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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!

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!

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!

Last week was the March one-week holidays. With world war III raging at home, it was a relief to Rose our helper when we hauled the children away for a short getaway to Bintan’s Nirwana Gardens. We joined Jac and her family on this trip and the kids were glad to have friends to have fun with together. We told Talia about this getaway some time back and now that she has a better grasp of dates and all, has been counting down to this day!

We met at the Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal to take the ferry at 5pm.

From the moment they met, it was non-stop chattering, non-stopping chasing, non-stopping giggling and squealing!

The ferry ride was 55 mins long and I think the journey was bumpy, with both Jovey and Thaddeus getting seasick towards the end. Even the little girl who is typically ok, went a little green in the face at the end of the ride.

The kids sure were glad to be back on unmoving ground and having the sun on their faces again.

The little girl is at this stage now that she doesn’t want her brother to join her in photos anymore because “he doesn’t know how to pose and it takes forever to take just one pic”. so the poor little boy gotta be in photos all by himself now. Incidentally, if you haven’t figure it out, he’s pretending to be an eagle!

The resort provided transfers for us and the journey was short. What greeted us when we alighted was this absolutely amazing breeze and a breathtaking view of the sea and this unceasing sound of the waves breaking on the shore! I could stay here forever!

While the adults are walking around really admiring the view and all, the boys started their duel!

We were informed however that they were not informed of us coming so would need 3 hours to get the villa ready! Tell me why I am not surprised at all? Anyway, it was almost dinner time so we were given a buggy and we decided to drive towards this new Japanese restaurant to look for food. It was a fine dining restaurant and the boisterous crowd that we are destroyed the ambience the minute we stepped in! We settled down and even though we have been warned about food prices in Bintan, were amazed to see the prices presented there. Nonetheless, since we were already settled down. We went ahead to order but were informed that almost all the items that we wanted were sold out! We ordered udon for the kids and the waiter very kindly came back and informed us that for S$15, the udon would just have udon+soup+seaweed! That sealed it for us, we decided to venture to somewhere else for food and eventually settled at the lobby restaurant for buffet at S$36++ per person. The food’s nothing to shout about but at least there is variety and lots of dessert for the kids!

We finally went back to the villa at 9pm and really liked what we saw! Huge and sprawling, own private pool that oversees the sea (except we couldn’t see a thing at night but we could hear the waves), nice aircon and nice hot water out of the shower! Actually the latter two are all that matters to me!

The next morning, the children jumped into the pool first thing in the morning. Its a bit scary to have the pool so close to the house actually so we constantly hear adults shouting at the children not to go near the pool on their own. Seriously you can’t be too careful when you come to things like this.

But what a time the children had in the pool! With Talia and Thaddeus in arm floats, even I hardly need to go into the water, and just need to keep a watchout by the side of the pool.

The last time this little inflatable boat has seen daylight was when we used this to ferry cookie girl to the little island across the beach in Sentosa!

Perfecting the art of floating!

Perfecting the art of balancing!

After almost an hour in the pool and after showering the kids, it was only 9.30am! We set off to explore the mini zoo we saw the night before while driving back to the villa.

First stop was to feed the deers!

Then I have been told a really really HUGE python rests inside one of glass enclosure and my little boy very kindly told me “mummy! look the other way! don’t look this side!” *shudders*

But I obliged when told to take a pic of Talia and Jovey with the fake snakes! *still shuddering*

This is our buggy that we can drive around in! With the hilly terrain, its practically a roller-coaster ride with the children squealing and laughing all the way! No better way to get around I tell you!

Its reptiles galore I tell you! Crocs! eeks!

It was almost lunchtime and we headed back to our villa for me to whip out my brocolli and pasta and canned mushroom *grin* while Jac whipped out her own stash of vegetables, canned food, pasta and sauce to cook lunch. Packed the kids in for a nap in the freezing cold rooms while the adults go relac one corner! Only some adults apparently, Jim and his father went down to the private beach right in front of villa and came back with a loads of hermit crabs, abalone, fishes. It was amazing!

When the children woke, we made our way to the beach.

When they got tired of the usual digging and building, they decided they will have their own little treasure hunt and started burying their sand toys in the sand for each other to find!

That night, we paid S$30 to get a car to drive us out to a local seafood restaurant for dinner. It’s still not cheap, very much Singapore prices. But the food’s decent. And you won’t see any pictures because everyone wolfed down the food the minute it came!

The next morning, Talia was up at 8am Singapore time (7 am Indonesia time) and joined Jovey who was already up and playing in the pool already. The other younger ones didn’t take too long themselves to get wet as well. After the pool, the kids were treated to a screening of Kungfu Panda II (Yes, we really came very very prepared to entertain the kids). After which, they settled down to play UNO. Even 3.5 years old Thaddeus could play unaided by himself and the kids had a blast of a time!

We had homecooked lunch again and packed the kids off for their nap. The duo who had such a whale of a time catching stuff the day before were at it again!

The plan was to perhaps go to this Pasar Oleh Oleh to do some look-see and then eat out in the evening. But it started raining.

The kids were treated to some snacks while we waited patiently for the rain to cease

Soon it became a drizzle and we decided to venture out to explore the very huge Nirwana Gardens.

The little girl in front of the villa we were staying!

We walked around and saw some facilities for ATV, shooting etc. The usually very grouchy Josef was in a jolly mood and even allowed Talia to hold his hand to walk around.

We walked around looking for food and ended up going back to the main lobby restaurant where we had our buffet the first night thinking we could have that again but alas due to low occupancy, they were only serving ala carte menu. Beggars can’t be choosers so we settled for that, which turned out to be a good choice as the Indonesian food we chose were delicious. We treated the kids to ice-cream as well!

There was a giant chess set outside the restaurant and I tried to give the kids some pointers on playing international chess but gave up after 3 mins as nobody was listening! What do you expect anyway right? Everyone was intent on moving the pieces from the chess board to the snakes and ladders board!

There was a little live band singing in the restaurant so the adults were chilling out a little, so the kids were summoned in and given some colouring to do which very successfully ocuppied them for a while.

When we got back, the water was so alluring I thought what the heck, and allowed the kids to jump in with their arm floats for another swim!

The next morning, MORE swimming!!! and after that we packed up, checked out and finally went to the really very very pathetic Pasar Oleh Oleh for a look. If ever you are in Bintan, don’t bother to even come here! There are 26 little stalls selling handicrafts and food but really all we bought were the cornettos for the kids!

Parting shot before heading to the ferry terminal!

When i was asked by my colleagues how was Bintan, I told them, kids really enjoyed themselves very much and I? I was just there to be the shower-maid!

I think sites like groupon, deal.com, street deal etc has forever change the way I shop, especially when it comes to eating out and travelling. Restaurants and places that I would normally not try/go tempts me when an attractive discount beckons.

And which is why during one weekend in August, the whole family descended at Tanah Merah Ferry terminal in the morning to board the ferry for a 2D1N trip to Turi Resort in Batam.

The ferry journey was only 40 mins and quite comfortable and uneventful. What we found out though was gamblers are immediately transferred to the shuttle ferry that will take them directly to the casino ship floating somewhere in the international waters nearby. And they even credit the $22 ferry charges back so its virtually free for the gamblers to come on board to gamble vs the $100 they have to pay if they go to the casinos on mainland Singapore.

The resort was only 5 mins away from the ferry terminal and our “hotel room” was a hut effectively on stilts, kinda quaint but the interior was ok. Beds have mosquito nets on it and I suspect that mosquitos could be an issue (which induced me to slap on so much anti-bug that there was not a single bite the whole time we were there).

We dumped our stuff and went to explore the place.

The little hut for chilling by the pool was reminscent of the actual bigger hut we were going to sleep in! It has the exact rooft!

The beach was right beside the pool.

There was also a loooong jetty which we promised ourselves we were going to explore in the evening!

The girl tried out the hammock and refused to get out!

We went for buffet lunch at the restuarant in the hotel and it was actually pretty decent. Not cheap going by the local context and not expensive too in our view (especially when I have two little foodies who are going through a humongous pile of food and need not pay for anything as they are below 5! *cue evil laugh*)

We went back to the room for the kids to have a nap and headed for the beach the first thing they woke.

There were nice shady spots and the children happily settled down to dig away.

The little boy also overcame his fear of the waves and went into the water to fill up his watering can!

And the water was so inviting, eventually the whole family sans me was inside the water! What a whale of a time they had!

We rinsed off and jumped right into the pool. The kids tried out their arm floats and were so gleeful they could float without us that we alternated between the kids pool and the adult pool.

Then it was time to explore the long jetty we promised ourselves earlier on.

The breeze was amazing that we had to wrap the kids up in their towels! The family sat for a while at the end of the jetty, enjoying the sunset, the breeze, the beautiful waters, the lights on the shore as dusk approached…

We had an outdoor alfresco bbq dinner right at the lawn beside the beach with live music. The kids obviously were enjoying themselves so much that they left their seats and started to gyrate to the music, much to the amusement of other nearby diners!

The next day’s plan was to have a go at the pool before hitting the shopping centres in town for lunch, massage, food and some shopping.

Guess who and who were having a good time by the pool?

We took a cab to Batam City Square and the journey was about 35 mins. We had lunch at one of the local food restaurant inside, walked around for a while before taking a cab to Nagoya Hills for massage. The timing was impeccable as the boy just fell asleep in the cab, so when we were having our massage, he was happily sleeping on one of the beds as well! Hey hey! The little girl was entertained with one of our ipads.

The massage was fabulous at only about S$9!

We later checked out the shopping and let the children have a go at one of the indoor playgrounds. The shopping was completely way out, as in I found absolutely nothing to buy!

We took a cab back to the resort, took the shuttle from the hotel to the ferry terminal for the last ferry leaving Batam at 6.05 pm and the kids were asleep in their beds by 9pm.

Turi Beach is a pretty decent resort so we really enjoyed our time there. The trip out to town was silly actually except for the wonderfully good and cheap massage!

In May this year, together with my MIL, we embarked on a 18 day road trip starting in Brisbane and ending in Sydney. Brisbane is special to the hubs as he studied there and also because MIL’s elder brother and family has since relocated to Brisbane so it would be great to catch up again.

To save myself and everyone a looooong post of too much details, this will be just highlights with alot of pics.

The MIL was obviously pleased to be out and about with her grandkids!

and what else but a lot of close encounters with animals?

and lots of fun at playgrounds!

lots of snoozing in the car!

lots of posing with cartoon and comic characters!

lots of rides!

lots of trooping around in nature reserves!

lots of different hotels!

lots of beaches!

lots of lighthouses!

lots of sightseeing!

and finally lots of shopping!

and are you exhausted yet! We sure were when we came back!

My sister was celebrating her birthday in Phuket and since they got a 2-bedroom apartment at Marriott Mai Khao, she invited us along. Apparently they got to book this apartment at a really good rate simply by agreeing to attend a sales presentation by Marriott. Anyway we were more than happy to tag along since we AREN’T the ones needing to attend the talk. Heh!

On the flight, the kids soon got bored and rowdy and we had to whip out our secret weapons to calm them all down!

We arrived there in the late morning and was given a warm reception, complete with flowers and a welcome drink!

The hotel was great and after resting for a while, went down to one of the restaurants in the hotel to have lunch.

Pretty restaurant!

Then we hit the pool!

Dinner was at this rustic restaurant by the beach!

We started the next day with buffet breakfast at the hotel!

and then hit the beach!

We have dinner in our hotel room. Not room service but delivery by a restaurant not too far from the hotel! Pretty good food!

The kids also had fun at the kids room. Apart from the toys, they also attended a cookie decorating session! and we came back later to collect the cookie after they were baked.

View from our room!

It was a pretty relaxing trip and the best thing was the kids spent time with their cousin which they adore! But if we do go back to Phuket again, we probably won’t choose Mai Khao Beach because there just aren’t enough amenities near to the hotel, even though the hotel and the beach were not bad.

When I told the husband that I was planning a staycation during the Hari Raya long weekend, I was greeted with a blank look and I had to quickly explain a staycation means a vacation in your own country. Together with 3 other families who have kids of the same age as Talia and Thaddeus, we decided to a Changi staycation with trips to Pengerang, Ubin, the beach etc.

The ever resourceful Kei googled and realised the boat ride to Pengerang would cost each family S$72. That is too much to pay for cheap seafood in her exact words and the idea to go Pengerang was ditched and the airport Terminal T3 became the next alternative.

There was a kiddy car ride play area near the carpark and we spent about half an hr there letting the kids have a go at driving their own automobiles, though one was in a remote controlled car and the other one was in a gigantic giraffe float-like thingy with daddy driving!
I was too busy remote controlling that I did not manage to take a single shot of them having fun!

After that we went for lunch and had some fun at the tiny tiny playground before checking in at the Changi Village Hotel!

Next to the playground was a fountain of sorts and the boy was mesmerised for a while!

Then he had a bit of fun at the playgound,

and did a thorough check of the room when we checked in. We were given a corner room and it was BIG!

The kids were quickly ushered in to take a nap and aigoo, they continued sleeping even until 5pm! even with Hannah and Sarah playing in the room…until we resorted to desperate measures and starting talking really loudly.

We went to the pool on the roof top and it was fabulous! On top of the world feeling with the seaview and occasional plane flying by!

The boy in his new rashguard!

The family having fun in the water!

Nothing beats having their own little friends to play with!

Thaddeus and Barry!

The plan was to go to the Changi boardwalk after dinner. Everyone had a quick shower and gathered at Thai Pan, which is just across from the hotel to have dinner. The food was quite good, inexpensive and so gets a thumbs-up from everyone!

Ready for our stroll after dinner!

It was a rather cool balmy evening, so it was perfect for our little outdoor joust! Everyone went with their strollers except us but good thing the kids enjoyed walking together holding hands

The beach at dusk!

Amidst lots of giggling and chatting, the whole group trotted leisurely along the boardwalk and everyone started looking after some one else’s kids! I mean, the kids were so comfortable with their friends’ parents that there were lots of swaps happening!

Talia with her giraffe! She requested to bring her little giraffe along because she said “i think giraffe would lurve to see the beach!” and the little guy HAD to bring along his Mickey Mouse too! (see it in the background?)

The rustic beach view…

At about 7.30pm, it became dark and we headed back to the hotel. We got the kids ready for bed and all four of us squeezed onto the king sized bed and the poor parents had to perch picariously along the edge of the bed the whole night!

We set off early the next morning for Pulau Ubin. Amazingly the family only woke up at 8am because the little guy only woke up then! Where did the little alarm clock in him that would always wake him at 6-ish go? We hastily ate some bread in the room and dashed off to the jetty. By then the other 3 families have already gone on their merry way on the bumboat. We took the bumboat together with Jac’s family who has join us for the day!

Enjoying the view!

Once we reached, we arranged for 2 vans to bring us to Chek Jawa. It was a gloriously hot morning! And as soon as we reached Chek Jawa after a bumpy 15-20 mins ride, the boy decided to give us a welcoming gift in the form of the huge pile of poopoo! We didn’t want to keep the rest waiting so sent the girl along with the rest of the group and told them we will catch up. After cleaning up, we hurried along and came to a 3-way split road, and due to some miscommunication we ended on a different track and missed out on seeing the children climb the viewing tower and a family of wild boars rushing by!

Sending the girl ahead with the rest of the group first!

Eventually we caught up but boy! was it hot! I whipped out the umbrella and tried to get both children under it, but that gathered a few strange glances from some passerbys! *blush* but hey I am not letting my children under that scorching sun without sunblock which i forgot to slap on!

We eventually took a break at a shelter and the kids had snacks and water!

Sharing pocky!

Gathering around whoever that has food!

Going from person to person scavenging for food!

It was a brillant day with wonderfully blue skies!

Barry suddenly found himself the centre of attention when the rest of the kids realised he had a TINY pack of raisins! He hardly ate any while he gave out one after another to all the little out-stretched hands!

We trooped along some more and came to a house which was conserved as a musuem of sorts. The adults were just relieved to get some shade and the kids being kids continued to monkey around.

and girls being girls, Talia and Natalie suddenly realised one had a minnie mouse shirt on and the other had a mickey mouse shirt and were chatting excitedly between themselves! and wanted to take a shot together.

Girly power!

After that everyone was chanting AIRCON and LUNCH and the solution to both of that was to have the buffet lunch at the hotel after a nice shower!

Lunch was delicious and cheap! (only S$19 plus per adult and all our children were below 4 and so all ate for free!) The children played in the cafe area for a while before all were herded back to their rooms for their naps!

Dashing back to the rooms and terrorising the corridors!

At 4 plus, the group descended upon the pool again and this time we had Trix’s SEA RESCUE float to play with. Even the littlest ones had so much fun!

YEAH! we owned the pool!

Josef off on the sea rescue!

Sarah had her turn too!

Then everyone showered AGAIN and we headed down to the beach!

Just imagine 10 kids digging away at the sand! and very seriously too mind you! Some were building sandcastles, some were just digging holes, some were building birthday cakes…

some just rushing from side to side…

some just burying their feet…

When it became dark, we had to drag some screaming and reluctant children away from their tasks to go for dinner and everyone chose the air-con Thai Pan again! haha!

We were checking out early the next day so that we could head off to see Sesame Street Live!

Talia was asking me if we could come back to this hotel but added that she must come back with her friends or else it would be so boring! hehe!

The kids clowning around in the lobby!

A proper parting shot and we are off!

Sesame Street!

What a long long post this has been! I shan’t go into details about how fun the show was. Suffice to say, the children were amazed to see all their favourite characters dancing on stage. The little guy was sitting on my lap watching intently the whole time until even he couldn’t take the infectious music at the end any more that he leapt off my lap and started grooving to the music in the centre aisle at the grand finale!

After the show, we even went for lunch at Kenny Roger’s, went for third service in church (the kids slept in the service with us instead of going to sunday school) and only reached home in the evening!

It has been a completely fun-packed long weekend, so much fun that all the mummies are already planning for something similar during the next long weekend in November!

I know I know, I have been bitten by the itchy-backside bug bad, real bad! The first week of July, I took the kids and went to Taiwan, without their daddy. Don’t panic yet! I may be crazy but not that crazy, my parents and two sisters went along as well. But like every mother knows, the sole responsibility of caring for the 2 kiddos would still ultimately fall upon the shoulders of the 3-headed-6-handed mother!

We chose to go free-and-easy and the SQ flight we took was in the afternoon. I only bought a seat for Talia and as we only decided to join my family last minute, the whole supposed-to-help-out ginggang was seated far away from my bassinet-available seats! I was given two seats on the left but two very nice gentlemen who were seated in the middle (4-seat row) with an empty seat between them and another lady asked me if I would like to swap seats? Before you could even say s-w-a-p, I was over the other seats happily buckling Talia up. Well, for take-off, the little guy would still need to be buckled to me using an infant seat belt. And what-do-ya-know, he fell asleep in my arms during take-off. When the seat belt sign was turned off, I also happily deposited him into the bassinet and had an enjoyable 2 hr watching movies, feeding Talia, feeding myself. When he woke, he had a seat to himself watching cartoons and playing games! The 5-hr flight was a breeze!

We touched down at Taipei at about 5.30pm and only reached our hotel at 西门町 at 7.30pm because of the peak hour traffic. We set off to look for food and when we saw 天外天 hotpot, we decided right away because I think we have had someone recommending that before and everyone was ravenous, buffet steamboat seemed just like the right thing!

Gorging ourselves silly with food!

The next morning, we set off for Taipei 101. We took the MRT and when we came out, we realised there was a shuttle bus that will bring us right to the doorsteps. There was like 3 bus stops along that stretch of road and a local taiwanese woman actually walked to all three bus-stops to make sure we get to the right one! She was so helpful! and boy! did we need that! The weather was like a blazing 38 degrees. Of course we didn’t know that then, it was only 2 days later in a cab that the cab driver told us that have been a heat wave and the past few days, the temperatures have been 38-40 degrees celsius!

We took the shuttle bus and were relieved to be back into air-con comfort.

The bunch!

We headed to the observatory deck first.

The kids were rejuvenated after the temperatures became more bearable and ran around.

Just a shot first at the not-so-real-thing before heading up.

It’s huge at the observatory deck and the children had a blast exploring.

The view is amazing!

We even braved the heat to go out into the open observatory deck!

We had Teppanyaki lunch at the basement of the building, topped with soft silken 豆花 before heading out. The heat was so unrelenting that we quickly went to hide in the nearby New York New York for some shopping before walking to the MRT station.

A not-so-nice mini Statue of Liberty outside the mall.

The real-thing behind us on our little trot to the station.

We took the MRT to Jian Tan station where the Shi Lin night market was. The MRT stations in Taipei were really stroller friendly as compared to the ones in HK. We could easily find the lifts and wider gantries are everywhere!

I was initially apprehensive about bringing two strollers to the night market but I was pleasantly surprised that even on a Saturday night, it wasn’t too difficult to maneuver around.

Night market!

We ate along the way and even had a foot massage before having some herbal bak ku teh at a supposedly 30-year old shop which wasn’t too bad. We headed home in a cab. Yes, all 5 adults and 2 kids squashed together! Go figure.

Thaddeus was spotting a cough before we went and the next morning, his nose started to run and he began to run a fever. I have come all prepared, the doctor even gave me anti-biotics to standby and I fed him the meds. The plan today was to go to the 故宫 musuem in the morning. We took a cab and reached in about 25 mins. By then the little guy was all raring to go, and fever has subsided.

We went straight to the third floor where the “special exhibits” were. Treasures which used to be placed at the forbidden City were displayed there, with a map of their location then. We spent about 2 hours roaming around before going to the kiddy area on the first floor so the children to have some fun!

And some fun they sure had!

Cliched but I couldn’t resist!

Look at the little man’s squirrel cheeks!

There were interactive exhibits where the children could try their hand at.

Sticking stuff up!

We headed back to the hotel and had dumplings noodles nearby while we waited for the day tour people to come get us for our half day trip to Yang Ming San.

On the way there, both kids fell asleep and I had a nice 2 hr respite! The weather was blazingly HOT! Even the breeze was scalding. We could only do a few obligatory touristy shots here and there before rushing back to the van!

Baby girl and her 小姨！

Quite breathtaking views of the mountains!

Baby girl and her grandpa!

After that we headed to a hot springs place and were given an hour to go soak! Of the lot, only Thaddeus would be suitable to be featured here! Anyway, the children didn’t like the hot springs at all because it was too hot for them, besides I wouldn’t have let them in as well, not knowing what the minerals in the water would do to their baby skin. This cold water pool was just tap water and the children was just so delighted to frolick in the cold water!

Skinny dipping!

Even before dropping us at the MRT station, which proper travel agent would not try to get us to buy some mechandise (read: commission for them). So we were ferried to a place selling Pineapple cakes and the likes. Not that we really minded actually because we were planning to buy some back as gifts and it actually tasted not so bad.

The children had their fill trying all the goodies as well!

After the shopping, we took the MRT to 谈水. Its rows and rows of little stalls selling food and knicknacks and we just gorged ourselves as we walked along!

The weather became a little bit more bearable in the evenings.

A forlorn boy lost in the crowds?

Stalls after stalls of food!

As the sun sets…

What came next was one of the most harrowing experience I have ever had in my life. We decided to take a boat to 渔人码头. That boat ride was the most terrifying boat ride in my entire life. it was worse than a roller coaster, even the locals on board were screaming! We were like literally being thrown into the air and then come crashing down. Talia was very very scared and kept asking me what was happening. Thaddie boy was like immobilised with fear. Those who were outside dashed in completely drenched. I was clutching both of them so hard that afterwards I got a cramp in both my arms and thinking furiously in my heart, are there enough life jackets, should I put the life jacket on me first or on them, how to stay afloat if i am grabbing both. That was how scared i was and i just kept praying and the 15 mins boat ride took forever.

Then there was the problem of needing to go back again. The whole family was green in the face and nobody could eat any dinner. We headed back after 30 mins and this time, I prayed and asked God to give us a smooth ride back. And miraculously the return journey was sooo smooth, its unbelievable! Even Talia said how come the boat was not shaking? I told her God answered the prayers of a very frightened mummy! Even now, as I think back, it amazes me to know how real God is!

And all that was for a shot of this silly little bridge!

Bridge at 渔人码头!

The next day, we went for some shopping at the underground mall below 台北车站 and had for ourselves some yummy 红烧牛肉面! After lunch we went back to the hotel for the day tour people to come get us for our day trip to 九份! This is actually a former mining town and we have been told its rather quaint and worth a visit.

Enroute, we passed by the sea and took some shots!

Amazingly blue sea!

The township which is now nearly abandoned!

and it sits high up on a mountain range.

We got back to our hotel around 6pm and decided we will spend the night exploring 西门町！

Shopping!

Between the three sisters, I think we carted back almost a luggage full of face masks! woohoo!

The last day of the trip, we spent the morning at 五分谱 doing some wholesale shopping! There were shops which didn’t even entertained us as you have to buy in bulk. Anyway, thank goodness there were others who did. Grabbed a bit of “Taiwanese-Korean-ish” fashion for the little girl and loads of singlets for the little boy.

Five days whizzed by so fast that even though I have to clean vomit for 2 nights out of the 4 nights, gobble down my meals as I spend the majority of my time feeding, take care of the daily morning and before-bed routine myself, I had so much fun! and it was so nice to just hang around my family!