Lunch date with 3 babes

I only realized today that I have a backlog of posts to update. While the girl is at swim class, I have taken along my laptop to catch up on them. This outing happened over a week ago but Princess, together with 2 of her friends, attended the same creative writing class last week, but at differing times. Since there was a lapse of an hour between both their class timings, I arranged with the 2 girls’ mums to take them out for lunch at the same mall where their school was. I have not arranged any playdates this June thus princess hasn’t seen her school/classmate since school closed at the end of May. It was lovely to see the girls again and even though they had an hour together, they had fun. We had lunch at Pizza Hut. It was cousin who took us there the week before because we only ever order pizza in. I have never eaten at the restaurant before. Found out that they do a nice set lunch menu where you can have your choice of main course from the main menu. There is a kids menu too, which included a drink and an ice-cream mouse. Yes, you heard right, they decorated a scoop of ice-cream to resemble a mouse. Very cute.

There are 5 choices of main course for the kids...

The smart choice lunch promotion.

My choice of main course was curry chicken baked rice, their house special. It was not too bad, rather spicy.

We spent an enjoyable hour in great company. :)

Forest Adventure

During the past few holidays, I found that if I stayed at home most of the time, the little one ate non-stop and put on quite a bit of weight as being at home doing nothing, and just watching tv got her feeling bored and made her mouth itch. Thus, I made sure plans for this June involved lots of outdoor or active programmes. Besides the once a week swim class, there was the one week dance camp which worked her out each day with over 3hrs of intensive dancing. I was keen to send her for Forest Adventure but not sure where they were, so I did some homework prior and made plans with cousin and nephew to spend a morning at the park. It is advisable to make a booking in advance as the website warns that if there are no empty slots, you might have to wait up to an hour for your turn.

Having fixed a date with cousin, we waited excitedly for the day to arrive, but meanwhile cousin came across discount coupons on Milo tetrapacks which gave up to 50% off each child ticket. We paid $12 each and although we were told that it took approximately 30-45mins to complete a course, the kids actually spent 2hrs there. A lot of the obstacles allowed only one child each time to cross it. I have to say it takes quite a lot of guts to go across ropes and planks connected from tree to tree. Princess totally lost it at the 3rd last course where she broke down and refused to continue. She was brave throughout the earlier courses but this particular one was scary and she wasn’t the only one who almost gave up. Another little girl cried and even dear nephew refused to go through with it initially, but with help and guidance from the guide, princess eventually overcame it. At the end of the obstacle course, she declared that she would never return. Haha.

On the morning of our outing, the sky was overcast, which was a good sign initially, as it meant not slogging it out in the full heat of the sun. But rain soon came down heavier and poor kids were left to carry on with the climb, as once you get up, it's tough to get down again. The only thing to do was to go forward. We made the long walk from the car park of Bedok Reservoir to Forest Adventure's base camp. As we were running late, due to not being able to flag down an empty taxi, our 10-15min walk seemed even longer than it was. Walking down this pathway gave me a feeling like I was in a park in Australia or Europe as the air was crisp and cool and there was a dampness in the air.

My little tree climber starting the ascent.

Kids undergoing a briefing before they started on their course.

Dear nephew starting on his course.

Princess going in the cage.

High and scary.

The obstacle that many disliked... moving swings.

I don't want to do this, no no no, pleaseeeeee. :~(


Forest Adventure
825 Bedok Reservoir Road, 479244
Website : http://www.forestadventure.com.sg/

Universal Studios Singapore

Shrek's Far far away castle.

We woke up last Sunday not knowing what to do for the day, so on a whim I mentioned Universal Studios. Princess and I got all excited about it but was told by her godma that I needed to book tickets in advance. Now how had I forgotten about that! She said that when she was there a few days earlier, tickets were all sold out for the day and it was only 11am! So I went online and true enough couldn't get hold of any tickets. As expected, princess got really upset after all that initial excitement. What could a mum do?? So, well, we decided on another date and I set about trying to book it.

That same day, we had lunch at Vivo City and decided to try out the shuttle bus to Resorts World Singapore ($2 for 2 ways), as well as to collect our tickets thus not having to waste time on the morning of our visit. We were given tickets to be submitted at the Pass Office (we had gotten the annual funpass) in exchange for the actual funpass which came with a lanyard and some souvenir pins as well as some shopping and meal vouchers. I figured it was more worthwhile getting the pass so we have the flexibility of entering the park as and when we liked. Upon checking with the guest relations office, we were told that we could enter the park that day, so that was a lovely surprise. Princess was all excited but this mummy wasn't really prepared with her big bulky bag which got in the way of the rides. As poor hubby waited for us at Coffee Bean while we 'checked out' the park, I couldn't bear to stay there for hours. Besides, he wasn't feeling too good that day. So, even though Princess only went on 4 rides, and this mummy on 2, I had to call it a day with a promise to return the next day, which we did. :D

The first ride we went for was Shrek 4D of course. We enjoyed it very much.

Upon exiting that ride, we came to Fairy Godmother's Potion shop which had this little ferriswheel.

With the meal voucher that came with the purchase of funpasses, we got this popcorn container. The vouchers were only good for that day so no matter what, we had to get rid of them. Just as well, we didn't have to actually spend them at the restaurants.

This was taken on our second visit, the day after. It was a gloomy, rainy day and we got wet a lot.

She's trying to check out where to go. Haha.

The Accelerator ride, works like the teacups in Disneyland. Doesn't work for this dizzy mummy.

The infamous Battlestar Gallactica ride which broke down in its first week of the park's opening. It is still closed, but that doesn't affect me as NO WAY will I go on that!

Entrance to the Revenge of the Mummy ride... still thinking... doubt I have the guts. ;P

Fiesta at school

The secondary school held it's annual fiesta at school yesterday and it was the first time the primary school were invited to take part in it. How exciting!

About a month ago, I received an email asking for volunteer parents to donate baked goods, sweets etc for the stall run by the parent support group. It sounded very exciting and I love 'parties' like these.

I spent an entire day baking, taking a couple hours of rest in-between, and started decorating, packing during the evening, and didn't finish getting them looking pretty and all done till almost 11pm on Thursday. I needed to get them delivered to school between 7-7.30am yesterday. Of course, since I had to send them and the girl to school, it meant I needed to wake at 5.30 to get myself ready. I even told the girl that I was just going to wake her up once and if she didn't wake up and if she gave me problems, I was going to the funfair and leaving her at home. Well, the threat worked! Hehe. We left as planned at 6.35 and were lucky to get a cab immediately as the street was deserted at that time of the morning. We got into school just before 7am and wow, I was really surprised to see that 3/4 of the canteen was packed with girls! Goodness, what time did they all arrive?? Some, like mine, were running around with their friends, some were ordering and having their breakfast in the canteen, and there were also girls jogging on the track. It's nice to see firsthand what happens in school in the mornings as it's a real privilege for me. As my girl goes to school in the school bus and as the school is a fortress (very strict with allowing parents and public in), it was nice to be there to soak it all in.

These brownie cones were my contribution to the PSG (parents support group) stall. I made use of most of my sprinkles and was really happy with the result.

Here they are, all nicely wrapped.

I ran out of cones towards the end and was mad at myself for remembering to buy more butter and chocolate while I was out, but conveniently forgetting the cones, which were not in my thoughts at all. But I love these cups which I finally had a use for. Very pretty vertical lines.

I love this piece of artwork made by a volunteer mum. How artistic she is. In fact, she did all the artwork for our stall. And on top of that, she is a very nice lady. It's my first time meeting her and she left me with a deep impression with her warm and friendly personality. It's people like that who make the world a much nicer place to live in. I met a few mums yesterday and she and another lady left me with very good impressions.

The plan for me wasn't to help at the stall initially, but I did offer to help set up the stall. As I was one of the first few mums there, I helped the nice lady, F, to put up the signs. When she had to leave to help out with teaching the girls life skills, I was left alone to man the stall. Meanwhile, the person-in-charge received a call from the candy floss supplier that he couldn't send any manpower to man the machines. I told her I could stay to help out with the stall if they needed more hands. And that was how I ended up staying there from 7am -5pm and by the end of which, I couldn't feel my feet. There were no seats and the only bench available was always filled with people so between few minutes here and there of stealing a space for my butt, I had to stand majority of the day. I'm so thankful to SS who was there to join in the fun, for offering to send me and the princess home. I could hardly walk to the car. Haha. But I did have a very enjoyable day and would very much like to do it again next time round. :)

The goodies...

My brownies

Some chocolate chip cookies which started off being sold for $2 but later all cookies were slashed down to $1 as we simply had too many of them once more parents started bringing them in.

These got to be the cutest cuppies ever! I bought two of them and packed them up in my bag, but I didn't manage to get to consume them as the ants got to them first and in my bag!! Shucks! I freaked out when I went to check on them as I saw many many creepy crawlies all over the place, and true enough, they had gone into the boxes, so unfortunately I had to throw them out. You know how I am around these pests. So, sad to say, I never got to taste them. :(

I bought a little sheep and chick. What a pity.

I love these little flower cookies and bought 2 packets of them as they were of different colours. A sucker for such cuties I am.

Meringues were very saleable once the kids knew what they were and had tried them out. These were cheap at $1 for 2 packets. Each packet had 3 pieces.

More cupcakes for sale, some healthy quaker bars, quacker mini crisps, and yoghurt sweets ($2 for a big packet) were going for very cheap as they were near their expiry.

These cupcakes, too, were very popular and were the first to be gone.

Most of the volunteer mums at our stall were eating this nasi bryani. It was very popular and was sold out in seconds. I was told it was mutton at first and since I don't eat mutton, decided to give it a miss even though I love briyani. The mum who was eating it tried to convince me to go for it as it didn't have any of the funny taste associated with mutton. We later found out that it was vegetarian, thus mock mutton. I was at the stall in seconds, queuing for a packet to take home for my dinner. The thing with me is that when I am super tired, plus the heat on top of it, I won't have an appetite to eat. The lady who was dishing out these yummies assured me it was fine to keep it till the evening. The briyani was cooked by her elderly mum and the entire dish had a very authentic homecooked flavour. Loved the achar too, which was very fresh.

How could I resist these cuties?? Aren't they too lovely to be eaten? Which is why I have kept them safely away from the princess who has only been given one Pooh so far.

Hubby came home from work with a chicken pie for his dinner as well as for Saturday's lunch. I believe it's from the famous Don's Pie shop. They sell them very cheaply at work when the vendor comes on Fridays.