Zhi is TWO!

Yesterday was Zhi's birthday. And I think it was a "Thomas & Friends-filled-day" for all of us.

Before I had Zhi, I always wonder why kids can be so crazy about a blue train or about a purple dino. Well, now I have a son that falls for the former.

We started off his birthday celebration in Church's Sunday School. The Pre-schoolers' class sang birthday songs for him and we made imaginery candles for him to blow. Then Ning helped to give out the goodies bags to all the kids.

The later part of the day was when Thomas "invaded". Auntie Yo had bought him a Thomas the Train set. And we spent the afternoon assembling the train set and watching the Thomas Sing-a-long VCD.

In the evening, we had dinner at the Dragon Phoenix Restaurant (highly recommended) where he had his favourite Thomas-Annie birthday cake. He's dressed up in Thomas' T-shirt and gets presents like Thomas T-shirt and shorts set, Thomas swimming shorts etc...

My Sis-in-law even commented Zhi's got so much Thomas stuff. From water bottle, to shirts, to feeding bowl, to CDs.....

The sweetest part was Ning singing the birthday song, both in English and then in Mandarin to him, enthusiastically. Too bad, I was holding Zhi and I didn't video-taped it down.

Here're some photos and a video of his new train set. Thank you Auntie Yo and Uncle Vincent!

Zhi's Birthday Present

Science Centre Paper Flying Competition

Last Saturday marks the end of the March school holidays as well as the Science Centre Paper Plane Flying Competition.

WF saw on the papers that there was a going to be a paper plane flying show by the paper plane man, John Collins and decided we should go there for a Saturday outing.

As usual, Singapore is trying to break the Guinness Records. This time it is about flying the most number of paper planes. And we took part in this competition. First we learnt how to make the paper plane (not just anyhow and any kind of paper planes), then we try to fly it within the zones. Needless to say, we weren't "high flyers".

Then came the show. Where this man, John Collins, showed us many different kinds of paper planes and how each of them had their own characteristics. Like steady decent, gliding power and even a boomerang type of plane, where the plane will fly back to you (see slide show).

The highlight of the outing was actually participating in the various science exhibits in Mindfest 2009 which was also in the same hall. Done up by students from various schools and polytechnics, we had fun playing and making our own science work.

There was also this human board game that the ITE students organized at the outdoor area. Though there was a school competition going on, we still managed to buy a 50cent candy floss for the kids (a reward for their good behaviour).

Rainbow

It was actually Zhi who spotted the rainbow at the balcony. He was screaming excitedly while the rest of us were too engrossed in watching Disney Playhouse's screening of the movie "Mulan".

Of course, initially we had our doubts. How on earth can he identify a rainbow when he had never actually seen a real one. The closest he got to see a rainbow was thro the bathroom glass reflection on the toilet bowl seat cover every morning.

Well, anyway, he prove to us he can identify one, whether it is a real one or a miniature (from glass/droplets reflection).

I thought it was a beautiful sight. And whip out the camera to take a few shots.

Ning, on the other hand, was trying to impress us as well(obviously, we were impressed by Zhi and didn't pay much attention to her). So she kept chanting, rainbow is "God's promise after 40 days and 40 nights".

I think her Sunday School teacher will be proud of her. She remembered Noah's story of how God flooded the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. And after the flood, He created the rainbow as a promise never to flood the earth like this again.

Some Saturday Outings - Changi Airport

I find that our airport is more than just a place for departures and arrivals. When a local family with kids has got nothing to do or don't know where to go, they sometimes go to the airport to past time.

And our airport management had done a good job at making the shops and eateries all accessible to non-travellers. Thus, on weekends, you see a lot of kids and families hanging out at the viewing galleries, long queues outside Swensen's, kids playing at T3's indoor playground etc.

We were no diff. On cloudy days, we go there. And Ning always managed to find new friends to play with, especially outside T3's MacDonald's. And we can stay there for a few hours.

Since last June, I started to take on an additional customer service training assignment at the airport. And I found a new place. An outdoor playground and a stall selling cheap Zhi Char fare. They're located inside the Airport Recreational Club and the way to it is almost like a maze. When I showed WF, he was like... how on earth can a club be hidden thro' this door? Well, this club has got 2 badminton courts, a nice big gym overlooking the runway, jackpot room and karaoke lounge. Now you know its not all work and no play for the airport staff.

Saturday Activities - Bowling

I am not sure if I've put this post before... it felt as if I did but I did a search, I couldn't locate it in my blog.

Anyway, there were a few Saturdays when we run out of ideas where to bring the kids, we went bowling. We 2 two bowling place near our place: Kallang Leisure Bowl and SSC's. So its a convenient way to spend the Saturday mornings without lazing at home.

If kids are playing, you can request the bowling staff to put up the bumper (see pictures) so that the bowling ball will not drop into the drains. And this way the kids will manage to hit some pins and your money will not going down the drains. Haha.

Too bad, Ning's feet couldn't fit the smallest shoe (size 1) so she had to do without the shoes and with only socks. But she manages somehow. Putting the ball on the floor and pushing it. Of course, given her strength, the speed of the ball is really really slow (see video).



Bowling

As for Zhi, he loves to watch people bowl. Especially at the Kallang Bowl where its always so crowded. He'll climb on the chair, cheer and yell and hurray. I'm pretty sure when he's old enough, he's going to grab a ball and roll it down the lane. But for now, he'll have to make do with the plastic bowling set at home.

Ning the Tinkerbell

I brought Ning to watch the Disney on Ice - Princess Wishes at the Indoor Stadium last night. And got her this Tinkerbell outfit. We jokes that we can use this as her Halloween outfit later this year.



Too bad, I forgot to bring my camera, else I can post some performance pictures here. But I must say, this time the performance is much much better and value for money than the previous Disney Live! performance we went in November. The performances were lively, colourful and all the 6 princesses appeared with their princes. Signature songs from each story were performed like "Under the Sea", "A Whole New World" etc. The highlight of the show was the Sleeping Beauty part where the dragon appeared and the ice ring was lighted with fire.

Interestingly, many girls were dressed up in the "finest" for this performance. Many came dressed as a Disney Princess. We spotted a lot of "Snow Whites", a few "Sleeping Beauties" and the ang-moh kids as "Mulans".

Nope, there aren't any "Princes" around... but we spotted the boys carrying swords and sheilds (from the Sleeping Beauty part). I guess its a very 'girl' show after all.

My Roller Blading Progress

Three Saturdays ago, Ning and I signed up for free trial class with Skate-With-Us.

Well, like those experienced bladers have told me, you must not be afraid to fall then you'll be able to balance and blade. True enough, the first lesson for us is learning how to fall! After which we learn how to stand up and balance ourselves by placing our two feet in the V-shape.

It was a pretty fun 1 hour free trial for us (as usual, like a true blue Singaporean, we didn't sign up for the subsequent actual classes). It gave me a head start in being able to balance and blade a little bit. I'm still practising on my straight line blading skills at the jogging track in front of our condo. I supposed I still have a long way to go.

Vivocity

Its been some time since I shared on what we do on Saturdays, which according to Ning is always "a special day". She looks forward to Saturday every week because she knows she gets special privileges like waking up late, going out and have fun, eat some junk food like MacDonald's and best of all, she gets to sleep in our room (other times, she sleeps alone in her bedroom).

There were a few Saturdays when the weather wasn't very kind and we went to shopping malls. Vivocity is one where there are lots of activities for the kids. There are two outdoor areas for the kids to play and there are shops where Ning can do artwork. Plus many options for lunch.

Only downside is, they can get extremely wet from all the water play. Sometimes it amazes me why the kids likes to play with water so much when the two of them always refuse to bathe!!??

Slumdog Millionaire - The Movie

I had wanted to post this last week after we watched this movie. But I was too busy with some Poly meetings that it slipped my mind. I wonder if the movie is still screening in the cinemas. Because I strongly recommend you to watch this movie.

Yes, the storyline is about this boy who came from the slum and managed to win the Mumbai's "Who Wants to be a Millionair?" gameshow. Old topic, you would say? Nah, it may be based on some gameshow story but have you wondered how this orphan from Mumbai slum managed to answer all the questions in the gameshow and win the money? This is where the interesting part is. Because for all the questions asked (except the ones he uses the lifelines), he knew the answers based on his life experiences. Of course, to please the massess, there is also the love element between him and his childhood sweetheart.

I shan't divulge too much details here. But the life of a slumdog (as the movie calls it) was made so real in the movie. I believe the part on the syndicate running the children beggars is all too true that it'll send chills down your heart when you watch it.

Ning's New Pair of Roller Blades

Somehow after we bought ourselves the roller blades, Ning showed interest in wanting to blade too.

So there were a few times, WF took her to Playground@Big Splash and rented a pair of blades for her. Just 2 weeks ago, he decided buying a pair for her is more economical than renting in the long term. So Ning now has her very own red roller blades and she's starting to learn how to blade on her own.


Looks like we can have some family fun in the future!

Punggol Kite Day

This is quite a back dated event. I think its about three sundays ago that we went for this Punggol Kite Day 2008. Like the name of the event, its about flying kites and it happened in Punggol.

We bought a kite at the fair and after several attempts, finally with the help of Uncle Vincent, our kite aptly named '6 Tails' (it has got 6 colourful tails hanging, you see) took off into the blue sky. Just when it flew really high enough and we tought we could take a break, "tragedy" happened. Some blur kite flyers' kites entangled into our 6 Tails' string and eventually 6 Tails was cut off and flew away. We never managed to retrieved it back, even after two unsuccessful searches in the opposite field. So our $35 brand new kite was lost and never found.


So much for Ning & Zhi's first kite flying attempt.