All For the Fun of Water!

We decided to let Kimi skip school today cos hb had been travelling non-stop the past weeks and we had so little time together as a family, esp so for hb. I think he felt the need to spend more playtime with Kimi as after 1.5 days rest at home, he will be on another 12 days trip, yet again.

After hearing so much good things about Jurong East Swimming Complex, we decided to try it out although there is a similar one at the estate we lived.  Best of all, the charges are same as any other public pools despite the slides, rides and wave pool. :)

As we arrived in Jurong town, it started to rain rather heavily.  I urged Kimi to pray to God for the rain to halt so we can proceed to the other part of Jurong where the pool was.  As always, God was faithful and as we pulled into Jurong East, the sun was shining and the dark clouds did not chase us! 

In fact, it was cloudy with enough sun for a warm time yet not scorchingly hot.  God loves His little children and their simple faith!!  The rain continued the moment we pulled out of the driveway of the complex.  Amazing? Yes!  That is my God, He answers ALL Prayers, no matter how small or big as long as we call out to Him. Hallelujah!  All Glory to Jesus!

Here's some pix of a beautiful family time spent together!

A father and son shot

The slides!!!

Kimi can't wait to jump in the pool

Going with papa on the lazy river on a float

Moving towards the water jets!

How refreshing!

Then, the wave pool can on (once every hour) and both father and son went on it with the float

Then they decided to go without it during the next wave ....

Enjoying the waves

Kimi venturing on his own - he's never afraid of waves even at a young age ... he loves water!

Conpoy And Daikon Superior Broth

Saw this lovely soup on a food channel some time back and decided to try it cos it was such an easy recipe. Yet, the taste is so clear, flavourful and rich, I like!

Recipe (serves 4)

• 4 extral large conpoy (about size of 50cents coin, better if can get larger ones
• 1 daikon, cut in 4 thick slices
• Handful of red dates

Method

• Place all ingredients in slow cooker.
• Let it simmer on high for 3 hours.
• Do not stir, remove conpoy carefully with ladle and place on serving plate on top of a slice of daikon.
• Serve hot and ENJOY!!

Daiso New Finds-Cutters Galore!

The new 1 slice-no-wastage sandwich cutter

With these 4, I've completed collecting the new mini cutter series.  Hb got the Whale (No. 3) for me in Japan earlier

Not new stock, just I couldn't get them earlier

Bento #47 - Transport Lunch

Broccoli, edamame sticks (see 1 stick missing? As I went to grab my cam, Kimi gobbled it down! lol!), Happy faces, fish fingers, sausage, corn and ketchup in car container.

Since I needed to pick hb almost about lunch hour, I decided to pack a 'finger-food' lunch so Kimi can eat in the car.  Also I brought Kimi to trim his hair in the morning and was running late.

This bento only took 15-20 mins cooking and packing hence I did not do any cutesy or facial stuff.  Just cook, pack and put cute picks. :)

Bento #46 - Koala & Lizzie

Smoked salmon and scrambled egg multi-grain sandwich cut in shapes of koala and lizard.  Raisins fill the ears and nose of koala while lizard patterns are from ham

No special theme, just wanted to try out the cutters I have on hand.  Kimi says he is a koala bear and wants me to carry him like mama-koala. Faint!  He's 17+kg, my back is giving way too. 

Ever since I bought the sticky, slimy lizard toy from Daiso for him, he likes lizards a lot more.  But generally Kimi loves animals, reptiles, not so much insects. 

This lizard cutter was a gift from Julie when she came back and it came with it another 49 other cutters.  All kinds of animals and critters!!  Wonderful, isn't it?? Thanks so much Julie for always always blessing us with things! :)

Bento #45 - Dino & Ballons Breakfast

Grapes on ballon picks and Dino shaped hotcake/pancake with cheese cut-out

I just found 2 breakfast bento I made some time ago, will share 1 today.  I made the hotcake/pancake from Betty Crocker mixture and cut it with Dino shape cutter before decorating with cheese cutouts. 

A very simple and fast breakfast bento. Kimi loves the ballons and asked why the Dino is holding 2 and that he, too, wants to have 2 next time! lol! :)

Farmart & Qian Hu Play Date!

I gathered 2 of my neighbours and their kids and we went to Farmart today.  We were very disappointed as most (I would say all) were closed.

But, we managed to feed the goats, rabbits, terrapins, bull frogs, guinea pigs and fishes.  So I guess not too bad.  The kids however, were thrilled.  I guess we have to go during the weekends next time?  Nah, I wouldn't like venturing to such places during the weekends, I can smell the crowd from here already now! Lol!

There was a Fish Spa (Doctor Fish) opened and we mummies decided to try it.  None of us dared to put our feet in.  Immediately, I pictured 'piranhas'!!  It was soooo scary cos there were only 3 of us and there were so MANY fishes and they seemed 'hungry'.

Finally the nice shop lady told us the clock was starting.  So, we counted to 3, held our breaths and plunged in! The kids had more fun laughing at us. It was scary, exhilarating and hilarious!  3 grown women screaming and laughing.  After a while, we settled in and it became bearable and then it was nice.  Even Kimi tried it!
 
Since it was still early, we decided to hop by Qian Hu to see if there was anything interesting.  Nothing much. :(  Qian Hu also had the Doctor Fish Spa and we could choose from the 3 sizes availabe - the normal very small ones, large and extra large.  No way I was going to put my feet in to the X-large fishes pond.  Some of the fishes have mouths so big I'm sure it can contain my big toe in 1 gulp (no pun intended).
 
We had  a late lunch at 新旺茶餐厅.  The kids were ravenous and the mummies flat out.

When we reached home, Kimi told me that he had good fun today.  I'm glad I made him happy today. :)

Kimi, Kylie and Wayne posing with the cows at Farmart

The kids feeding the kids (goat babies of couse! haha!)

Of cos not forgetting bunnies too!

Doctor Fishes!  Kimi having therapy with mummy!

The X-large Doctor Fishes at Qian Hu.  Do you dare stick your feet in here?

Post Updates

I know I've been really lag in postings.  Here are some I posted these few days :-

1) Playdates at Changi Boardwalk with Ju
2) On the Notice Board
3) Art Class - Project #2
4) The Dandelion's Story By Modl Theatre (Korea)
5) Art Class - Project #3
6) Malacca Drive 4/6/10 to 5/6/10
7) Art Class - Project #4
8) New Daiso Bento Tools
9) Cat at Forum The Shopping Mall
10) Daiso Nori Facial Cutters
11) Butterfly Farm & Waterplay Again!
12) Bento #44 - Dinosaur Breakfast

Bento - #44 - Dinosaur Breakfast

Dino circle cut-outs from cheese and eyes are made from cheese & nori

A real speedy Dino breakfast made from multi-grain bread with Peanut Butter & Jam spread and a tub of yogurt.

I recently bought this Dynobytes Crust Cutter together with Susan's book, through her recommendation. Look at how beautiful her creation is? As my bread was a little small, I made only 1 dino but Kimi loved the outcome. 

Butterfly Farm & Waterplay Again

It was a last minute decision to go to Oh's Farm to look at the butterflies as I had been telling Kimi that we will visit it again during the June hols with his little friends.

But ever since, he has been nagging me to bring him and with a fever running, I really wasn't keen to go. But after a nice big breakfast I made for the kids (my niece, Sarah stayed for the night), they were raring to go. Popped a panadol and away we went.

First stop, Oh's Farm (somehow, the farm do not look as good as it is depicted in this blog. Maybe no effort was made to maintain it?) to look at the butterflies but the kids were more keen to get their caterpillar kits. :)

After the visit to the park, I love to bring the kids to cool off at Sembawang Shopping Centre's Waterplay Park.  Such a nice sweet & cool way to end the outing. :)

Sarah & Kimi at entrance of the Butterfly Lodge

An interesting caterpillar we spotted!

Sarah's favourite butterfly!

What a beautiful sight with all the colourful butterflies fluttering around

Kimi was so happy when I managed to 'catch' a butterfly for him!

Jumping for joy at the water park

Kimi's favourite apparatus there - he's imagining that he's shooting down all the enemy ships and planes! Ha!

At home and quickly examining the kit.  We bought 2 kits.  1 of the kit had an normal sized and an ultra tiny caterpillar as there weren't any left. 

Update : The normal sized caterpillar pupated the next day!

Kimi happy to hold his caterpillar while Sarah was too frightened to even go too near it.

Daiso Nori Facial Cutters

So happy to see these at Daiso the other day!  Although I already have quite a few cutters.  These are good to get too cos the sizes are in between Carla punches and the Multi Shoe punch.  But most of all, it is only $2 each!!!

The punches comes in 4 designs and  I only managed to get all the 4 designs after visiting 2 branches and mine were the last.  Quick grab them if you can!

Cat @ Forum The Shoppping Mall

Serene asked us to join her for a free play organised by Julia Gabriel at Forum.  We met up with Estelle, Reyes (Estelle's cousin) Enbi, Stella and Kayla for the show.

Since it was free, I know it was not easy to get seats so I decided to go early.  We were there at 11+ am for a show to start at 1pm.  And to think that the after show craft session were full!!!  There were only a few slots left for the second show.  It was too late so I did not put our names down.

We were 2nd in line for the show and had our lunch, Mac's while queuing up.  It was lively and interactive show based on an Australian storybook.  The cast were great with their imitations of animal sounds and movements.  The kids loved it!

Look at how engrossed Kimi was?  Beautiful Auntie June and Stella in the background

Story-telling after the show

Kimi touching the props

New Daiso Bento Tools

Finally, Daiso brought in some new stocks of pick and other bento tools.  These were collected over the last few weeks in June.  I don't see these pick, especially the balloon ones on sale anymore. 

Heard the animals and transport picks are available at Vivo.  But, you know how limited quantity they bring in and how quickly these runs out.  Do give a call to reserve before going.

I simply love the animals and transport picks!!  Although I already have the balloon picks, I bought another set just in case.  You know how easily they can get misplaced?  And to think I paid 2-3 times more for it.  Oh well...

Bento box separators and Food Drawing Pen

More separators

Animal sauce bottles.  The tranport ones were out of stock but a kind bento friend got it for me last week! Yay! Tks Karen!

Art Class - Project #4

During our Malacca drive, we missed Kimi's art class so Teacher did a make-up class for him individually.  As such, he was able to sit with her and completed a handpainted Blue & Yellow Macaw on canvas.  To me, it was sooooo beautiful!!

I must say that Teacher Maria is really patient and great with kids! :)

The 1st piece Kimi drew through Teacher Maria's verbal guidance.  Exploring the different shapes and sizes of an oval to create a pix.

The left was drawn by Teacher Maria and Kimi copied the one on the right

More practice to get this piece in pencil and then filling it in using different colours to create the macaw by fingers.

Malacca Drive 4/6/2010 to 5/6/2010

Got woken by hubby at 6 in the morning on Saturday asking if I wanted to drive to Malaysia.  The first thing that came to my mind was it safe?  After hb assured that it should be alright, I jumped on it excitedly and agreed we will pray about it and trusted in God for a safe journey.

Started packing, not knowing it was just a day trip for food and back home in the evening or to stay a few days.  We didn't even know where we'd be going!  So exciting right?  Anyhow we packed for 2-3 days.  In about an hour, we left home.

Upon reaching JB, hb decided we would go to Malacca again.  We've not been there since 2005 or 2006 so it would be nice to re-visit our favourite food haunts.  We used to go very often just for the weekend when we were sans Kimi.

We arrived at around lunch time and headed to Donald & Lily, a family run eating house serving Peranakan food.  Their cendo was to die for.  After not eating for a few years, I'm sad to say that the once quaint and personal set-up has become a bit commercialised.  There were loads of people eating and the cendol, although many many times better than those found in Singapore, it has somehow lost its home-flavour.  Maybe it's just me.  But hb also agreed.

My favourite cendol.  The fragrance of the gula melaka is amazing!

Malacca has spruced up a lot.. it now has river rides which Kimi adores

Kimi is so fascinated by the many trishaws and their equally many lights and decor! I think it really adds a nice charm and buzz to this little town. :)

On the way back, we stopped by Kukup for seafood dinner and allowed Kimi to soak up some Kelong/Kampong spirit.  We saw a sea snake dangling gingerly on a seaplant and other interesting sights.  Kimi loves it!  I can say for sure, my little one is an outdoor boy. :)

I love the weathered wood and of cos Kimi's stubby cutesy toes!

A family pix

Can you spot Kimi amidst the toys?

As we made our way back, hb saw a Carnival at the side of the road and decided to check it out!  Kimi is so enthralled by the roller coaster and insisted to ride on it.

Getting ready to start the ride

Kimi giving a 2-thumbs up and V sign that he loves the ride.

Although it was a last minute trip with zero planning, we enjoyed it very much and we are sure we will be doing another drive really soon! :)  This time with a bit more planning. :)