The-Upperroom.com

I am not particularly fond of snakes! In fact I hate them *actually I am scared to death of them*! and the children know that. I got lots of teases from them when they know the year of the Snake is cominggg! aissh!

The Friday before the Chinese New Year weekend, from the little girl’s diary (how not to know, when it was reminded at least 2 times) we were told that the girls should come in their cheongsams and bring 2 oranges! With the funeral and the shift just days before, I really had to make a last minute dash to Holland Village during Thursday lunch to get the girl something to wear so she does not become the only one in class in her school uniform attending the CNY celebrations in school! *sweat*

This is the little dress! I really like it! Not too ching-chiong yet perfect for the occasion!

And all the time, there was a little voice in the background, mumbling that he MAY also have a CNY celebration and all the adults neglected to check until its Thursday night and horrors of horrors, there really IS a celebration going on and he has nothing to wear too! I remembered a ex-Japanese colleague gave me something ethnic Japanese for the boy before but he was never big enough to wear it. I went to dig it out and gleefully told him Japanese boys wear that to celebrate their new years! (when i have absolutely no idea if that is true!)

Pleased as punch!

Every year’s reunion dinner with my mum is done outside. This year we chose the Imperial Treasure restaurant at Great World City. Our reservations was at 8.15pm and by the time we were seated down, it was already 9 pm! The poor starving children!

Po-po with all her grandkids!

We had the usual steam boat dinner with my mil and sil at our place and the kids got to stay way past their bedtimes!

The first day of the Lunar New Year this year was a Sunday and we chose to honour God first! and off we go to Church!

Pink is the theme this year!

After church, it was off to my mum’s for the usual Chu Yi lunch! As usual we tried to take a shot with all the kids and it was an uphill task!

Best we can managed!

We trooped home to catch a nap before going off to my mil’s for the usual Chu Yi dinner. And because I (YES ME!) thought it would be sad if cookie did not have some of the sumptous beef we were having for our steam boat, gave her just a bit! and I was greeted with a kitchen full of wet poo! and so YES, i spent the afternoon of the first day of the Lunar New Year scrubbing the kitchen floor!

Woke the troop up at 5pm and we went to my mil’s place.

HO HO HO! Ang Baos! HERE WE COME!

We spend Chu Er with friends at Legoland. It wasn’t overly crowded in the morning but more people streamed in in the afternoon when the sky brightened up and looked like it may not rain. We enjoyed a morning of overcast weather!

Posing with friends as FRIENDS!

We stayed until 8.15pm for the fireworks and what a spectacular fireworks it was. It was a full 15 mins worth of display accompanied by music. I actually thought it’s even better than our hoo-ha National Day fireworks which is like, erm, 7 mins? 9 mins? To top it off, we were given 3D glasses that when you view through it, you actually can see lego bricks popping out from the fireworks. Initially when we were first handed the specs, the children were exclaiming “hey i see lego everywhere!” The adults dismissed the comments as we thought they were making it up but when we donned the glasses, we realised the 3D glasses transformed any bright light sources into lego bricks so that kids were not lying! Muahaha!

Chu San was a lazy day spent at home. I am someone who is never big on CNY and CNY visitations and this year with a valid reason that I cannot go and Bai Nian, it suited me just fine! and before we knew it, it was back to school and back to work!

I woke up at 6am that day, Wednesday 2nd Jan. Went over to her bed and saw how that little face in still in deep sleep. My thoughts fleeted back to a similar day 4 years ago when she was 2 years one months old and waking her up for her first day at pre-nursery. It was a sweet memory, same cherubic face, same sweetie but argh! now no longer a pre-schooler! And about to make her first foray into the big bad world all by herself!

She drowsily woke up but immediately perked up when she realised its time for her first day at primary school. We rushed through the morning rituals and dashed down to try and catch the school bus which is due to come at 6.40am.

My phone showed 6.39am when I was walking towards the gate but I saw a huge group of women walking back, I think something was amiss and indeed! We have MISSED the school bus. Not a very good start I must say, we went back and drove her to school. We live 3 bus stops from the school but the queues getting into the school was at least a 10 to 15 mins wait! Then another booboo, I forgot to write her returning bus number on her tag so rushed to try to find her in the sea of girls! *sweat*

After that I did not see her anymore. All the parents were ushered to the hall for briefing and I left halfway so as to bring the little boy to his new kindergarten for his first day as well!

A check with the other parents on the second day revealed that the school kept the parents in the school hall until about 10 minutes to the end of the recess so most of them did not manage to spot their girls as well. I guess there were some grumbles about that so on the second day, we were all allowed to leave in time for recess to observe what goes on!

TADA! Spotted her on the way to recess!

We were also not allowed within 100 metres from the classrooms at all these two days! So with the recess opportunity, the parents made a beeline for the classrooms!

Happy with her new school!

I think the school did a good job with the first two days. It was orderly and the kids were settled in very fast. The brand new school compound is huge and looks fantastic! It was by the pure grace of God that we managed to get her into this school so I think by God’s grace also she will have a great primary school life here!

At the time of this writing, I have already been to Legoland more than one time, maybe 3 or 4 times? and Hello Kitty Town once (another post for that!) To say that the children really enjoyed the place would be an understatement! They simply love the place to bits! and no wonder! because the park was built exactly for little children like them!

The first thing we saw when we dashed in was the miniland! You should have seen how their mouths became cute little “O”s when they saw how exquisite the re-construction of famous places were done with the lego bricks! and the little details put into the structures…families having picnics, and moving vehicles, there were just so many little details to capture the little minds!

It was blazing hot!

We chanced upon this yo-yo ride (Talia’s term) which Talia took for the first time last year when we were at Sea World in Gold Coast and the little boy was too scared to get on. This time we managed to persuade him to try it!

Not just once! But three times! ?

The Park is fairly large (at least much bigger than Universal Studios Singapore) and we just trooped around without a fixed idea of how we are going to explore the place. We came to I think Imagination Land and the musical fountain plays music when it detects motion. This caused the little girl to run many rounds around it!

There were also many amazing lego structures scattered all around!

Respite came when we spied a huge tentage below which was a playground. It spots some climbing structures and a little train as well.

We continued walking around and concluded that the park was nicely constructed with different ambience music for different sections. There were also little play areas with lego for play cordoned off so while parents queue, little kids can play. I like that very much!

Talia and her papa went off to ride the scary dragon roller coaster while I kept the little guy company. He declared he had enough after we rode the dragon apprentice roller coaster which was supposed to be a tamer version of the actual dragon roller coaster.

After which they went for several times on the Royal jousts which essentially is a mechanical rocking horse that goes round and round!

It was rides galore! We played from 10am to 8pm! And with the annual pass I have gotten for ourselves. We are sure we will be back many times more!

And so I shifted in late September. Finally.

The packing was done during the month of September! Actually the actual packing was done about 2 weeks before the shift. The other preceding 2 weeks I was in a massive throw-everything-at-sight exercise! Given the luxury of space, I had no idea I have hoarded so much stuff in the 9 years I have lived at Bishan. It was scary!

It was stressful to say the least and coupled with the fact that the hubs was away for 8-9 days and only returned 2 days before the actual shift, I fell so sick that I needed two courses of anti-biotics to get well where normally I don’t fall prey to the viruses circulated by the children at all. Both children were also on two doses!

And I think about 2-3 nights before the actual shift, surrounded by all the boxes in the bedroom and alone in the bedroom, I gave in to a huge crying fit! Its embarrassing to talk about that right now but seriously how do people leave a place where so much memories are made? Both my children were born while we were staying here, they took their first steps on the marbled floors of the living room, ate their first meal here on the trusty teak dining table and so many other firsts happened here! We came in with 2 persons and 2 luggages and left as a family of 2 adults + 2 kids + 1 doggie and 100 boxes of things!

I would always carry the lovely memories of Bishan with me, the nights of feeding the babies in the wee mornings and looking out the window and spying on my neighbours, the wonderful breeze that blows in when we are having our meals, looking (and shouting) at the children when they are at the playground, strolling happily as a family to Bishan Park which is 5 mins away and many many more memories!

A good friend told me as a family, we will go somewhere else and continue to make new memories! Yes and so we shall! but the first home will always remain very very special! Thanks for all the memories, my dear 261, may the next family be as happy living there as we did!

We did quite a lot of Sentosa in August and September.

Firstly, we held contrarian views regarding how crowded it would be on National Day at Universal Studios and took advantage of a cheap $47 ticket to visit USS. And to add to our glee, we were chosen to be the First Family to open the park so we were ushered in to wait in air-conditioned comfort before we emerge and declare the park open!

The little girl were amazed at all the mugs in the waiting room! while i was keeping an hawk’s eye that NOBODY breaks anything!

Naturally, given the headstart (already in the park vs everybody on the other side of the gate, we were the first to stomp into the Transformer ride. The little boy was given the clearance to ride and being the naturally cautious and slightly scardey cat character, hesitated and told me “erm, maybe they should measure me again without my shoes..?” Before he could finished, I already swept him and everybody into the ride!

Throughout the ride i was too busy trying to hang on to his 3D glasses on his nose to really enjoy the ride. but obviously once was enough for him! Talia Ann loved it so much that Daddy went with her a second time!

Yes! once is enough for me! Thanks very much!

We chanced upon the sesame street characters dancing on the streets and took a few shots! I think I love the characters a lot more compared to the children!

Ahh! but then again, they do really like Elmo too!

Amazingly the little boy was able to get up almost all the rides except perhaps the battlestar Galactica. So it was rides galore for the kids. The little girl obviously is more of a thrill seeker compared to her brother so she went multiple times on the Enchanted airways which is the mini roller coasters for kids. The canopy flyer was a bit heart stopping for the little boy as it really went quite fast and with legs dangling in the air to boot, I told him to start screaming so he will feel better!

Some rides were tame like the Treasure hunter which you sit in a self-propelled jeep and see some really fake-looking snakes and crocodiles!

Being the First Family, we were also given i think 7 fast passes that will allow us to bypass the usual queuing and guess what? the queues were so manageable that we were left with 3 fast-passes unused at the end of the day!

The shrek 4D show was again a hit with the kids!

This time we went to the Donkey live show and Talia Ann has a Q&A session with the donkey! and I still can’t figure out how is donkey able to “chat” with the little girl in that eddie murphy’s voice? Unless there is a computer program that changes the voice of whoever that is behind the stage talking to Mr Murphy’s voice?

We got ourselves a nice vantage point to watch the parade.

We stayed for the after hours at USS, enjoyed the food and drinks and let the children goofed around until the fireworks at 9.30pm before heading home!

And in September, we booked ourselves on a staycation at Festive Hotel.

The loftbed was a hit with Talia Ann right away!

Needless to say, the pool with sand in it at Hard Rock Hotel was another hit!

We had buffet dinner at Hard Rock Hotel and

buffet breakfast at Festive hotel! Stuffing ourselves silly!

After breakfast, we went to the Maritime Experiential Museum.

The little guy checking out the map! He’s a real sucker for maps that boy!

We went in on discounted tickets from that National Day Discounted package thingy and had totally no expectations for the place and were pleasantly surprised at how child friendly the place is!

Lots of interesting facts for the adults and visually-pleasing stuff for the children to look at!

We were all given a little booklet where we could go and punch out little motifs along the sailing route! The two little ones had great fun matching the names on the required locations in the booklet with the various punching stations along the way!

Along the way, there were also lots of interactive activities. First stop, it was a colouring station for shadow puppets!

Then it was a colour-and-fix-it paper junk boat station!

It was interesting for me to really see up close how does frankincense and myrrh that the three wise men carried when they went to see baby Jesus!

The boy could also steer a boat electronically in a PC game! Needless to say, he enjoyed that lots!

The place was nearly empty so we really could roam around happily and enjoy every exhibit!

The highlight of the MEMA is the Typhoon Theatre which is a 3D (or is it 4D?) show which you can experience personally how it feels to be in a junkboat in the early days! Lots of wind and water and rocking and finally to sink! That was fun!

The girl posing with what I think is a bullock cart? (oops! not sure!)

I love these two shots! Hilarious!

Another exhibit which we enjoyed greatly and spent a fair amount of time at was this ceramic vase decorating game. You create your own ceramic vase and then decorate it and offer it up in a sale to see how much it would fetch! The husband I think was the one who really enjoyed this! Talia as well!

An artist impression of what kind of exotic animals and goods would have been sailing away at those giant junkboats of times past!

We spend the late afternoon again at the Hard Rock pool and left sentosa exhausted but happy! It has been a extremely enjoyable staycation at RWS!

The little boy turned 4 years old in July! We decided to have a party for him inviting all his friends to come celebrate with him. The last time we celebrated in a big way for him was when he was 1 year old and he probably didn’t know what was happening. But this round, he will be fully aware of what’s happening and we really wanted him to have a unforgetable birthday with friends he played with throughout growing up! The sheer number of almost 30 adults and 17 kids made the humble abode unsuitable and since we had a very successful outdoor party at the Botanical Gardens for the girl before, we thought it would be fun to hold the boy’s one at the newly re-done-up Bishan Park.

I was also sick of the usual mini buffet food and decided to order food from Qiji which is famous for their laksa, mee siam, nasi lemak and popiah (incidentally i ordered all these!) and to add to the fun, the popiah i ordered was even the DIY ones.

The few hours before the party at 5pm, I had reports from everywhere that it was raining in certain parts of the island but as I looked up at the patch of sky above Bishan Park, it remains clear even though just ahead, it was overcast! God was faithful to the little guy’s prayers, and in His usual overflowing ways, when the party started at 5pm, we had to hide under a pavillion because it was so sunny!

The Qiji delivery guy was also thumbs-up! He sat at the car park waiting for me to arrive at 5pm, then ferried the food from the car park to where we were originally sitting, then ferried the food to the pavillion where everyone wanted to hide under from the sun’s rays with not even the slightest comment! His countenance was friendly throughout and he patiently set up all the food to where we indicated him to. But before he got to work, he did asked me again very carefully that THIS IS really where we want the food to be!

All the food lined up!

It was a glorius day and the 2 little kids took off to play ball with some kids who came early as well!

The little spot under the pavilion!

What’s a party without some bubble fun!

and trikes and bikes and scooters too?

We finally manged to gather the kids down to eat their dinner!

Ermm…maybe just half of all the kids?

Some are ermmm…still out there?

The adults were however, good at stuffing themselves without much prompting!

I ordered an ice-cream cake from Swenson’s and took it out of the ice box to warm up 45 mins before the cake-cutting! Still it was rock-hard when we attempted to cut it later!

Even the poor dry ice couldn’t escape their ill fate of being trampled around by the kids!

Next up was the pinata! Lightning Mcqueen! (The Cars theme is somewhat a bit more obvious now, no?)

The clever hubbies hung it up on a beam at the pavillion! and the kids were all raring to have a go at it! But no, nothing like delayed gratification right? We played the game of “Pin the donkey’s tail” first.

Trix came all prepared to let the kids play this game and organised the game as well. Lots of laughing and fun ensues!

And now its time to sing the birthday song and blow the candles! The little guy was grinning from ear to ear!

Enjoying the birthday song sung for him!

and blowing out the candles!

Now its time for some action, the children were split into the boys team and girls team. and the children sure were strong!

This was the best performing pinata I have ever seen. With every whack, a few little sweets would dribble out, really heightened the excitement for everyone!

The birthday boy taking his turn!

What’s left of poor Mcqueen!

and what happens to poor daddies’ pants with pockets in it!

Trix became the most popular person to invite to a party after she whipped out stickers and with that commanded the kids to pick up rubbish, listen to instructions etc!

It soon came to my most favourite part of the day – dusk! and the beautiful river beckons! a few families then ventured towards it!

Gingerly, as they were barefooted! I think it might have been better if they wore crocs or slippers in?

The park was beautiful at this time! A gentle breeze blowing, families engaged in all sorts of play all over, tiny street lamps lighting up in the distance! Awww!

Trix rounded up the day by asking the children to draw what they thought was the best part of the party for them! What an ingenious way to wrap up the party and we really enjoyed what the children drew.

When it was all dark and everyone was preparing to go, we were treated to a spectacular display of colourful remote-controlled flying kites which resembled dragons in the sky. It was the GO FLY KITE guys having some fun at Bishan Park. Perfect way to end the evening!

In the car (had to drive even though its 5 mins walk away due to all the pressies), on the way home, the little boy turned to me and said, “I didn’t know birthdays can be so special!” I guess that’s about sum it all up for me as to how happy he was! Happy birthday my dearest boy! May our God crown you with grace and favour all the days of your life!

KL? I have been to for countless times. But this round, we are driving up for one sole purpose, which is for the children to play at Kidzania!

Kidzania is a make-believe kids city where kids are engaged in all kinds of occupation to earn money.

We left Singapore on a late Thursday afternoon towards JB for a sea-food dinner at a kelong-like restaurant near Port Tanjung Pelepas.

The kids walking the long pathway out to sea towards the restaurant.

I got to know this place after a malaysian client took me there after we visited his factory in JB. The food was good but the price ended up a lot higher than i expected especially compared to what we paid when I went with the malaysians the other time! Hmmm!

But we like the breeze, the sea views and the rustic ambience!

We left JB at 6pm and started driving towards KL. This was the first time we are driving up ourselves and it really wasn’t too bad. We took a 30 mins toilet cum snack break and reached our One World Hotel in Damansara at about 10.30pm. Pretty nice 5-star hotel at not so 5-star prices!

Kidzania is in this shopping centre called The Curve not so far away so we took a cab there.

See the aeroplane jutting out from the building? That’s where Kidzania is!

We particularly chose a weekday to go because numerous reviews on other blogs very clearly noted that the weekend crowds are terrible. Besides for the same amount of money, you only get to play for 5 hrs during the weekend whereas its 7 hrs during the weekdays.

Once we reached, and after we “checked in” (the registration counter is just like the check-in counter at the airport), the kids were given a cheque where they would need to go into the bank inside Kidzania to cash it in for cash.

Money money money!!!

The first job that the kids wanted to try was to be pilots

So we headed towards the flight simulators at the Pilot Training Facility which is on the second floor

Every session will take 20 mins with 10 kids max. And after completing the job, they will earn 15 KidZos which they can use later to buy stuff at the shops.

The boy intently studying the map while queuing for his turn to pilot a plane!

The kids are then ushered into the training facility while the poor parents have to peer at them through the glass!

The cockpit area is also hidden from view on the left side. Apparently I was told by the kids later, they were briefed as to what to do and then asked to land the plane.

The little pilots! (all these nice close up shots have to be purchased from them!)

Initially the little girl wanted actually to skip being a pilot and be the flight attendant but we managed to convince her to do both!

She told us she served food to the passengers and it was fun!

Across the street was the hospital and we dashed over.

Talia Ann wanted to be a nurse to take care of babies in the nursery.

She told me that they use real powder on the babies. She was pleased as punch!

And Thaddeus wanted to be a surgeon!

The next hottest job we have been told is to be a fireman. So off we went to the ground floor where the fire station was and sure enough, there was a queue already! Even on a weekday!

The little boy waiting for his turn.

The little girl all decked out in her uniform. I was totally unable to get a shot of the little guy as he was so busy running around!

Once you put on your uniform and your helmet, you got to sit down for a briefing before running and shouting slogans onto the fire engine. With the sirens blaring and the slogans “Kidzania FIRE FIGHTERS”! being belted out as loudly as the children could managed, the fire engine will head towards the scene of the fire! The scene is actually a burning hotel right behind the fire station but the fire engine takes the children one whole round through the ground floor.

Then the children were all directed to water jets where they will try to put out the fire! FUN!

Most of the jobs do not have specified timing except for actors and magicians and a few others which I cannot remember! I tried to keep to the timings of these specified timing jobs but still 7 hours were not enough for us to be able to come back to do these.

Right beside the fire station was the dentist!

There was a dummy with mouth wide opened on the dentist chair for the children to poke their instruments into!

There was also a gigantic set of teeth where the children were taught the correct brushing methods!

By then it was nearly noon and the hubs had the most brillant idea to let them be sushi chefs. There were not much food to be had in the compound unless you leave the premises to try to hunt for food in the shopping centre. We were reluctant to do that.

So a-sushi-making they both went!

And after that they ate the lunch they made! While the adults had some pasta and meat balls!

Right after lunch, the kids queued to become CSI! Not sure what went on inside but it sure looks interesting!

I am looking for clues!

They were then sent out to try to solve a crime. We sneaked after them to see what they were up to!

Apparently they were supposed to find a particular location, asked a particular personnel some questions! Which the two little CSIs did perfectly!

Right beside the CSI lab was the police station with a jail cell. How about we do the job of a prisoner for a while? They thought!

We walked around a bit more and saw that there were no one queuing to be repairman so the little girl climbed up a tall ladder to try to fix a street lamp!

There was a supermarket there too and the children wanted to play customers and shop at the supermarket according to a shopping list given to them. They chose that over being cashiers!

Right beside the supermarket, you can choose to be construction site workers, window cleaners or house painters. There was a queue at the construction site and they were too short to get up the gondola to clean the windows, so off-a-painting they went!

I loved the paint-splattered tiny overalls they were in! and they loved being able to go wild at the walls, something they were never allowed to do at home.

For most of the jobs in Kidzania, you get paid but there are others you pay to have work done on you like manicure or to enjoy an activity like drawing. Talia wanted to do jewellery making and that is one of those jobs you’ve got to pay

She made a little bracelet for herself!

It was almost 5pm already and the boy wanted to be a policeman so the hubs went with him while the girl and I dashed upstairs to the TV station and managed to squeeze ourselves in for the last session of the day. She was chosen to be the cameraman!

She does looked pro, doesn’t she?

With whatever money they have earned, we wanted to buy something so the last stop was the retail shop and geez, we could only get ONE set of cars, tractors and trucks with both of their salaries combined! The girl kept asking us why we can’t buy more and I said its because she didn’t earn enough money and she cheekily said OK, let’s come back here tomorrow to earn more money!

We went into the Curve to try and find dinner and settled down into this restaurant PapaRIch which is selling local delights served in a slightly more atas environment. Pretty decent food! We shopped around a little and trooped back to the hotel. Tired kids with even more tired parents!

The children woke early the next day and we had some fun in the pool with a cool slide!

We spent the day shopping at mid valley and by the evening, our feets were so sore, we drove around looking for foot massage when we chanced upon a happening restaurant in a not-so-hip neighbourhood. Name of place was Souled Out and we decided to give it a try!

So yummy!

The lamb shank was so good that the hubs said he wouldn’t mind driving up just to have it again! ^^”

The last day, we ventured into the adjoining 1 Utama shopping centre and there was an indoor gym that looks like it was hanging from the top of the ceiling called the Starship Galatica. It looked fun and was cheap too! So we dumped the children there and we took turns to go shopping!

By 4pm, we were back to the hotel and checking out!

Bye Bye KL! We will be back!

The kids had so much fun they couldn’t stop talking about Kidzania afterwards! I read that Kidzania will be coming to Singapore by 2014. But since the drive up was really surprising so easy and there were so many other jobs we didn’t manage to do, there’s no reason why we will not make a trip up again! Anyone want to join me?

Yeah! think i am back in business again. Was battling the webbie’s DNS being unavailable for the longest time but looks like it is resolved now.

I did a short trip to Shanghai in April (I know I know! its July already!), with only the boy and my sisters and mum. Original plan was to bring both but when I told them there will be no playgrounds, lots of mummy shopping and eating yucky chinese food, nobody wanted to go actually. I had to bribe the boy by telling him he gets to watch cartoons on the flight!

We stayed at the Ascott at 陕西南路 and took a 2-bedroom apartment but got upgraded to a 3-bedroom for free! Yeah!

This was mum’s first trip to Shanghai and so even though I have been to 南京路 for countless time, it was a must-go destination.

Didi with the glittering neon lights!

We hopped onto a boat for a cruise to enjoy the beautiful night lights of 外滩!

This is my first time as well and i really did enjoyed the cool breeze and the glittering light-ups! The rest of us had to stand while the boy had the comfort of his stroller which mummy had to lug up the many many steps up to the highest deck!

We headed to 豫园 and 上海老街 the next morning!

Just see the cheeky boy while we were waiting for a cab!

When we got up the cab, we wanted to initially go to 文苗 but the taxi driver didn’t quite know where that is so we decided to check out 七宝古镇, one of the nearer ancient water townships in Shanghai! The cab journey took about 30 mins and we spent about 2 hrs walking around the place. The food street was CROWDED! With a lot of stalls selling snacks that actually doesn’t really look like food to me and for sure doesn’t smell like food!

The very CROWDED Qi Bao food street!

The next day we were headed to 周庄 which is also a first for me! We hired a car and a driver and set off from the hotel at 9am. We went on a Sunday and realised that it was a bad choice! Way crowded! Actually that is an understatement, its people everywhere in China, regardless if its a Sunday or not. But still the sightseeing spots get it more than the rest i think. The weather has been warming up and when we arrived, we have the glorious sun beaming down at us and had to peel off all the layers we heaped upon ourselves!

The little boy with his little companion!

This is the first time I went on an overseas trip only with the boy and he was really basking in all the attention lavished on him. He was well behaved, obedient and really a joy to be around during the trip! When we go shopping, he’s content to sit in his stroller to amuse himself with the toys we bought him. During meals, he would exclaimed its yummy and eat everything up. One prime example was we went to a local restaurant in Zhou Zhuang to have lunch and had the famous pig trotters, some fried veggies, some 红烧 fish but the taste was so localised, none of the adults could stomach any of the food. But the boy ate up his rice with the pig trotters without complains! He also went for foot massages with us very night and thoroughly enjoyed the sessions. In fact, it would be him reminding us every night that its time for massaging our feet!

We trotted along little narrow alleys among the well preserved ancient residential houses and imagined that 1000 years ago, ancient Chinese trooped up and down these streets as well!

The elegant watery views!

We spent the fourth day shopping at 科技馆 ,霓虹广场 and 七浦路 and having dinner at 淮海路. Needless to say, too much shopping and eating render one too tired to take any photographs!

The last day’s morning we had some fun on top of the 明珠塔. At one section, it was open air and floors made of glass, the little boy loved running on the glass floors through which you can see you are hundred of metres high up in the air!

It was a rainy morning and prevented us to have a good view of Shanghai!

It was one of those short trips where you just take off to spend time with your family but it’s going to be the first time and last time I would just bring along one of the children!

Visited the Singapore Art Museum at its 8Q premises after the visit to the National Museum on their Open House day as well.

We had pretty high hopes because we have been to the last 2 Children’s Season at SAM and really enjoyed ourselves. I guess that is the thing with expectations. We were sorely disappointed with what greeted us at SAM.

On level 1, “Echoes-infinity-The Forest” was “spoilt” according to the guard on the first floor. Erm… I wonder how long has the exhibit been spoilt?

The “Dancing Solar Flowers” i think were recycled from last year and they were placed in a glass window facing the main road, in my opinion not accessible to the children at all.

Throughout level 1 to 4, there was “Kakhé Speak Cryptic” painted on the stairwells.

I thought those were creepy and frankly freaked me out. And I had problems explaining to the kids what the pictures depict.

The last installation on level 1 was “Ping Pong Go-Round” which essentially is a round ping pong table. Kids were too short to play that. Enough said.

We trooped up to the second level.

The children had some fun doing some colouring and stamping in the “Activity Room”.

After which we went into the next room with the “Everyday Wonders” exhibits and activity. With a small token of money, each kid was given a small clay mould in the shape of a flower and encouraged to create patterns on it using everyday objects. We were presented with paper clips as tools that day!

Needless to say, the kids needed a lot of help with that and the end result was a misshapened piece of clay! What was really strange also was that the exhibits, most of them were not placed at eye-level for the kids. Isn’t this supposed to be the Children’s Season?

On the second floor was also the “Moving Image Gallery”, we left that at the end and spent 1.5 hr inside as the little boy was napping. If you were to ask me what was the best thing we enjoyed this season, it would have to be all the clips we watched in that 1.5 hr. The favourite being “Lost and found” which is about a penguin who got lost and how a little boy try to help him get home! That unfortunately was also recycled from last year! I guess the big theme this year is recycling?

We proceeded to level 3, where inside “The Art of Imagination” room, kids could just pluck tiny boxes out of a wall installation of a matrix of all these boxes to doodle on them.

After doodling, we put the boxes back. The stick figure is the boy’s while the flowers is the girl’s.

“Dress Me Up” was also from last year, the children spent perhaps 5 mins in there and wanted to get out.

Destructive boy climbed up the cake in the middle and I didn’t realised he was not supposed to (Interactive art? You get the drift?) until he got down and read to me the sign on the side of the cake. Good thing we didn’t get spotted and scolded! Phew!

“Let’s dance” allows you to dance to music in a small room while you are filmed and then what you did would be shown as part of a matrix of videos that are playing on the wall. After that, “Reactive Wall” allows you to use move images when you talk, sing, whisper or clap into the mike. Unfortunately many children took to screaming into the mike, so there is only so long you can stand to stay in that room.

On level 4, there was “5QU1D* which is multicolour installation that changes colours and “Grow a Garden in the Dark” which essentially is a UV room with origami flowers that glows. Let’s just say the kids spend very little time in each of these rooms.

We took a few parting shots and left the museum after 2.5 hrs.

Bye bye SAM!

I think we would still be back for Children’s Season 2013 but it really would be so much nicer if there had been less recycling, more activities and art that is more accessible to the children.

The June holidays are here! Not so yeah for me as it means one month of WW3 at home! But still to celebrate the start of the school holidays we made an impromptu trip to the National Museum Open House for the Children’s Season. Admission is free during the Open House, if not you gotta pay $5 per person to get in.

This year’s theme is Island Adventures and there isn’t much on the webbie so we really didn’t know what to expect. We went to the Children’s Season at the National Museum last year and till now, the children asked about when they can go again. That’s how much fun they had last year.

With me at the wheel *ahem* (kids automatically say a prayer to ask God to pls not let us get lost when I am driving…), we drove towards the museum from church and the silly guard did not allow me to go into the carpark. Panicking I drove behind and realised viola, i can park for free too at the Fort Canning car park on Sundays! YEAH!

When we walked in, we realised there was a craft session going on. You are supposed to colour your own Island Adventure badge! The badge will be made on the spot! (Spot Talia wearing her own badge later!)

The children colouring diligently away at their own badge.

Our timing was perfect too as there was a story telling session “Island Tales” at 11.30am by Roger Jenkins. He was good! Had the children entralled as he spun tales from the colourful legends from Singapore’s past. But I think my helper enjoyed it more! She was chuckling and beating my thighs from mirth throughout and not surprisingly she told me the best thing for her that day was the story telling! (-_-;)

We went down to Level 1 to “Ahoy! All onboard” which is a mock up of a boat that the early settlers would have taken to come to the shores of Singapore. There were some installations that the children could fiddle with.

The children using brushes to discover gems hidden in the sand!

But what was more interesting was “Island Adventures – Roving Acts” (Every Sat and Sun, 10.45am, 12.15pm and 2.15pm – 30 mins) where mysterious characters from the past will appear to interact with the children and they bring the history of the early settlers vividly to the children. Interesting and educational!

First up was this Indian chettiar. He passed out pots to the children and commanded them to help him polish up!

Then Madam Farquhar came on board the boat. She was eternally sea sick and have lots of knick knacks from candle snuffer to lingerie to show the children.

Then this Indian stowaway appeared and wanted the children to help her find a best spot to hide!

Up last was this pirate banishing a sword and wanted the children to hand over all their treasures!

By this time it was 12.45pm and we trooped out to POMO to have a simple lunch of Thai food. When we got back, we stopped at the Salon Foyer and had some fun at the magnetic wall where the children could stick up past buildings to “explore, interpret and transform Singapore’s landscape”. That only held the children’s interest for perhaps 5 mins and we went into the Salon for “Port City”.

Here the installations were of little kampung houses and a street scene where early hawkers would peddle their wares in the streets.

There is also little fun corner where the children could try their hand at fishing!

The two kiddos immediately wanted to try out street peddling!

Cooking noodles!

Dishing out the noodles!

Pouring out tea!

Pouring out more tea!

Home delivery!

and the little man tried his hand at being a coolie!

And then the “Roving Acts” started again! With brand new characters!

A Chinese letter writer appeared and asked the children to write their name in Mandarin which they all gamely obliged!

An Indian merchant selling spices appeared and taught the children the different spices!

and then this nun came running out and the Indian merchant said the one thing that Talia said was the best moment for her the whole day! He said:”Hey! Why are you out running around dressed like a zebra?” I don’t know what was so funny about this but it tickled the little girl’s funny bone and she laughed and laughed and laughed!

There were altogether 8 characters that would be involved in the Roving Acts but I forgot to take pic of one of them. Anyhow, the kids had a blast of a time. I enjoyed the interactive manner with which this year’s Island Adventures were conducted. The next Open House would be on 23/24 June and I am tempted to just bring the children to go again if we have time!