Princess Time with Pals

It was a Thursday packed full of activities. We were early at Di'dier's place for craft time! Aunt Susan taught us how to do decoupage on canvas bags. It's surprising how it was. All you need was decoupage glue, pretty napkins (serviettes), sponge and varnish. Look at our pretty works!

 After lunch, we headed down to Vivo City for the girls to have a make over. We met up with Ting Gu Gu and Raelyn as well. A princess dream!

The pals!

The process….Our princess interestingly chose to be dressed up as Cinderalla. That's coz Ariel's attire was too exposed, showing the belly. Just so amazed she would feel so at this young age. Good for Mommy!

Our princess was all done!

Meanwhile, there were some fringe activities by Abbot. The kids created little crafts and dabbled with color blending in milk.

The wait for the makeover was long and Abel simply sat down to watch the game show that was on while Mommy was busy with Keziah. Guess what when Mommy peeped over! He was on stage playing the game, sorting out the foods into the different food groups. Just amazing how much guts this little one has and his attentiveness to pick up via hearing as he got everything right!

Children's Art Season @ SAM

This time round the activities at SAM was really engaging for the little ones. They had so much to create and express themselves.

First, the kids got to create their own clay magnets from everyday objects such as key, clips, pegs @ Everyday Wonders...

 Some ideas to kick start the creation.

Their very own little pieces.

 

We went round too admiring at the art from these simple tools.

 Next, in the activity room, they colored and cut their little trees. They were meant to add on to the wall of art but our kids just wanted to bring their pieces home.

They also imitated the artists that created the Echoes-Infinity-The Forest using powder paint that fades with time as visitors walk over, reminding us the transient nature of life. It wasn't easy using these powdered paint as it smudged quite easily.

 The kids had loads of fun in Dress Me up, putting on the attire that they wished.

 At the Art of Imagination, the kids could unleash their imagination and simply draw and add to this creative mash-up, rearranging the boxes anyway they liked.

There was also origami time at Grow a Garden in the Dark where the curators taught the little ones simple paper folding to add on flowers, leaves and butterflies to the 'garden' that comes alive in the dark.

 We never left the place without taking a picture with Walter!

Since we were already out, we decided to head down to the dinosaur exhibition by Science Center at Plaza Singapura. They were simply excited to be there, joining in the coloring activities and game show that happened to be on.

Snooze…Dad and Girl

How alike do they do!

@ 9 months

For the first time, Mommy saw her pulling herself up to stand. It's time to lower the bed!

She's also learning to crawl. More mobility means more destructive too! Interestingly, she's dragging one leg behind. Some tells me she wants to stand sooner and be on her feet.

Keziah's Fun and Fit Day

For these older ones, the school had a lot more interesting activity stations to work their muscles out. We were just amazed how the school recycled materials for the activities. See how much fun they had with things we simply threw away!

Police Heritage Center

It's the Children's Art season and the museums are filled with interesting activities for kids. We started the holidays visiting the Police Heritage Center. We had to make an appointment before we can go for a visit. That's how high security it is.

We had a quick tour on the development of our police force and dressed up as little police.
How cute are the kids in the uniforms!

Taiwan…Juz Keziah and Mommy

Keziah's school was piloting an immersion programme to Taiwan from 14-19 May. We took the chance to have some time alone..just Mommy and her. She was so excited about the trip that she was practically telling everyone she was going to be there for 6 days!

We've arrived! The whole team of Mommies and kids….no daddies ya!

First stop was to Shilin Night Market to start the trip with all the glorious food!

Yummy 炸鸡排..everyone wants a bite. First attempt at oyster egg. It was simply delicious.

Everything in Taiwan seemed to be much bigger than Singapore.

First attempt at pawning.

Day 2: We went to JiuFen to try the delicious yam balls. There was just so many steps to climb before we tasted the goodness of the QQ yam and sweet potato balls.

Next we headed down to Yeliu GeoPark where we saw the interesting landforms carved out by the waters and winds.

 Then we headed off to Shifen to write our wishes on 天灯 and release them to the heavens.

Then we went to Shifen to write our wishes on these huge lanterns and fly our wish off to the skies.

Finally, we rested at the Flying Cow ranch for the night. The resort was really comfortable and cozy. Before we rested for the night, we learnt to make the famous kueh in the region from the grass that was fed to the cows.

Loads of messing and our product before and after steaming.

Day 3: We started the day early to milk the cows. Being city kids, all the kids just resisted being at such close proximity to the cow albeit very excited to see the cow. They were in awe when they saw how the cow pooed. Nonetheless, they tried their hands at milking the cow with mommies' help.

Keziah just loved feeding the sheep and goats!

Not forgetting the big furry rabbits in the shed.

We were off to the tea plantation thereafter. However, weather didn't keep and it rained. We had to abort our plans to be farmers harvesting the leaves. We went straight on with processing the leaves to make our very own green tea.

We also used rice to make mochi. It was real handwork. Tasting our fruit of our labour was sweet.

Day 4: We visited the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village. We saw the tribal dance but aside from that we were busy playing in the amusement park in there. Yes, we knew we should be appreciating the cultural aspects but children are children after all.

We were now at the middle of Taiwan. Rather than coaching back, we took the high speed rail back to Taiwan. It was really fast and comfortable.

This was followed but the local MRT equivalent. Doesn't the subway map look similar to ours?

Day 5: The highlight of the trip - Visit to Nanhai Kindergarten. It was a good time meeting new friends but our kids took awhile to warm up being in a setting where everyone spoke Mandarin. The kids were very warm and independent. Surprisingly, their kindergarten runs like childcare, functioning from 7.30 am to 5 pm. 

Next, we visited the traditional bakery Kuo Yuan Yi which is known for making Chinese wedding cakes.

Making our very own pastry.

Day 6: Up we went to Yang Meng San. We were told it was not just a mountain. It was a dormant volcano. We saw sulfur smoking the mountains, collected on the sides and water bubbling out from ground. Apparently, the bubbling effect was due to underground gases escaping and not the heat.