While Little Missy chose to cycle at the park this was Hubby-jr’s preferred “vehicle”.

Yes, it’s a swing car. He had to manouver this to and from a park about 10-15 mins walk from our house. And at the park he “drove” around for about 30mins or more! By driving I mean alternating between swinging his arms left and right and pushing with both his feet. The park is a little hilly (slope-y?), so he had have some lovely cruises zooms down a long slope.

These days he has reverted to… nope not his skate scooter, nope not his bicycle… but another swing car! His old blue one. It doesn’t matter to him that most of his friends are cycling around. For now he’d rather just swing or push about whenever he is outdoors.

P/S: This yellow swing car was someone else’s castaway we found and picked up at the foot of our block. In fact we picked up two, this and a red one.

Since June (this year) we’ve visited Pasir Ris Park twice. Before that we hadn’t for about 2 months. So when we re-visited this (one of) our favourite place(s) we were surprised to find a very fun development.

No, it is not a new play structure. On the contrary, it is an old game on one of their existing structures. An old game we never thought of till someone else did during our non-visiting months. And from what we observed seems to be the current fad there.

Sliding down this “hill” (see pic below) on a piece of cardboard is what I’m talking about.

Yup, instead of going down the steel slide the kids were having a ball of a time sliding down a piece of cardboard on the artificial grass beside it. The first time we discovered a group of children doing this, some of them were nice enough to give Hubby-jr and Little Missy pieces of cardboard to join in the fun. The second time we went prepared with our own (picked from 7-11 near our house!)

Here is honestly the best shot I have of the fun.

Hubby and I couldn’t resist joining in too! Albeit for a shorter period. Climbing up the slope repeatedly for that few seconds of thrill was quite tiring. But the kids could go on like forever… if not for the sun going down on us we wouldn’t have been able to leave the park!

So the next time you decide to go to Pasir Ris Park don’t forget to bring some cardboard pieces for everyone.

What’s there not to love about the Singapore Zoo? Besides the undesirable smell of just one or two of the animals? Nothing really. The undesirable smell is negligible (hold your breath and move along!)

Yes, you guessed it. We just paid the zoo a visit last Friday. It is one of our must-dos at every long school holiday (i.e June and Nov/Dec). This time I was more eager than usual to go. My friends have been raving about the newly opened Rainforest Kidzworld at the zoo.

And I finally saw why. It is fabulous.

The new Kidzworld has a huge water play area, a dry playground, flying fox, a carousel and pony rides. There’s also a Ben and Jerry’s outlet (one out of the 3 at the zoo) right next to the water-play area! YUM! And yes, KFC’s next to them.

Unfortunately we only had time to let the kids explore the water-play area (after looking at the animals) this visit. Still, they had a blast.

We plan to squeeze in another visit (or two?) to the zoo before the holidays end. For the next visit we’ll skip the animals (sorry) and head directly to Kidzworld!

The Singapore Zoo is truly a paradise for kids (and a lovely place for adults too)!

Really, what more could we ask for from a zoo???

I mean besides building a glass dome over the zoo to shield us from rain and keeping it at optimal temperature (air con!!)… AND free entrance passes for everyone to boot… hmm (dream, dream, dream, dre-e-e-e-am).

Oh, one more tip before I go, repellent, repellent, repellent! Lots of mosquitoes lurking around.

Last Saturday we finally visited the Henderson Waves, the highest pedestrian bridge in Singapore. It is also part of the recently opened Southern Ridges. It was quite spectacular.

I never thought I would ever describe any scenic thingy in Singapore as spectacular (hey, don’t blame me, I’ve been to the Canadian Rockies!)… But this truly was is quite spectacular. It did take my breath away. I loved it. Whoever conceptualised this was is brilliant!

 Breathtaking isn’t it?

Hubby-jr monkeying around with other kids

We only walked from the Henderson Waves (bridge) to Mount Faber and from there we took a cab to Vivocity (a mall). We had to cut short our plans because we picked a wrong day and a wrong time. It was blazing (and I mean burning, melting, BLAZING) hot and late morning was approaching noon! We just had to get indoors.

Oh well, next time, we’ll head out early morning and start from Hort Park. From there we’ll walk all the way to Mount Faber, if not Vivocity. Yup, that’s the plan. I’ll tell you more about it when (whenever that is) we do fulfill… the plan.

This morning we made our way to Pasir Ris Park after hubby heard that they’ve renovated the children’s playground. I was quite blown away when we reached the place.  The children’s play area is HUGE, boasting 4ha. I think it held about 5 to 6 or more different play stations catering to kids of all ages (including teens). This place is awesome. In our opinion (hubby’s and mine) it is better than Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden.

Needless to say my kids had a fantastic time. Here’s some of the stuff they did.

For an overview of the children’s play area click on these below.

There’s also flying fox for children (not in the pics), ”rock climbing” thingy for pre-schoolers and swings. Quite something else, don’t you think?

What’s more, besides the children’s play area, there’s horse riding, a mangrove boardwalk, bicycle tracks and a beach at the park. (For more info click here.) It was too bad we only had time for the playground today. But as the terminator would say, “We’ll be back!” (cheesy huh? lol.)

Seizing the excellent weather on Saturday, we ventured to the Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden – a new garden designed and dedicated to children! It’s a really great place for kids. The garden has a suspension bridge, a tree house, a mini waterfall, a maze, a sandy playground, a waterplay area, and a few other stuff.

Entrance is free but adults must be accompanied by children below 12 years of age (I think that rule rocks!). Another thing to note, they close at 7pm.

Did my kids enjoy themselves? Take a peek at the photos.

Suspension bridge (it really sways!)

Pumping water @waterplay area

Playing with a watering can @waterplay area

Mini fountain @waterplay area

Okay, I’m sorry we didn’t get to take any photos of the tree house and other stuff. It was crowded with kids and we were too busy watching out for ours. Yes, the outing to the garden was exhausting for hubby and I. If you’re looking for a place for the kids to run and play while you relax, this is not IT! Well… unless you have older kids.

The verdict…

“GREEEAT FUN!!! I LOVED IT!!!”

“It was okay and by the way…” Little Missy babbling some ”constructive” feedback.

Yesterday morning we fulfilled one of Hubby-jr’s “wildest dreams” – a bumboat ride!

My four year old just loves the water, from waterplay to swimming in the pool to swimming at the beach. And he’s been dreaming of a boat ride ever since we took our kids for a stroll from the Esplanade to the Merlion at night. He sat on the steps at the foot of the Merlion and stared dreamily at the tourist boats on the Singapore River. We’ve been back to the Esplanade a few more times since and each time he’d ask for a boat ride and when we said no, he’d just sit and stare at the boats in wonder. We refused little Hubby-jr’s request simply because we felt the price of the boat ride was not worth it.

Well hubby came up with the ingenius idea of having breakfast at Changi Village followed by a bumboat ride to and fro Pulau Ubin. (By the way we’ve been to Changi Village about three times with the kids but we’ve never taken the ride. Usually we’ll just have some fun at the beach.)

It was a wonderful 15 minutes boat ride at $2 per person (one way) to Pulau Ubin. Nice view and lovely sea breeze. What I really liked was the view at Pulau Ubin Jetty, I just love being so near the sea. We didn’t stay long at Pulau Ubin and left for Changi Point Jetty shortly. Another 15 minutes at $2 per person and our simple bumboat outing came to an end.

Hubby-jr was very, very satisfied to say the least. And so was I… hubby and Little Missy!

(We were too distracted by enjoying the moment that we didn’t take any photos but I found some on the internet and attached them here)

Bumboats at Changi Jetty

View of Pulau Ubin Bridge from the bumboat

P/S: We plan to check out Chek Jawa at Pulau Ubin when Little Missy’s past her two-year old birthday.

Hubby and I had planned to bring the kids to the beach at Sentosa today (it being Singapore’s National Day holiday). Unfortunately we woke up to a wet morning and had to abandon the beach idea. So we did our prata and nature walk thingy instead.

This time we completed the boardwalk and arrived at Lower Peirce Reservoir Park. We were about to explore and hang around the park a little when the weather acted up (again!) and the sky grew really dark. Quickly we scooted back towards the Casuarina Entrance of the Lower Peirce Trail to make our way home.

It’s one of my favourite things to do in Singapore. An easy but very lovely trail. My kids love it too.

 (What’s this? Eeps, sorry mommy has no idea!)

At every Christmas and Chinese New Year since Hubby-jr was born I would inevitably feel somewhat lacking as a “perfect” mom. I have this grand notion of creating a family tradition/ritual filled with festivity for my kids. It must be something they look forward to as the season(s) draws near and something we’ll always remember fondly as a family. I’ve lots of wonderful memories of my childhood and I want to give that to my own children.

Sadly so far I’ve felt I’ve not met that standard and I’ve even felt a little sorry for my kids when the time of the year arrives. Yes, they’re happy. Lots of presents. Still for me the festivity or ritual just isn’t quite there yet!

However very recently I realised that unknowingly we’ve created some of our own family rituals. While the grand ones need working on, for now we’ve our very own Sunday Ritual! Every Sunday we’ll have breakfast at a Food Court near our church before proceeding to Sunday Service. It’s something that we’ve come to look forward to. We enjoy not only the food but the family time together. I think it’s especially meaningful as it’s our way of observing the Lord’s Day!

“We’re going for breakfast then we go to church,” quips Hubby-jr every Sunday morning on our way to church. “Daddy will buy char siew pau for breakfast!” adds my eager four year old. Yes, that’s the real draw for him! Well hopefully a long time from now, char siew paus will bring back many fond memories for him as I know it will for me.

(Hubby-jr’s favourite Chee Cheong Fun and Char Siew Pau)

If you’ve yet to find out, IKEA Tampines is a family-with-young-kids’ haven. We went there for breakfast this morning. Although the shopping area opens at 10am, the restaurant opens for breakfast from 8am.  Hubby and I had a nice slow breakfast as hubby-jr had fun in a small play area within the spacious eatery (If your child is very young, the play area is surrounded by seats, so that you can eat in peace while watching your little one). The breakfast was yummy (not fantastic but nice enough), we had French toast with an egg, a sausage and baked beans, all for only $2.20 per plate! (As hubby is a “friend” of IKEA, we had complimentary coffee). Much better than breakfast at MacDonald’s if you ask me! 

After that, hubby-jr had to go through his favourite ritual at IKEA. Off to the mini slide at the kids’ area. He can spend half hour easily just playing with the slide. Don’t ask me why, I’m just as clueless. Up the 3 steps, pass a very short tunnel and down the slide. Over and over and over again. Then he’d like sit in this egg-like swivel chair (see pic below), cover himself and do a few spins. And when it’s time to leave, he’d have a cruise to the exit standing in the mini trolley IKEA has where you hang their big yellow plastic bag (I wish I took some pictures, maybe next time). 

There, it’s one of our family mornings when daddy’s on leave. “Yes mommy, I enjoyed myself at IKEA shopping centre,” says a satisfied hubby-jr as we head home.  

There are only a few things missing from IKEA, mainly shoes, bags and clothes! If only they sold those, then I could perhaps actually manage some shopping with kids in tow!