New fun place

Every weekend, I try to rack my brains and search the internet for nice and child-friendly places to go. Today, CT took off to be with the family and because of that, I was given the mission to decide where to bring the family.

A few factors to consider:
-weather (because the weather has been so hot, I wanted an air-con place)
-kids friendly (anywhere to keep the kids entertained and happy)
-crowd (CT and I hate crowded places)
-food (a place with good and reasonable priced food)
-parking (a place where parking is convenient and available)
-distance (not too far from our house)

With all that in mind, I found the 'perfect' place-Sembawang Shopping centre. The only thing is that parking is quite limited but we had no problems finding a place because it was a weekday and we went before 5pm, to beat the peak hour.

To find an air con place, it had to be a shopping centre and I have always wanted to visit Sembawang Shopping centre which officially opened only last year Dec. Its kids friendly as they have a splash park at the top floor and because its relatively new and its a weekday, there were not many people. As for distance, it was only about 15-20 mins drive from my place.

Here's Caleb on his $12 'new' car seat. We threw away the old one because it was disintegrating.



Upon arrival, we went straight to the Splash Park for the kids to play.



They have an indoor and outdoor playground.





Danielle had her go at the slide too.





After a while, CT and I took danielle to look around the shopping centre. The shop all still look very new and clean. Even the Popular Book Store was huge and they even had those $2 capsule toy machines in the stall which they were still installing when we were there.

What I like about the shopping centre was the travellators. They do not have escalators. All levels were travellators as they make it convenient for us, parents who are pushing the pram, as well as the shoppers in Giant Hypermart.



They also have nice restaurants like...

A Hongkong restaurant



Western Restaurant-Aston specialties



and Japanese Restaurant-MOF (Ministry of Food)


They also have a French bakery shop where I bought quite a lot from which amounted to $20 over bucks! Yes, its expensive!!



After that, we went back to the Splash Park to see how's Caleb doing. He was still playing in the indoor playground and have yet ventured to the wet area. So after some encouragement (as he was a little hestitant), he finally went and enjoyed himself tremendously!



Meimei also played for a short while at the wet area.


Here's some info on the park if you are interested to visit.



Caleb was so drenched but he still didnt want to leave.



After spending an hour there, we dried them up and changed them before we go off for our dinner at Aston Specialties, which was just outside the Splash Park.

I ordered a medium rare Prime Cut with Baked Beans and Baked potato,

CT ordered a medium New York Strip with mashed potato and onion rings


while Vicky had a grilled fish. I love Aston Specialties for it is value for money.

Had a wonderful dinner as my steak was so tender and juicy!


Though it was more expensive, I preferred CT's because it had fats and tendons which I love.

After a very satisfying dinner, we headed back home. I will definitely be back again!

Fruitful morning!

I recently went to a place which I deemed the place, a competitor to Hort Park(shortened term for Horticulture Park).

To most people, Hort Park was known as 'Hot' Park because of how the place is so open that there isnt much shade. So its literally HOT. Well, I have found a competitor to this park, and that is "Sengkang Riverside Park". This park is not officially opened yet ( I think...judging from the surroundings), but some have been using it as a jogging track already. Its a hot place to be in as the trees are still at its infancy stage.

I parked the car along the flyover bridge which was quite ulu (deserted) and walked over to the park through the Sengkang Sports Complex.

Stopped for brekkie there, at the Macdonalds where I bought a Happy Meal for Caleb and myself to share.



Caleb was busy playing with his "Monster Vs Alien" Toy which came with the Happy Meal.



As we were walking to the park, there was some construction going on and realised that they were constructing a bridge to the first man-made floating island which has a fruit-themed. So there would be exotic fruit trees like mangosteen. Check out this website!

So here's the progress so far.





We then crossed the flyover to the park.


As you can see, there is practically no shade at all.




And the floating island is also linked to this park


We then strolled back along the 'ulu' flyover to where I parked my car, under the blazing sun!


Nice scenery though.



Got to choose a better time to come if you like to visit this place.

After that, we drove to Upper Serangoon Salvation Army to donate old items as well as to visit the Family Thrift Store there to search for 'gems'.

My first impression of the place was that the items sold were very old and it didnt look pleasing to my eye. But after really looking deep into the store, I seriously found 'gems'! I actually found a car seat which costs me $20 but after discount (yes, they even had a store-wide discount on top of the "already-greatly-discounted" price!), the car seat costs only $12!!! From a $200 plus new car seat in shops which can last till my kids outgrow them to a $12 old car seat which will still last the same number of years as any new one, I'll go for the $12 anytime!!

Another gem I found was the books section for kids! Most mothers would know how expensive books are, especially those book which hardly have anywords, and it would already costs $6-$10.


Well, I was pretty excited when I discovered classic books which brought back so much childhood memories as those were the books I used to read. It was 'antique'! I am talking about the old ladybird series which I used to have!




But as I was excitedly rummaging all the shelves, I was asking CT if he ever read such classics, and he said, "No". I thought to myself, "oh man. You dont know what you are missing!" The stories are so interesting that I really cant wait to read them to my children!

Finally, these were what I got. (Do these books look familiar to you?)


And I paid only $5 for all these! (Supposed to be $1 per book but after discount, it costs half price)

So if you are interested to visit the Salvation Army Thrift Stores, here is the list of shops all around Singapore.

Happy Browsing!

Bring the kids out

Today is Vicky's day off. We decided to go to Pasir Ris Park as a family in the late afternoon when its not so hot.

But still, the weather was hot!

As we were walking to the car parked at our block, I noticed Caleb walking like a boss. Its strange because none of us, in the family, walks like that. Where on earth did he learn from?



Even when CT started holding his hand, he still put the other behind his back.



For all you know, he may end up signing on to be an army officer.

Anyway, while we were at the park, Caleb kept wanting to push meimei around.



He would be quite upset and cranky if he wasnt allowed to push her. So here's a video of Caleb pushing meimei.



Then, I went with Caleb to the sand to play with him.



As for the 'fair' people, they just sat in the shade, to maintain their fair skin!



Then lastly, we brought Caleb to the big playground for him to roam about.





As for Danielle, she just sat quietly in her stroller.

Board game craze

I love board games. No doubt about it. If I have money and dont mind wasting it, I would buy all the board games available in the stalls and play with them. But first, I need a team of like-minded people who love playing such games too. For now, I just have CT. So I really cant wait for Danielle and Caleb to grow up and start playing with me! haha. *playful mummy*

So far, I have board games like Risk 2210AD, Pictionary, Sudoku, The Game of Life, Scruples (for kids), The Charade Game, Pocket Version of Cluedo, and last but not least, the latest board game in the market- Monopoly, the World Edition.

There was a time when the Hasbro company asked people all around the world to vote for their favourite cities and finally, they collated the votes and came up with this world edition board game. Oh by the way, a "didnt-do-much-justice" picture of Sentosa is featured in this boardgame. You will get to cross 6 continents before you reach GO! and not only that, the movers(tokens) are representative of the 6 continents. And another unique feature is that there are no more money but each player is given a credit card to spend. Though I like handling cash in my hands, it was also fun to simple add or deduct money from the card and to also support Monopoly going green, by saving on paper.



Anyway, this board game was a gift from my brother (thank you korkor) and once I got hold of it, CT and I played this game for 4 hours plus till midnight!

East Coast Lagoon Food Village

For sentimental reasons, I am always visiting the food centre at East Coast Park. I have been eating there since young and there are still a number of shops still existing till today.

Went there today as my mum just came back from her church camp in Desaru and so, we took her out for dinner there.

I had beef hor fun from a zhi char (mixed vegetable) stall which my dad used to frequent. The stall is now situated in the corner- 2 stalls away from the famous beef kway teow soup.

I ordered beef hor fun from the zhi char stall. So delicious as the beef was very tender and they were not strips of beefs but huge slices of it.



Then CT queued up for the famous beef soup noodles. Yes, we are all in the beef mood today.

Also ordered oyster egg omelette



and pork belly satay (which costs $1 per stick!). It is bigger, more tender and tasty but we concluded that it is still not worth it.



Lastly, I would always end off my meal with a curry puff when I am in this food centre. But of course, the price has change from what it used to be 40 cents to now, $1.20. Oh well...for old times sake!

"Playing with meimei" mood

Caleb has mood swings.

There are times when you ask him if he wants to hold meimei, he would say no. Or if you place meimei on his lap, he would push her away.

But there are times when he wants to do it and if you take meimei away from him, he would start kicking up a big fuss.

So today is the day where he is in the mood to play with meimei and carry her.

First, they play on the platform. Ooo I love my platform (balcony area) as its really a kids play area for them.



Then he would also climb on meimei's back and lean on her.

I would always fear this part as Meimei may not be able to take Caleb's weight. So I would tell Caleb to be gentle. Funny thing is that Meimei doesnt protest. In fact, she seems to like korkor lying on her and putting his head on her.



Then Caleb tries to carry meimei.



Caleb is actually quite strong since young. So he could carry her up slightly from the ground.

This following video was taken the next day. Its quite sweet when you can see Caleb patting meimei. Both of them really seem to enjoy each other.



I am sure these two will enjoy watching such videos when they grow up. Cant wait to show it to them next time.

amused at reflection

Most kids I would say love mirrors. When Danielle was a newborn, I brought her in front of the mirror and she would start crying. But she has learnt to enjoy it and smiles or laughs each time I play with her in front of the mirror.

Check out the video!

more celebrations

Today, 2 of my colleagues celebrated my birthday for me by treating me to our usual haunt at Amara Hotel- Hyang-To-Gol Korean Restaurant. The lunch set meals are the most worth it and the food is so good! We even asked for more complimentary drinks after our meal which the waitresses obliged.

After that, we took the train down to Bugis to see the new shopping centre, Iluma.




We found nothing special about the place except maybe for the different kinds of cuisine on the top floor.


After touring around and doing some shopping, we walked over to Bugis for some Japanese dessert since the weather was so hot! Went to MOF (Ministry of Food) for dessert- a place which I always wanted to try.

We shared a Macha Zen which is basically Hokkaido red bean paste with green tea Jap low-fat gelato ice cream and Jap dumpling. Here's my colleague, Sarah posing with it!



And we also ordered a Shiratama Kurian- soft serve with kanten jelly, fruits, Jap dumpling and Hokkaido red bean paste.


By the time I reached home, it was about 4pm already. Though I had a wonderful time with my friends, I have to admit that I do miss the kids badly as I was heading home.

Whose birthday?

Today is my actual birthday. Went to my mum's place for a simple home cooked dinner. Actually planned to go Jumbo Seafood Restaurant as I love eating seafood...but because my dad is still in the hospital, we decided to postpone it.

After dinner, went over to my mum-in-law's place as my sis-in-law bought a cake for me to celebrate my birthday. So we went to cut and eat the cake. I took some for my dad and brought it over to the hospital just before the visiting hours ended, which was 9pm.


Meimei was captivated by the candles and it seemed like her birthday. In the end, Caleb helped me to blow as well (with some saliva added to the cake).

By the way, I have the actual number of candles on the cake. So you can see how old I am. ;p (Almost didnt have space on the cake).



I would like to thank my family and in-laws for celebrating this day with me and for me.

Birthday outing

Today, CT took leave to celebrate my birthday with me. For practical reason (because of long weekend), we celebrated on a Monday instead of the actual day, which is the next day, Tuesday.

First we had buffet lunch at Copthorne Orchid Hotel.



And as usual, buffets always make me guilty for spoiling myself with so much food and ending up so stuffed.



After lunch, we drove down to Grand Cathay for a "Terminator Salvation" Movie. I told CT I wanted to watch there as I have not been there for such a long time since it was renovated. They still kept a little of the 'old feel' but all in all, I found the place too cold and uninviting.



However, the cinemas were great! Seats were so comfy and the sound effects were so good that my advise for those with a weak heart, is to never go see a show in this cinema. My heart was literally going to jump out!



After the show, I bought a Starbucks Frappuccino Mocha with raspberry. For those who know me, I do not drink coffee. But suddenly, I hate a craving for coffee (nope, I am not pregnant. I'm just quite random). It tasted so good. The whippped cream was even so delicious.

Then walked over to Plaza Singapura where CT bought me my prezzies- a toaster and a waffle maker. Yes, I am quite "AUNTIE" (slang for housewife) and I do love getting new household appliances.

Licking everywhere

Danielle is at the age where she puts everything she sees in her mouth. That is her way of exploring what it is. One day, I put her in the cot as carrying her now can be a challenge if carry for long.

And what do you know? She crawled towards the side of the cot and started pressing her face against it as she tries to lick and bite. She looks so U G L Y! (but funny)



Here's the close up! Yeeks!

"Fair" play

Both Danielle and CT have been great playmates. Whenever CT comes home from work and sees Danielle, she would always give this smile and playful snigger as she excitedly kicks her legs.



Danielle can be rather playful and it is definitely not going into the demure, poised, dignified, lady-like path which I hope she would take. Haha. Oh well..





Besides being playful, she is also VERY fair, which in my dictionary, its WHITE! Both father and daughter alike.



So in a way, my family right now is quite balanced as Caleb takes after me for being dark-skinned, 'drama', emotional, active etc while Danielle takes after daddy for being WHITE, slightly playful, not as emotional, sweats excessively. Therefore, I tell CT that 2 is enough since it is already balanced and I have no idea how to manage more children.

Swine chops

When the H1N1 first surfaced, it was called "swine flu" and because of that, for the first few weeks, many stayed away from pork. I know this because I would be one of the very few to be at the pork counter in Giant hypermart when the counter used to be quite crowded.

Anyway, I felt like eating pork chops. So bought 6 pieces and decided to cook it today. I marinated it with herbs, salt, black pepper and lemon zest.



Also made a simple salad with cucumber, red pepper, cocktail prawns, celery, tomatoes and pinenuts wih mayo dressing,



Also made couscous. (yep, inspired by Cherie who made it for me in Perth!) There were a couple of boxes on the shelf and I chose this box because it has a nicer and more interesting packaging. Yep, I go for aesthetics. Its like going to the library and when I do not know what book to borrow, I will look for the one with an interesting cover and nice fonts.



And finally, here my dinner which I prepared for my family!