You have reached the Parenting, Lifestyle and Travel blog of a daddy of FIVE, Steven Teo. Parenting, because that’s what I NEED to do, have a peek at my LIFE (style got or not, you decide) and our Travels via bus and MRT, plus the occasional cheap overseas trip!
Which kiddo could resist the adorable Minions? This was an old photo taken at USS a couple of weeks back.
Brought the kiddos to another movie premiere this week and it was non other than the Minions! This is actually the prequel and spin off from the highly popular Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2. I ended up having to explain to Leroy why Gru and the girls, Margo, Edith, and Agnes were not in this movie, and this happened before the minions met Gru. Then he asked, why they live so long one? Neverending questions.
The kiddos were reunited with them again at their movie premiere!
The original Despicable Me was to me, a rather heart-warming movie as it showed the tender side of Gru towards his adopted children. As for Despicable Me 2, it was about how Gru tried to be a normal dad to his adopted daughters, how he fell in love, how he saved his beloved minions and everyone ended up happy of course. But the real glue that bound the movies, were the little yellow underlings, the minions.
Woohoo, the movie in 3D is awesome!
This latest movie is ALL about them and how they tried to follow evil bosses for long term unsuccessfully. For the kiddos, the minions were stupidly funny and never failed to tickle their funny bones with their antics. They enjoyed the movie thoroughly from the beginning to the end (stay till after the credits!). So go watch it, laugh heartily at the silliness and enjoy the animations. Without a doubt, the minions (and the accompanying range of merchandise) will be the craze for the next few weeks! Movie starts on 18 June 2015!
Some interesting things I noticed after the movie was the Bob had heterochromia iridium (a condition where one has two different colored eyes) and I can't recall if it was Stuart or Bob who spoke Bahasa Melayu to the Queen towards the end of the show.
It was many years ago since I last visited Jurong Bird Park and my memories of it is rather hazy. I am more of an animal's person, rather than an avian person and I had never brought the kids to the park yet due to the travelling distance. Our family finally visited the park over one weekend on the invite of the park, and although the intention was to do a half-day visit followed by another appointment in the afternoon, we ended up staying till over 5pm.
That was because besides the usual bird exhibits, visitors to the park during this June holidays will also be in for a treat, as there will be fun retro games booths scattered throughout the park in celebration of #SG50!
Do note though, that the booths are only open during weekends between 10am - 4pm.
The kids trying pick-up sticks for the first time and it is definitely not as easy as it looks!
But they still ended up as happy kids with their tikam tickets!
Next up, five stones.
Steffi having a go at it.
One look and we can see who is enthusiastic and who is the grumpy one.
But Leroy ended up being the independent one who insisted on cutting out the shapes on his own.
The kids with their finished art pieces!
Steffi playing the game that boys of my generation should all know and that is Hantam Bola!
The kiddos pitting their skills at Kuti Kuti with the kor kor and jie jie.
They went multiple times, just to try to win them and get more Tikam tickets.
Do you know Chapteh? Well, the kids just learnt!
The prized Tikam tickets that the kids got for completing the different game stations.
This is the place where they exchange the tickets for chances at the sure-win Tikam Tikam.
Sorting out the prizes for the kiddos!
Look at their prize haul! Besides getting to play, they got prizes to keep or eat as well!
There is also Kampong Stories happening at the Waterfall Aviary Terrace at 1.30pm on weekends. The story happens to be about Sang Nila Utama and the legend of the founding of Singapore.
My brave Steffi volunteered to get on stage and perform with the others!
And a parting shot at the end of the performance.
Here's the giant Snakes N Ladders board game near the Birds of Play!
The girls couldn't resist a game, or two in this case.
When the kids saw the water playground, they took to it like fish to water and had a splashing good time. With all these activities going on at the park, a full day is barely enough. For us, we decided to let the kids dictate the playtime this time round and we ended up missing quite ALL the bird shows and lots of exhibits. I guess we can always revisit another day, but at least they were truly happy for the whole day!
Leroy going after Steffi with his water cannon!
Slides are fun for sure!
Steffi doing the (ice) bucket challenge!
Tandem slides!
A cheeky pose from the cheeky boy!
There are only 2 more weekends left before the end of June, before Good Ol' Games and the rest of the activities will be discontinued. As such, you might want to bring the whole family down before that especially if you already had intentions to visit the park. June will be the best time for grandparents above 60 this year gets free entry and the kiddos gets to enjoy so many different games too!
Do visit Jurong Bird Park's website for more information!
The family was invited to Jurong Bird Park for the purpose of this review. No monetary compensation was received.
The happy kiddos caught the Smurfs "Live" On Stage
The Smurfs were in town over the last weekend and the kiddos went "lala. lalalala, lalalalala!" when they heard that the were going to catch the little blue peeps on stage! Erm, well they were actually not so little though!
Papa Smurf and the rest welcoming Spring!
Mother Nature getting the audience all warmed up!
The Smurfs were played by puppets in some of the scenes.
Poor Papa Smurf got captured by Gargamel.
The kiddos were saying that they could recognize this character from afar!
The show was about how evil Gargamel tried sabotaging Spring, Smurf's favourite time of the year, by cooking up a storm with Mother Nature's stolen cookbook! Mother Nature's incarnation in this show was a music-loving and rocking grandmother lookalike that got the kiddos all pumped up with her singing performance.
Little Stacci loved the Smurfs and asked why we didn't get the chance to take photo and hug them. Next time perhaps, next time.
It was a pity that the run was only from 12-14 Jun, and many kiddos might have missed it due to holidays abroad or weekend classes etc. My kiddos were thrilled by the performance and the special effects (snow aka foam) and we sure hope that they will be back again in future!
The kiddos took a class photo first before starting the session.
The kiddos were invited back to City Square Mall last weekend to take part in a cookie art session together with Barney! This session allows kiddos from the age of four up, to decorate their own dinosaur cookies with the different colored icing, candies and chocolate buttons as well. Al the kiddos need is their imagination and help is always nearby if required! Spent a minimum of $100* at the mall to redeem for one of the 40 exclusive passes per day. There is only one session at 2.30 daily (except Mondays) and the activity will only be up till 21 June 2015. So hurry if you intend to go down to the mall!
There are baking classes available for the little ones to sign up too.
Left the kiddos in the good hands of the organizers.
Wow, Leroy can actually be very focused on getting his cookie done just right.
Steffi's creation was full of pastel shades which she liked.
Holding up her cookies for me while her eyes were fixated on them! She told me she wanted to eat them up immediately!
My Leroy with his T-Rex which he insisted I keep and eat.
My littlest Stacci with her loot from the class too.
One look and you will know she had gotten some help.
What? You mean cannot eat ah?
And we definitely wouldn't be leaving the mall without catching Barney and friend in their Jukebox Party! This time round, we managed to secure a seat at Milk N Honeys on level 2 and got ourselves birdseye views instead. It was two cups of yogurt well spent as we need not have to squeeze with the rest of the enthusiastic kids and their accompanying parents! The performance is free but you need to spend a minimum of $60* to redeem a pass for the Meet and Greet session and a carnival ticket one hour prior to each show. Limited to 50 sets per show.
Look at that crowd on the weekend we were there! You will need to "chope" your places early if you want good views.
Of course we needed the compulsory meet and greet with the dinos!
The kids took quite a while, hugging and saying goodbyes. The staff had to chase them down the stage.
So what do you do with the carnival ticket? Well, there is Good Ole Fun In The Park happening at Level 1 City Green park where the kiddos can take part in the various games and activities such as merry-go-round, pirate ship, bouncing castle slide and even bumper cars! All these from 6pm - 10pm daily till 28 June. The activities start earlier at 12pm on Sat, Sun and Public Holidays though. As you can see, there are more than enough activities at the mall to keep the little ones occupied this June holidays! For more details, check out the poster here!
Stacci watching Leroy from the perimeter.
Happy boy doing boy's stuff. Riding the bumper car.
The kiddos finally go to ride the mall train (separate ticket purchase) after bugging me for so long!
Happy kiddos!
Only Steffi dared to take the pirate ship, while the other two waited and showed their support.
Stacci wanted to play the slide, but ended up stuck at the top because she dared not slide down and needed rescue from a kind staff.
So happy, until she got to the top!
We were invited to the cookie art and meet and greet session by the nice folks from City Square Mall. All opinions and photos are mine and no monetary compensation was received.
