J u t z 1 B l o g

From where we left yesterday, this is for sure a not-so-interesting-day for ME, cause I don’t enjoy wine tasting LOL. But for Daddy, it’s like a gift from heaven. He’s been yearning to go for wine tasting in Australia since I’ve known him 7 yrs ago!! He just couldn’t get enough of it. Now that he’s gout free, he’s very happy that he’s able to drink wine again.

We visited a total of 4 vineyards, bought 8 bottles of wine to smuggle back to Vietnam :|.

1. Yering Station - very beautiful entrance they have
2. Punt Road - small winery
3. Domaine Chandon - award winning winery
4. Can’t remember the name, but it’s uphill

Well, it wasn’t as bored as I thought. I got to snap many photos at the vineyards. Using my wide angle lense, it’s really satisfying snapping all the beautiful scenery.

After all the 4 vineyards, we went back home to chill out and had some snacks. Then I went to nap while Daddy & Jonathan cooked dinner. We had baked drumstick with mustard marinate (Daddy’s recipe), Lamb Chop & Roast Carrots, Potatoes & Sweet Potatoes.

After dinner, the guys went for a drink while I stayed home and watched Olympics Closing Ceremony haha..Yup, I didn’t miss that even though we were on holiday :P.

PHOTOS OF VINEYARD & DAY 2 HERE.

to be continued…Great Ocean Road Drive…

I woke up about 5am Australia time and the 1st thing I did was to go next to the window and check out the weather. Whoa…it’s amazing cause it was pitch black with a hint of orange. Sunrise!! I quickly freshen up myself and went to get my gears. Then I took some photos of the pitch black sky with the orange sunrise.

We arrived at Melbourne Airport close to 630am. The immigration there is not very, but extremely strict!! They have 2 dogs to sniff for food/drugs at both different section of the airport. They question you when you don’t fill in the Immigration card properly.

Jonathan, Daddy’s friend picked us up from the Airport. It was very cold. 4 Degrees!!! Absolutely freezing for ME. But for Daddy he says it’s just nice :|. We dump our luggage at Jonathan’s house and went to Victoria Market for breakfast. The market is huge and it’s clean. There are many sections, selling various items.

After breakfast, Jonathan drove us around town to have a look at the buildings, the church, the new area (Docklands). Then we went to factory outlet for some shopping, where Daddy bought his Esprit Sweatshirt.

We went back close to 4pm to take a short nap and freshen up. By then I was feeling really cold. We went out for dinner later, meeting Peter (another of Daddy’s friend) and his family.

That’s all for the 1st day.

MORE PHOTOS HERE.

to be continued…Vineyard after vineyard…

Gotta take time-out the travelling post for an important announcement :P.

Yesterday, as usual in the morning I dropped the kids off to school. It was a strange day for Vyktore. Why? Because the day before, he slept till 11am. Then he took a nap from 4-7pm. At night he couldn’t sleep and tossed and turned. Next morning (yesterday morning), he woke up at 6am and started head-butting everyone to try wake us up.

Hence we all got off early and we were the 1st to arrive in school. I’d expect Vyktore to whine a bit as usual. That’s what he does every morning without fail for the pass 3 months. But yesterday was exception. He allowed the teacher to carry him while we bring the things down from the car.

I gave a kiss & hug to Faythe. Then it was Vyktore’s turn. Usually by now, he’d start to whine and want to follow me, but yesterday for once he didn’t. He just wave at me, with his hand holding his toycar. And said, “Ba-ba. Ba-ba” (Bye-bye).

Then I got into the car and wave to him. He looked a lil bit sad, no more waving “ba-ba” to me. But didn’t cry!!

Whoa….I have waiting for this day for so long from this lil man. At last he didn’t cry. Lets hope it continues at least until the end of school term.

Day 1: Vietnam

On Aug 21st, I flew to Vietnam to join Daddy for our trip to Australia (to fly on 22nd Aug). There are only 3 flights from Vietnam to Australia in a week, hence I have to be there early for my transit. This time round, I flew alone, no kids. It’s our yearly honeymoon trip. My first time to Australia.

Flying alone is pretty boring, cause I’m usually flying with one of the kids. Suddenly I feel like I have nothing to photograph. Anyway, as usual I landed at HCMC close to 7pm and we went home to dump the luggage. Since Daddy’s friends are either working/home leave, hence we went *pak toh* and have not so romantic but interesting dinner.

Daddy brought me to this throw-rice place. First time there for me. This is a very interesting restaurant. They serve claypot rice which is threw from one end of the restaurant to the other side.

The dishes served are Vietnamese style. Simply delicious, that’s all I can say. Check out my verdict in the web album.

After dinner, we walk around the town before heading home for an early night.

Day 2: Vietnam

We went to town to rob the bank before meeting our friend for lunch @ Au Parc (African Food). The restaurant setup is beautiful, the food: some was OK, some not so.

After lunch, we walk around the town and went to Post Office to take some photos. The last time we went, we only had a PNS camera with us. I love the Post Office. So big and very historical. Much better than our Post Office.

We head home after that as it was about to rain. Final packing before we leave for Australia @ 2100 hrs.

Daddy got his seat upgraded to Business Class since he works for them, but for me it’s economy class. But Daddy was kind enough to let me experience Business Class for 1st time in my life (muaks muaks to Daddy). So we swapped places.

The food was good, especially the dessert served. Yam with Sago and Coconut Milk. Daddy eat this every other day, and he’s so sick of it LOL.

So after supper, I watched onboard movie and then went to bed.

MORE PHOTOS HERE (1st 2 days in Vietnam).

to be continued…..Melbourne, here we come.

Today is a very special day. For once I did grocery shopping all by myself. Without having to lug the kids with me, since they will be staying over night at MIL’s place. I left the office 545pm and I finally arrived @ Tesco Mutiara Damansara at 630pm no thanks to the heavy traffic.

It’s not very often that I eat alone, but somehow when I have such a chance, I couldn’t decide what to eat, hence I decided to have KFC Spice Crunch for the 2nd time :P. I started my grocery shopping just when the clock strikes 7pm, pushing my trolley slowly and ransacking every nook & corner of Tesco. Yes, I never do that usually since the kids are with me. I usually do a dive, buy & run kinda grocery shopping LOL. But it’s very weird that even they are not around, you still think of them..half the load are the things I purchase for them, be it consumable or non.

This really tells me how much space they’ve occupied in my life…every minute, every second, every step I take, every lil thing I do, they will be part of it (even if they are not there physically).

OK, enough of feeling-empty-rants. There won’t be anymore newborn photos coming up for at least the next week (someone mentioned she had enough of newborn pics LOL). Will be posting up my trip photos, stay tuned :).

Recently I met a friend whom I’ve not met for years since college. I nearly couldn’t recognise her when I saw her figure. I still remember when she was in college, she was like the plummest lady you can find in the whole college. But when I bumped into her the other day, it was a total opposite. Which explains why I couldn’t recognise her at first until she mentioned her name to me. She must have been on alli to get herself into that figure. I’m really amazed.

2 weeks ago, the newborn itch is back. And with so many people giving birth, like Sue mentioned, it’s really tough to find time to juggle within work and photoshooting new born. By the time we shoot them, they are not so new :P.

YuQi, is the 2nd baby of our dear ex-BB schoolmate (same class as Sue). Her older sister, YuYi is just so cute and chubby, that I can’t resist to snap some pics of this lil one as well.

This time we experiment with new props: Rattan basket & Rattan Bag.

It turned out very well. My fav shot is the one on the rattan basket where I saw the reflection of the the baby and basket on the floor!! And of course the process of putting her into the red basket was really hilarious.

MORE PHOTOS HERE.

backdated post.

(Credits & details here)

When we were at Vietnam end of July, I received news that Sue has give birth to a healthy baby girl. Before I flew off to Vietnam, we’ve agreed and hope that she will not pop right after I fly off, so that we can take pics for her newborn when I come back. So it was just the right time :P. So few days after I came back, we arranged to photoshoot her much awaited daughter, Jolie. I brought my Vyktore along during the shoot, Faythe was at MIL’s house.

This is my 3rd time shooting newborn, 2nd time was for Chin Nee’s Twins, which I must admit shame on us, didn’t get much good shots :(. Not easy to handle twins hehe.

Jolie was very co-operative. After bathing and had her feed, she slept throughout the 3 hours and allowed us to position her in whichever way we want LOL.

I shot in RAW this round and used Lightroom to process the pics. I’m enjoying taking photos of newborn more and more because they are so co-operative and I’m able to work within a short span of hours. Post processing is also much easier compared to other photoshoot e.g. Wedding. It’s also less stressful haha.

MORE PHOTOS HERE.

backdated (x100).

Feeling the guilt as this is wayyy to backdated. We visited Chin Nee during her confinement, wanting to take photos for her pair of newborn twins boy. Sue, myself and my kids all went to visit them. We started off taking photos of just 1 baby, then we tried to put both of them together, but all hell break loose. It’s seriously not easy to take photos for 2 babies whom seems to mind having each other around. This mission is totally failed I must say :(. They didn’t want to sleep the whole morning even after feed :(. Whoa…shooting twins is really an uphill task. I really salute Chin Nee & her family for having to take care of 2 boys at the same time!!

Hence I end up only have a few photos of both of them together. The rest are mostly just 1 of them. Must arrange another session with them when they are older, hopefully they won’t cry when they see me hehe…

MORE PHOTOS HERE.

backdated post.

(credits & details here)

So the kids started their 1st year in Kindy in June and before we went off to Australia, they had their semester break. This is the 1st time I have to meet the teacher to discuss about their progress for the term. Though it’s a short 2 months semester, I could see improvement on them, especially Faythe.

They started off the 1st day pretty well, both didn’t cry. But the crying series started on the 2nd week, including Faythe!! To stop her crying, I made a deal with her. Everyday when I drop her at school, if she doesn’t cry, she will get a star. And upon 10 stars, she gets to choose a present. Hence I reminded her everyday how many stars she has and countdown to 10. Since then she was OK. Of course we got her the present (which she couldn’t decide what she wants LOL).

Vyktore on the other hand is a bit tricky cause I can’t throw him this idea since he’s only 2+. So I decided to be the stone-hearted Mommy and just let him cry everyday we arrive at school. He remembers the journey to the school very much. So much so that even when we drive pass that area, but not going to the school, he will start making noise. But teacher told me it’s only for few minutes. After that he was OK. He still cry now, occasionally, but it’s more like whining for attention. Once he don’t see my car, he’d stop and start joining the rest of the kids.

Here’s a record of their mid term review in summary:

Faythe

• expert with scissors - she started cutting when MIL introduced her to scissors at her place, but it was all out of shapes. Since she started school, her cutting has improved. She can cut base on circles, squares and other lines we draw for her.
• speech - she definitely has no problem talking (in fact teacher mentioned that she talks a lot LOL). She expresses herself very well and she’s never shy to seek for help when she needs to.
• drawing - before this, she could only draw stickman (without the body), leaving out the details such as nose & ears (and the mouth is always 1 straight line), now she’s able to draw stickman with eye lashes, a pig nose, a smiley and fingers too (stickman style). The teacher mentioned that she’s actually quite good in drawing for her age because whatever she draws, she’s actually expressing what she’s thinking. She’s able to relate what she imagines in her drawing, and to even tell the story of why she’s drawing that out. Probably we have to send her for art class next year.
• Academic - she can count perfectly. But in terms of recognising alphabets & numbers, she’s a bit slow. She’s only interested in a few numbers and alphabets, and once she mastered that, she thinks she knows all the 26 alphabets.
• Motor & fine skills - again, she’s very good at this, teacher is very impressed that she can jump, hop with 1 leg, feed herself, wash her hands, most of the things they don’t expect a 3yo able to do, she’s able to do it. I must say that she’s trained to be independent since young since she’s the oldest in the family.

Her weakness

• refuse to listen to instructions at times
• refuse to join in and sing along with rest of the class (but I notice she sings a lot at home with all the new songs introduced by the school)
• stubborn - yes that’s no. 1 in the list, we all know that
• dictator - yes, we all know that too. Because she’s the oldest in the family, she dictates what the rest needs to do. She’s like the queen. But in school, she tries to do that, but other kids do not want to follow. Hence sometimes it creates some tension and unhappiness on her. She told me she doesn’t like some boy cause he don’t listen to her. I had to explain to her that not everyone gotta listen to her. It’s about give and take, and not winning all the time. I’m still trying hard to drill this win & loose thing on her.

Vyktore

• expert in eating - although he’s a picky eater, he never have any problem chomping down loads of junk food (biscuits & what nots) and he’s the king in this area. He eats alot in school. He will finish his own portion, Faythe’s portion, and even the food provided in the school.
• speech - he has picked up a few words here n there in school, but it’s still very limited for a 2 yo. Though he doesn’t speak much, he knows where are the things very well. He knows where to find his favourite book (the one with the butterfly), he knows where to get his drinks & snacks, where are the toys, and when is the time to play.
• a hit to the girls - gosh..he’s only 2+, but apparently the teacher told me that most of the older gals like to play with him compared to other boys.
• quiet but not shy - according to his teacher, he’s very quiet and plays by himself most of the time. He is willing to join the other kids during singing sessions unlike her sister. The teacher also mentioned that he’s very good in the school, no jumping around like other boys (whoa…so different compared to at home LOL).
• affectionate - he shows his affection to everyone in the school by giving hugs and sayang generously.
• motor & fine skills -  he’s picking up how to open and close the water tap (this will soon lead to opening and closing the door). He’s also learning how to put on his shoes, those without strap behind he’s fine. He will just slip it on.
• obedient - unlike Faythe who likes to bend the rules, Vyktore will follow the rules and just go along with the rest. He will line up when it’s time for snacks and patiently wait for his turn.

His weakness

• speech for sure, as he’s not able to express himself sometimes, he gets frustrated.

I can see that both of them are so different in terms of character. Faythe has a lot of traits from Daddy in terms of her character, whereas Vyktore has a lot of traits from Mommy. This is so fair right :P. Being the oldest, obviously Faythe is more dominating, and being the youngest, Vyktore follows the rule of the game and obedient. Which explains why I’m more strict to Faythe to make sure she doesn’t bend the rules too often and become out of control. Because what she does, will be a good/bad example for the brother to follow. And knowing her, she loves bending the rules!!