barn, but we could hear their cowbells and just followed the sound. I do love the sound of cowbells.
The afternoon was spent at the Jardins Botanique, walking amongst the trees, collecting pine needles, and just lounging around letting the children run free. Everyone was out soaking in the sun. Bao was alternately cute and infuriating - one moment trying to skip along like her brother, happily singing 'bye bye grass!', the next moment writhing and screeching 'do it! do it!' (i.e. do it myself!) and refusing any assistance walking down a steep slope towards a pond. The exercise did them lots of good. They both fell asleep in record time tonight.
Another week beckons. It's almost October!
Coughing and sleepless nights aside, we still tried to make the best of the weekend. Saturday morning was spent at Ikea picking up some frames for a photo wall project J and I are working on. The place was surprisingly crowded, and the kids were stirring each other up so we tried our best to have a quick shop but nonetheless still managed to waste at least two hours inside. The Bun and Bao were annoying us so much that J and I decided to split them up - I took Bao home for her nap while J took The Bun to the Asian grocer to see if there was any roast duck on sale. The last time we had roast duck was in February, for Chinese New Year, and The Bun had been asking for it ever since. They came home with an entire roast duck (34CHF) and we ate gleefully, fingers glistening with oil.
Later that afternoon we went into Old Town to see a (very small) exhibition about scientists and to walk around enjoying the sunshine. It's fun to play tourist once in a while. The kids played in the playground and collected chestnuts at La Treille, which is where the longest bench (120m) in Geneva is located. We sat outside the Cathedral and listened to a busker play Bach on his violin. As we descended from the Old Town back towards the lake, the kids spent some time watching old men fish for perch from a bridge.
Eventually we had dinner at Yukiguni, possibly Geneva's first ever ramen bar. It was a nice change to the restaurants we usually visit, and the food was fairly good, albeit pricey with one bowl of noodles averaging 24CHF. The best part was getting to eat outdoors in the cool weather - I don't think we'll be doing the same in a month's time.
Today J and I somehow managed to mentally block off the sound of the children playing/arguing in the next room and got to lie in until it was nearly 9am. After breakfast we drove to a farm just outside Nyon for a panier gourmand, which is basically a fancy word for a farmer's market. We picked prunes and table grapes fresh off the vine and also bought a couple of pumpkins and some wine. The kids ran around, drank freshly-pressed apple juice, and admired the cows. The cows were actually not within sight because they were in a field behind a big barn, but we could hear their cowbells and just followed the sound. I do love the sound of cowbells.
The afternoon was spent at the Jardins Botanique, walking amongst the trees, collecting pine needles, and just lounging around letting the children run free. Everyone was out soaking in the sun. Bao was alternately cute and infuriating - one moment trying to skip along like her brother, happily singing 'bye bye grass!', the next moment writhing and screeching 'do it! do it!' (i.e. do it myself!) and refusing any assistance walking down a steep slope towards a pond. The exercise did them lots of good. They both fell asleep in record time tonight.
Another week beckons. It's almost October!