Nostalgic Visit

I didn't expect to feel nostalgic when I visit the Land Transport Gallery but I did when I saw these bus tickets. Remember them? You probably would if you're 70's baby. The gallery was surprisingly interesting and impressive. I think families should visit for sure! It's interactive (great to keep kids entertained), fun and best of all, FREE! Tours are guided so best to call ahead to reserve a timeslot. Like the NEWater Visitor's Centre, there's lots of info to steer you towards understanding government policy but hey, what do you expect lah? Details at http://www.lta.gov.sg/corp_info/lt_gallery.htm

Art Maid

My foreign domestic helper painted these two paintings. I discovered her talent in art and her creativity by observing how she played with my children. So I offered to help her nurture her interest. We borrowed lots of "How to Paint" DVDs from the library for her to watch in the evenings and sometimes books too. I then bought acrylic paints and some canvases and asked her to paint the black and white portrait for my living room. (See top painting) I thought she did a really nice job, considering she's had no official training. Anyway, a friend came to visit me at home and said she liked the painting so I offered her the opportunity to buy a custom-piece too from my maid to help her out too. She had unexpectedly lost her father, who was her family's only other breadwinner. Since my friend wanted a colour painting, she had to get her new paints and the canvases too. The bottom creation is for my friend. I hope she likes it.

Dress Up Wayang Fun

Haw Par Villa is an interesting place to visit but with children, it might be a tad scary for them and you'll find yourself explaining a lot of things to them, stuff you probably don't really want to explain. However, the park offers a rather unique activity for the family. For $6 a person, you can choose a costume, wear it, and take photos with your own camera! It's unlimited... the number of shots you want to take so if you're planning a cute Chinese-themed Christmas card photo, this might be a fun family outing.

The Wizard of Oz Garden

The Wizard of Oz musical is now showing at the Drama Centre. If you've got limited funds, take the kids to the Wizard of Oz garden instead at HortPark!

Playground Galore At HortPark

I visited HortPark recently for the Baby on Board project and discovered these playgrounds located within! Imagine how much play time your kids will have when you take them to visit. Parents will also enjoy the leisurely stroll through the various gardens at HortPark. They inspire and impress. If you're not a fan of the sun, bring an umbrella and make sure you slap on sunscreen on the kids too coz there's limited shade, as you can see from the photos.

SuperTots FIlming at AMK Hub

I personally don't watch this show so I had no idea what they were doing. The kids were dressed up in costumes and getting interviewed one at a time. Thought you might enjoy seeing a little of the "behind the scenes" of the show.

The Jive Stroller is Great!

I got this Jive Stroller from Mothercare and it's great! Very lightweight, easy to open/close and best of all, baby loves it! We have a larger stroller that we leave in our car so it's nice having a smaller one that we can leave in the house for our impromptu walks to the market that happen on pretty much a daily basis. Baby gets bored at home... She squeals in delight just seeing us set the stroller up. The basket underneath is also substantial so we can actually put stuff we purchase inside. I like this more than a very old Combi stroller I got from a friend because we can drag this stroller on it's wheels even when it's collapsed. The Combi, although a tad lighter, has to be carried when collapsed.

Aircon Shocker

How clean is your air-con? All this black dirt and weird floaters came from my bedroom aircon after we had it chemically cleaned. Yup, shocking isn't it? We've been breathing air that has been so filthy and we didn't even know it. Well, according to Kevin, the aircon expert from Aircon Astiquer, he said that such dirt would usually take about 3-5 years to accummulate but since we're undergoing construction in our block (lift upgrading), this could have contributed to the horrific dirt build-up in less than 2 years. Anyway, what's interesting about this whole thing is I learned a lot about aircons from Kevin. It's rare to have an aircon specialist provide so much advice and know-how. Most I've worked with can't even speak English so half the time, I'm trying to figure out exactly what they are saying. Most of the time, it's vague and general anyway. Kevin is quite unique too, having invented his cleaning machine himself through trial and error over many years, he's confident that using a high pressure water jet to clean aircons is a very effective way. He said that most aircons in Singapore are not cleaned well enough or just cleaned on the surface, that's why he decided he had to take on the challenge of finding a solution to make a difference in the industry. I also found what he said about aircons that are not designed for our kind of humid climate 365 days a year quite true too. Think about it, all the big aircon brands are Japanese or Korean and these countries have seasons. So the aircons R&D are not for Singapore's all-year humid weather too. When Kevin left his card before leaving, I noticed he's an Honor's degree holder mind you, so this is truly his passion. Honestly, his machine made me think of Ghostbusters when I first saw him at the door. It's pretty large, almost as tall as he is. If you want to learn more, go to www.astiquer.com.

Mums and Tots Movie Days

Did you know that Cathay cinemas offered a free ticket for your kids (younger than 7 years) for movies before 2pm? The programme is called Mum and Tots days. I saw the ad at the cinema on Saturday night when my husband and I finally managed to catch a movie. We saw Eagle Eye. It's not bad... lots of action. We were sitting a tad close to fully enjoy the crazy action scenes. Didn't know prices were now $10 per ticket! The last movie we saw at the theatre was Iron Man. I was so unfamiliar with the movie ticket buying process, it took me a few seconds to figure out what I was looking at when the sales staff showed me the seating chart. Pathetic eh?

Break (cough) Time

I just lost my voice today. Have you ever thought of when moms can take a break without feeling guilty? It's when they are sick! Well, since I lost my voice, I couldn't do much with the kids and actually had to stay away since I didn't want to get them sick too. So I slept all afternoon... zzz. It was really amazing. Hadn't slept 4 hours straight with no disturbance since my second daughter was born. My helper was so considerate too. Instead of disturbing my sleep, she let my baby sleep in the living room under her watch. I did go see the doc since my husband was convinced it was bacterial and needed anti-biotic treatment. Doctor thinks it's viral so he just gave me some meds to treat and minimise the symptoms. He said that most times, when the symptoms are really severe, like high fever or extremely sore throat etc, then it could be bacterial. In 90% of cases, it's viral. Wow, I learned something today! Glad I asked. I realise in Singapore too, if you don't ask the doctor questions, they don't invest the time to tell you much or educate you. Hopefully the meds the knock this cough right out of system soon.