Random Shots



Things have been pretty quiet as we settle in our new apartment. We'll go out to hit the playgrounds or the mall but otherwise it's quite nice just watching DVDs or downloads at home while sipping chococinno made from our new coffeemaker. Here are some random shots of our recent trip with the kids.

 

Yes I know it's a safety violation but Lexi wouldn't take off her sunglasses while balancing on this beam. At IMM playground.

 

Lexi and Andi cooling off at IMM playground

 

Andi at the coloring table at Art Garden, Singapore Art Museum

Andi exploring at Art Garden, Singapore Art Museum

Andi loved sitting on this 'broken chair'

Lexi and Andi with Walter the (giant) bunny. Lexi didn't want to pose for any pictures inside the museum but specifically asked to see Walter and to have a picture with him.

 

I loved this room which was plastered all over (floor, ceiling and walls) with illustrations of fairy tales. It had a mirror on one area where you could project messages, a tree, a bridge and of course a coloring area.

Dada and the kids

 

A Day At Adventure Cove With the Kids

My husband and I took leave from work so we could spend the extra long weekend with the kids. We've already been to the beach and Port of Lost Wonder a couple of times so this time round we wanted to try something new, we wanted to go to the newly-opened Adventure Cove in Resorts World Sentosa. So we prayed for sun and lo and behold we had nice sunny weather when we went yesterday. Of course there were a couple of false starts. We couldn't find the map online to figure out where to go and how to go there but I figured it would be near the Maritime Museum and SEA Aquarium and I was right. However, the signage was a little bit misleading so we ended up walking down a wrong path before turning round and finding the right way. There wasn't such a long line at the entrance and we got our entry tickets straight away. The entrance fee was quite reasonable - SGD29 for each adult and since our two kids were both below 4 years old, they got in free. We changed into swimming gear thereafter and rented a locker, which by the way was quite hi-tech, you had to go to an online terminal which accepts payment and assigns you a locker. Everything was keyless and you used your birthday as the code to open the locker. However, it was a bit inconvenient as you had to go to the terminal every time you wanted to reopen your locker. Anyway, everything sorted out, we took tubes and went down the lazy river which was sooooo slow (I don't think there was enough water pressure) and sooooo long (longer than the lazy river at the Waterbom Bali which we've also gone to previously). In fact it was so long, by the time we finished one round it was time for lunch. And so we trooped off to lunch at Bay Restaurant. It wasn't so impressive though. And warning to everyone going there that the food at the snack carts might be way more edible. I think the food's been out quite awhile so the hotdogs were tough, the pasta for the meatball pasta was also tough. The fish and chips were okay though. Anyway, I was telling my husband they should also have a system for money so you needn't bring your wallet with you. At Waterbom Bali, they gave you something that you loaded with money so all you had to do was flash this card or key, I can't remember now what it was, but you didn't physically have to carry actual money with you. But despite that bland lunch, we were all excited and my daughter especially wanted to go build sand castles. Unfortunately, her father told us to leave her sand toys behind and so she ended up digging sand with her hands. After that quick activity, we went around to explore the pool areas and kept going back to three places which were more suited for the kids: Seahorse HideAway, Bluwater Bay and Big Bucket Treehouse. We didn't really have time to line up for adult rides ourselves and just stayed with the kids but we had tons of fun, too much in fact that we had to drag the kids kicking and screaming away from the pools. But hey, looks like we found a winner here and we're gonna go back again soon enough. Meanwhile, pictures from yesterday:

Lexi and Andi making a sand mushroom

Me and Andi at the shallow wading pool at Seahorse Hideaway. She discovered how to lie on her tummy and kick and pretend to swim here. We especially loved that the flooring was a non-slip type of matting and not the regular smooth pool flooring kind.

 Seahorse Hideaway Sign

The humongous climbing structure at Big Bucket Treehouse. There were two slides and eventually, Lexi our 3.5 year old daughter decided she wanted to start sliding down the slides on her own and so she did. She told Dada at one point while waiting in line, 'Dada, you wait your turn, it's Lexi's turn now'. Meanwhile, Dada and I took turns sliding down the slides with Andi.

The slides were too close to the ground though, that if you slid down too fast, your butt would drag across the mat flooring of the pool once you hit the bottom of the slide (which happened to me the first time I slid down with Andi).

We spent quite a bit of time at Bluwater Bay as well which was a giant wave pool. The waves would come on every 10-15 minutes and we would hold the kids and try to jump the waves.

It would have been great if the shallow part of Bluwater Bay was made of sand though or matting instead of the current material it has now. My daughter ended up banging her knees in the shallow end a couple of times and she ended up with bruised knees at the end of the day.

A great way to end a full day of swimming is to share ice cream with your sibling.

A New Play Experience!!!

Like any other working mother out there, my cup runneth over from time to time with mommy guilt over not spending enough time with the kids and so I tend to compensate by going online shopping for new books to read at bedtime or buying more clothes for my budding fashionista (who is now obsessed with wearing only clothes with hearts on them) or by filling up our weekend calendar with various family friendly activities.

This is how I ended up paying SGD18 for each child (good for two hours play) to play in an indoor playground when there are tons of free outdoor playgrounds in Singapore.

In any case, I was intrigued by the SingKids PlaySystem and so I wanted the kids to try it out and not necessarily because I was wowed by the description of the playground on the company's website, which by the way I feel was quite liberal in their use of exclamation points. There should be a law against that! 

SingKids PlaySystem is unique and a brand new concept in indoor playgrounds! It's innovative and imaginative! Be wowed by bright and colorful soft play equipment and toys! Clean and safe, it's an exciting environment for the whole family! It's truly interactive play for kids and parents, not just parents sitting and watching their children!

SingKids® PlaySystem is stimulating and entertaining! Did we mention that it's fun? And a big bonus! It's open everyday so kids can play rain or shine, but we do require socks!

In any case, kids are fairly easy to please, I say throw some balloons around, have a couple of slides and climbing and jumping equipment and they're all set. Here's proof:

Lexi unsure which balloon to chase in the balloon enclosure 

 Trying to jump in this weird-looking fluorescent lit soft trampoline

Finding a nice place to sit

Going around this spinning contraption

Andi successfully not stabbing a bear with her chin 

 In the colorful ball pit, where Andi kept trying to sneak out balls. A little child saw her doing it and tried to grab it from her and bring it back to the pit but Andi successfully hypnotized one of the parents to bring the ball back to her. In fact, technically there's no shouting inside the playground but the attendants seemed to have gone deaf in her case and could not hear her screaming. This little girl has powers, I tell you.

Yay, Lexi looks like she's having fun!...but actually no, this was the look of alarm as she realized how unwieldy this ball seat was as she scrambled to stay on it, and fell after 5 seconds.

And so the kids had fun, mommy assuaged her guilt and all is well until mommy does overtime again and the cycle continues all over again.

Pirates of Changi Rise

My friend Nina had been inviting us over for the longest time to their condo - Changi Rise. She kept on telling me there was a pirate ship in their swimming pool and there was a beach in the condo complex. It seemed too fantastic to be true, but when we went there, we were amazed at the place.Yes, there is a pirate ship docked in a sandy pool and there's even a slide (she missed out that part). I can truly say this is the most kid-friendly resort condo I've been to in Singapore.

Of course upon alighting from the taxi and seeing the pool, my mermaid-in-a-former-life daughter immediately wanted to chuck off her clothes and put on her swim diaper. Um, wait, we have to say hello to our hosts first.

But eventually the kids made it to the pirate ship, and here are the pictures to prove it.
                                                                            

                                              

The pirate ship, which has two water slides and a tunnel. I wonder what other contraptions they have in other condos in Singapore though? Is there anything cooler and more awesome than a pirate ship in a sandy pool?

 

Lexi trying out the water slides

 

Yes, the water looks green (my husband says yellowish, but between the two of us, I would like to note that he's the one wearing glasses) and the bottom is actually sand

 

The water slide, though there wasn't enough water, and father and daughter tandem had to move their butts to get to the end

 

That was fun

 

Husband trying to catch up with a very spry little almost-three-year-old. 'Darn children move faster in water than a submarine!' 

 

Some of us decide to relax instead - here's Tita Zsa resting. Big night ahead of her, F1 events to go to.

Yes, it takes two people to get a squirmy little baby sunblocked and outfitted in full body swim gear

 Andi's turn to go into the pirate ship

 

This was Andi, the happy baby - before her older sister threw sand in her face. So yes,we got a bit of rough play and drama thrown in, but that's what you get when you have two kids.



 

Another new discovery, another reason to love living in the little red dot.

 





Rooftop Playground at Tampines1

More than anything my daughter loves to swim and even though we have a pool in our condo and I make it a point to have swim time with her 2-3x a week, I still want her to experience going to water parks and wet playgrounds so she can have fun with other kids.

Thank goodness there's a new wet playground in town. We read about the playground in the Straits Times and saw the reviews from a few mommy/daddy blogs. It only opened last weekend (March 10) but I felt it would be too crowded so we went on a weekday instead.

Here are a few pics from our playground jaunt...







I think the place is another great venue to bring your kids to and it's free! However, please note that it is a rooftop area and can get windy at times so if you bring your kids in the late afternoon, they shouldn't stay too long as they'll be freezing cold after awhile. I'm sure they won't notice this and complain as they'll be too busy running around the different water spouts so as a parent you'll have to be watchful.

Another thing, though most areas are made of a padded material and therefore safe, there is one area (see middle pictures, the one on the left) where they have pretend rocks (or could be actual rocks) which I think are a bit dangerous as children kept stepping on these things and could possibly slip and hit their head. I was worried especially as this was where my daughter wanted to stay and so we just had to be extra careful.

Still, despite these, it was a great new space for kids, we had an absolutely wonderful time and will surely be back soon!

What to do with kids in Singapore

When we were in Manila I was at a loss about what child-friendly activities I could do with my 2 year old daughter that wouldn't cost too much. We mostly went to Gymboree in Greenbelt 5 where she could run, climb, jump and have fun without me worrying too much that she would hurt herself. However, at P260 per hour (member's rate), those Gymboree visits do add up after some time.

It's a good thing here in Singapore, there are a lot of child-friendly malls. Child-friendly meaning there are usually dedicated baby changing / nursing rooms and play areas or play courts that are free for children's use. One such child-friendly mall that I love going to is Vivocity. It has a large outdoor play court which has several features such as a waterspout area where kids can run and play with shooting jets of water as well as tunnels, slides, merry-go-round, and swings. You can also rent motorized cars for the little ones.

But mostly kids love the waterspout area. In fact, parents with kids who go to the area end up spontaneously buying swim gear from a shop conveniently located across the playcourt as kids tend to strip down and start running around getting wet when they see the water. Good thing we came prepared (rashguard. check. sunblock. check. towel. check.) though that didn't stop my little one from stripping down when she saw her new friends were running around in their underwear or in regular diapers. And yes, it's extremely difficult to try to put a rashguard back on a child when the child in question is not only naked and wet but squirming all over the place but hey, that just adds up to the fun.

 Water fun @ Vivocity!