3D2N @ the Canopi

the ng family first getaway for the year - to the canopi! i first learnt about this new resort in bintan from a travel mag late last year and it sprang to mind again early this year when i was trying to plan a bday weekend for the younger boy. so without further ado, i booked 2 nights for this weekend and it shall be a short getaway for the bday celebrations for both the hubbi and YR. :D

we took leave on fri and fetched both boys straight from their schools. a quick change of clothes back at home and its off to tanah merah ferry terminal to head to bintan! the ferry reached bintan in a jiffy around 2pm and it was a good thing the resort is located like 5mins drive from the terminal! our package included express immigration and shuttle service so we arrived at the resort in less than half an hour time!

this view greeted us at the lobby when we alighted from the shuttle bus! sweet!

the canopi sported a concept that merge camping with luxury - glamping! so we stayed at a tent which is fully furnished! :P there's a man-made lagoon in front of our tent with treated/filtered seawater to give us the crystal clear water to swim in and a variety of land/water activities to choose from around it! the place aint big with ~ 40 tents in all but enough activities to keep us occupied and happy for these 2 days!

inside + outside of our tent

we wasted no time to change into our swimming gear to do some water sports/play for the rest of the afternoon when the weather was good. i tried stand-up paddling - something that i wanted to try for sometime and surprisingly it was more manageable than i thought though pretty tiring! the husband and boys did the water tricycle as i huffed and puffed near them on the paddle..

and of cos, after that, it's water playtime for the boys while i lounged around on the sun chair... :P

good activities for our first afternoon there!

dinner was in house at their bora bora beach bar which serves one of the better pizzas we have ever eaten. yum! we K.O. pretty early for bintan time since it's 1 hour behind us but expected given the boys had a long day with school and all the physical activities for the day.

the next day, we woke up bright and early and after breakfast, we had a try at the segway (for hubbi & me) and mini electric ATVs (for the boys)! it was pretty fun and it's a first for me on segway too! impressive to see and feel the auto-stabilizer function in action though for a brief min, i was unsure how to get off it as it seems to be constantly in need to be in action!

after the brief ride, the boys hit the water again while i lazed around with a magazine! bliss!

fun morning on the 2nd day!

after a bath, we took the shuttle bus to explore the lagoi mall nearby which was a huge disappointment...more than half of the shops aint open yet and there was really nothing much to do there. the good thing was we managed to find a decent enough restaurant to settle our lunch and i managed to do a massage while the husband and boys were very nice to wait around for me.

we headed back to the canopi and spent the rest of the afternoon... in water of cos! hehe.

after showering, it was rather peaceful and zen to laze outside of our tent watching the sunset and talking nonsense with the boys.

and before long, it's dinner time at the same bora bora beach bar (yes, the only not-so-great thing about here is there's only 1 eating option in house) but luckily we love the pizzas...

lovely sunset

we were blessed with good weather throughout and the only heavy downpour happened on our 2nd night in the wee morning. today, we woke up late, lazed in bed, went for late breakfast and before long, it's time to checkout and head back to SG!

what a great short getaway! we should do this more often! where's next for us?! i cant wait to plan! hehehe.

1st day of school for the boys

in a flash, school holidays were over and the boys started their new school term today! P3 for the elder boy and K2 for the younger one. cant believe that YR will be starting P1 next year! there goes my 6 days childcare leave. :P

YZ will be in a new class this year - I hope he will continue to find learning a joy and make good friends along the way. for YR, there will be homework and spellings for him this year. *teehee* no more relaxing and playing while his elder brother is working hard!

today was a little hectic for the mummy for YR school was only an hour long to cater to the new nursery kiddos attending school for the first time. so I have to wait for him at school and ferry him back to gramps before heading to work. and during lunch time, I had to dash to YZ's school to settle the logistics arrangement with the school bus driver before another mad dash back to work. :(

oh well, glad all is settled now and they are ready to start the new school year! and the ng family is really to settle back to school routine (waking up by 630AM and sleeping by 9PM - kiddos/1130PM - adults)! in line with healthy living so why not!

Sentosa Fun Pass!!

we woke up not too early yesterday but nonetheless decided to head for sentosa to have some fun for the day. after some quick checking online, sentosa fun pass for 5 was selected and purchased! :D

we drove out to the first fun stop for the day - RWS aquarium! it was few years back when we first visited it when it opened to public. nothing much has changed just that there is no queue now and the crowd is much more manageable! :P

the aquarium is still as lackluster as my memory. the only more interesting bit of our time there was we get to touch starfish and sea cucumber (this is the eeky one!)!

then it was quick lunch at insadong korea town since i've cravings for korea food.. :P

next (2nd) stop: trick eye museum as per the elder boy's request. huge mistake. at the end of the day, all of us ranked this place last of all the fun activities/places for the day. the place is so SMALL that the art pieces are within arm's length of each other. there's simply no space to point and shoot as when you are shooting for your friend/family, you are practically standing in the space of another art piece! so rubbish!
definitely not worth a revisit!

obviously we still managed to take some crazy photos after much jostling and waiting time...

then it's time to board the monorail and head to imbiah lookout for our 4D rides! the boys were looking forward to it so much that we decided to use up 2 activities for 2 4D shows.

and luckily, they were actually very exciting and lived up to our expectations!

we watched journey 2 mysterious island in a theater setting (alike shrek @ USS) and the effects were good! next was extreme log ride where you sit in 3 by 3 motion-simulated unit - this is much better than the 1st 4D ride! 

left: luge ride right: 4D ride

we used up our last fun pass for skyride and luge ride! YR saw with papa and YZ got to luge-ride by himself! he was pretty good though he did bumped into the side of the trail once..

the boys wanted to have another try after it but given the long snaking queue, we can only tell them a firm no! haha, queuing is so torturous..

we took the monorail back to waterfront station and settled for dinner at malaysian food street (of cos, initiated by the husband since i decided lunch venue....).

it was a long and tiring day for us yesterday but it was great for the boys to enjoy what's left of their school holidays this way. :)

Fun x'mas @.........changi airport!

guess where the ng family spent our afternoon + evening on xmas day? Changi airport!

im getting lazy with planning and this is what happen when you leave planning to the husband. his fav places/activities are not only not at the top of my to-do list but at the bottom of it! but once in a blue moon, it aint so bad when we go with his flow though.. HA.

we took the boys to try the slides and im very proud that they actually dare to try both slides and enjoyed both tremendously! i dont think i dare to take the higher slide.. *gulp*

happy boys!

we spent time walking around T3 and we signed up changi rewards card so we can buy things w/o GST. cheap thrill indeed. LOL.

im actually very proud of our airport! great design, so clean and so efficient!

dinner was at thai express which i havent try in eons and surprisingly tasted alright.. some stuff you can only try once in a long while to appreciate it. :P

we walked to T2 since the sky train was down. the connection through the MRT - a path less trodden on was interesting. both boys told me that they have walked this connecting path before during their separate school field trips!

before heading to T2, we spent like more than 30mins in a .... bookshop! YZ + my fav place! hubbi decided to play santa and we can all choose a book! the elder boy chose a book from the wimpy kids series, YR a watercolor painting activity book and me a book from John Maxwell. :D

hubbi finally saw his beloved star wars display at T2!

we had early supper at krispy kreme and YZ and i started reading while snacking on donuts! reading while eating (i know its a terrible habit) is so satisfying!

@ krispy kreme!

we need to zzz early today for tomorrow is another fresh day for us to head out and have fun. for now, the tentative plan is head to sentosa for the day! i wonder if it will be the main island or RWS...

quiet xmas eve 2015

this used to be my fav day of the year back when im younger with more energy. it will normally end in town with some sort of countdown involved and of cos drinkssss.

nowadays, i look forward to spending quiet time with the husband and boys on these "eves".

went to a half empty office to work in the morning. though many were not in office, i still have much to do. WHY!? still, scooted off for lunch with suz + kc, my fav. colls. im really starting to miss ping. :( we had lunch at erwin -  not the best choice but an easy one. it was great company for my birthday lunch in advance. :)

hubbi came to fetch me and we headed home after fetching the boy. it was so nice lazing at home in the afternoon. hubbi made reservations at new ubin seafood since he wanted to try the food there for the longest time. im not too keen but given the man hardly has any cravings for food anywhere, i went along. and it was surprisingly a great choice!

the angus beef was really good and im not really a beef person to start with. and the fried rice that's cooked with the beef oil was really really yummy. somehow tasted like those lap cheong fried rice! my mains was my fav . chilli crab of cos - i think i ate 70% of 1 crab myself together with many other food. oops. i really need to start jogging more regularly (1-2x every other week doesnt count) again. the muffin top is back and bigger than ever!

good meal!

we let the boys stayed up but by 10+ they are showing signs of fatigue so off they go to their bedroom and they were snoozing in minutes! i think im hitting the sack too! when you wake up before 7AM, staying awake past 11PM becomes an uphill task..

yeah to healthy living bah!

movies - peanuts, star wars + christmas market

and so i was on PM leave on both wed and fri last week. 
i kept wed afternoon to myself and fri for the boys so we have a good me-kids balance! :D

wed i went for some shopping in town but there's really nothing much that caught my fancy. in fact, i almost left town empty handed until i saw a nice ring from threadbare and squirrel at wheelock place. :P it's good when your shopping comes in mini sizes that the husband has a hard time noticing.. ha!

after that, i went to fetch the kids and hubbi and we headed to the christmas market @ garden by the bay!
given its a wed evening and we reached around 6+, the crowd was OK and we had fun playing carnival games (basically, just money down the drain. :"(...), took some rides and exploring the pretty set-up there. 
great evening - a departure from our usual routine.

 the swinging chairs were good fun for the boys!

pretty decor

fri, i bought the boys out for a spot of movie time at bugis+! we watched peanuts and it's just......underwhelming....
it's not bad but its not fantastic too. it just left a strange taste in my mouth and got me thinking "ok, it's not so bad that i feel like i've wasted money but why do i feel i could have spend my time elsewhere??".
so...

peanuts!

and yesterday, we watched star wars - the force awakens!! never a star wars fan myself (LOTR LOTR LOTR!!), i watched it more out of obligation to accompany the husband and of cos to see for myself if the show lives up to its hype.
and of cos it...doesn't. i didnt want to do any spoilers here but casting got to be better than this. i mean kylo-ren?! seriously.
and the plot is at best unoriginal, at worst recycled. you go watch and be the judge.

Busy fun(?) filled saturday for the ng family!

finally the elder boy's berries' classes have ended for the year! no more enrichment class for him every saturday for the rest of the year (or whatever left of it...)! *wee*

so yesterday, we decided to head out in the morning and off to river safari we did! it was pretty much decided on a whim. we asked the boys where do they want to go and they were giving all the @_@ answers like legoland, korea, USS.... finally, the elder boy said he leave it to didi to decide and YR mentioned river safari. both hubbi and me thought it was doable given the last time we were there, it was the soft opening and the amazon river cruise was not yet opened. so quick purchase of tics online and off we go! it was a swift 30mins ride from our house. :P

everyone is heading to the zoo!! river safari is rather quiet which was good for us i guess!

again, only managed to see kai kai... jia jia when are you getting out of your enclosed space!?

river safari is good in the sense it's small and very manageable and all the pathways are sheltered!!! god-send in this crazy hot weather at times. but given it's very "manageable" size, we were done in like less than 3 hours. @_@

relaxing trip

we took the amazon river ride and it was sooooo.... SHORT. LOL. hubbi was shocked by the whole duration of it and half the time, we had problem spotting the animals to our left and right. 

the good thing is the mini downslope bits of the ride where the boys were thrilled that few secondssss...

 In the end, we were outside river safari at around 2pm and wondering where can we go next....
after some googling, spontaneous (thats my real nature and the husband getting good at it after years of conditioning... ) us decided to head to the newly opened national museum of singapore!

we explored the temporary exhibit from the british museum as well as the Singapore history gallery.

compact but very rich collections of treasures round the world indeed

highlight of the tour was viewing the mummy. the younger boy was asking repeatedly was the person within the mummy dead? and the elder boy didnt help much by adding that the mummified person's organs were put in jars next to the mummy. @_@

and so YR feared for mummy nightmare last night.....

we didnt explore the singapore history gallery thoroughly as the boys were getting tired and getting distracted by then.

so we left the place for early dinner - PS cafe petit at tiong bahru!

early dinner!

after a hearty dinner (truffles fries inclusive!!), we walked down yong siak street and i managed to get a lovely book from woods in the books. :)

by the time we reached home, the boys were all ready to hit the sack after bathing! lovely day!

lovely sunday

today was equally great for us! we had a hearty breakfast before checking out and we headed to tanglin mall which is a great place if you visit it like once a year! :P

no kidding, we enjoyed the shops here given the last time we were here were few years back. i really like the toy shops here - good quality and different from what is offered in the mass market out there.

bought a bag for YR and a puzzle set for the boys which hopefully can be put up on their bedroom wall once done!

 

some shots taken @ the lobby by the husband

 

we headed to ubi to fetch the elder boy who was so glad to see us. yes, we missed you too YZ! :D

then, it's off to bugis plus to have tea break (?) - @ ramen champion before watching maze runner 2.

the husband was adamant against watching hotel Transylvania 2 so we settled for maze runner 2 and I was feeling so apologetic *spoilers ahead* that there's zombies in the show!!

which was absolutely YR's nightmare. in fact too scary for YZ too since both of them had their eyes closed during all the "actions" scenes...

 

the show aint too bad but I thought the 1st installment was much better but oh well, just have to finish the series I guess...

ramen + photo-taking @ iluma filmgarde

 

oh, and I finished building detective's office from the expert set! it looks good in-between emporium and pet shop sets! can you see it!

now what's left in my storeroom will be haunted house, vampyre castle and ghost train from the monsters fighters series! oh, and not forgetting fairground mixer and santa workshop from expert series! oops, did I really buy so much over the past year....? ok, one step at a time..

 

looking good! but the display shelf running out of space! *help*

hari raya holiday!

happy hari raya to all my malay friends out there! hope they have a great day despite the tiring haze.
it hasn't been a great week for the ng family. haze is taking its toll on us. hubbi is down with sore throat, the younger boy and myself with slight flu and YZ took the greatest hit - his asthma was triggered. :(

he was wheezing pretty badly on sunday and Monday so was granted 2 days MC for last 2 days. however, as he had oral assessments yesterday, he attended school after 1 day rest at home. :( now he's (only) slightly better but we appreciate the 1 day holiday rest for him at home today. so yes, no going out for the ng family today.

this weekend we have a staycation (yes, again!) for hubbi and my 9 years wedding anniversary! I guess most probably, YZ will be staying over at my mum's place and the younger boy will come along with us. sorry yz, you need to rest as much as u can!

it's a good thing things are less hectic at the work front, I left work earlier on Tuesday and took PM leave yesterday just to ensure that YZ has access to his inhaler in time. and it's bonus payout this week! *wee*, the monies are now safely in my bank account! and yes, bulk of it is going into my savings! if only the stock market can show more resilience towards the china and us markets, then everything will be better! :P

Staycation - Llyod's Inn

yeah, hubbi and i took leave yesterday to do a mini staycation in city with the boys since it's the school holidays this week.

 

we moved out of the house for lunch @ 313 marche. its been ages since we visited a marche as a family. i really like their rosti and find the kids' meals a steal - super value for money. filling and a cup of apply juice for each of them. *thumbs up*

 

lunch @ marche

 

after lunch, we explored gateway and central before heading to our hotel - Llyod's inn to check in!

the boutique hotel is situated at a quiet corner on llyod road. we booked a garden room and added an extra bed to cater for the 4 of us. the room is pretty small which is expected but i like the minimalist décor. :D

 

we lazed for awhile and slowly made our way to national museum of Singapore which took us around 25mins on foot? 

along the way

bottom right: the boys seeing mimosa for the first time....

 sadly, NSM permanent collections section is under renovation. we did explore a temporary exhibition - 50 products of SG - while we were there. it was pretty interesting to note the products that come from SG!

@NSM

 

on level 3, there's PLAY which has an explore section for kids which is pretty interesting for the boys.

we had our early dinner @ food for thought and i can only sadly conclude their standards have dropped... :(

 

evening plan lined up was watching "inside out" at plaza sing! *wee*

it was a brilliant show as what most reviews said. what if emotions have emotions indeed.

Pixar once again combined wonderful storytelling that illustrates the simplest human lessons with gorgeous graphics. lethal combi that never fail to enthrall and entertain.

i still don't like sadness at the end of the show, unlike most people. but we are all reminded that we can find strength in the most dire situations. it's really a matter how we see things in perspective.

and bing bong. :'(

 

great show for the whole family! we ended up taking a cab back to hotel after the show for the haze was atrocious. PSI >200!

spent the rest of night lazing in hotel before calling it a night. i was actually having the jitters on GE today. LOL.

 

breakfast was at killiney at killiney road (no kidding, that's the breakfast coupons given by the hotel). of cos, it was great. im for traditional brekkie anytime!

 

had a lazy afternoon at home after checking out and we went bedok town centre for leisure walk and groceries shopping. oh, and of cos voting in between for our GRC! :D

a national duty im proud of. an entitlement and not obligation from how im seeing it. :)

 

ok, back to TV to wait for results with bated breath!

i was on leave yesterday since both boys have no school due to teacher's day holiday. brought them out to town for lunch and spend some time there. it's really not easy bringing 2 active boys out and trying not to yell at them like some crazy woman. @_@
in the end, whisked them home where they can play (rowdily) in peace while i caught up a bit with my dramas. hehe.
then it's to hubbi's workplace for an early dinner with him! nice way to end a Friday by starting the weekend early. :D

today, the highlight was (supposedly) to be my birthday treat to my mum for her birthday. her being her with predisposition to throw things out of proportion, managed to turn it into a dinner treat to include some of my uncles and aunties so altogether there were 13 of us!
OMG, im all for treating my uncles and aunties dinner given how they doted on me so much in the past but i really don't appreciate my mum throwing me the bomb like on thurs leaving me only 1 day to figure out where to eat (for oh, she has her "standards" on where to dine too..). gosh.

luckily, ended up well. we had dinner at tunglok xihe peking duck at orchard central and everyone finds the food good. *phwee*
luckily it's bonus month so my wallet can weep more gracefully. :P
at the end of the day, i just want everyone to have a great time!

SG50 #2 - Shangri-la staycation, to the fore & NDP

the ng family went for a mini staycation yesterday! as part of SG50 promo at Shangri-La, we managed to get a pretty decent deal for a room at tower wing, breakfast inclusive + a SG50 cake to take home after checking-out. :)

 

after the elder boy's enrichment class in the late morning, we had lunch and reached the hotel to check in at 2pm! the whole place was swarmed with locals mostly. :P

but check in was smooth and we were in our room in a jiffy. due to full occupancy rate, we were upgraded to a higher floor room which supposedly gave us better view of the city?



 

the décor at lobby was berry nice - locals & tourists alike were taking photos :)

 

for a 5 star hotel, the room was surprisingly a tad old-looking. but it was rather spacious even after the extra bed was added in. we lazed around for a while before taking a quick tour round the hotel.

the waterfall & pool area next to the line restaurant is nice. we saw squirrels in action!

 

 

we missed the shuttle bus to town so decided to have a mini tea break at the hotel lobby before walking out (rather short walk to orchard delfi area ~ 5-10mins?).

the tea was good but the desserts were so-so...

 

we spent a lazy afternoon in town. i was really happy to chance upon a pop up gallery featuring andy Warhol's originals @ scotts square!

was trying to discuss his works with the husband without much success as usual....

then it's time at taka before our dinner @ wild honey at mandarin gallery.

clockwise from top left:

display at scotts sq

@ mandarin gallery

@wild honey

@ kino

 

the food at wild honey was good but too filling.

we headed back to hotel after dinner just to laze the evening away. the boys apparently had a long day for they were fast asleep before 930pm! LOL

 

the next day, breakfast at the line was fantastic. despite the crazy crowd, we were all spoilt for choices when it comes to what to eat.

more lazing back at the hotel room before we checked out by noon.

 

we headed back to deposit the luggage at our house before zooming off to katong 112! for the mummy has bought tickets for the movie - to the fore!

the show was surprisingly decent and definitely beaten my expectations. :) and it really helps to have the ever cute eddie peng in it. :P

though the same cant be said for the boys.... the husband found it watchable but the boys seemed to like the action bit and were pretty distracted for other scenes.. oh well.

 

then its back home to catch SG50 NDP on tv - wouldn't miss it for anything.

the tribute to LKY was especially moving and i found myself tearing abit as it brought back memories of the period when he just passed away.

asked the boys to recite the pledge and glad to see them doing so - all of us should be thankful for what we have and never take that for granted. hope we will continue to be united by our differences should unite us and never let it divide us.

 

and with the fireworks, it's over. GE 2015 is round the corner but I hope most of us Singaporeans will not forget what SG50 NDP signifies. that we will continue in this journey of building a nation - strong and free.

SG50#1 - out and about!

the long weekend officially started! actually since yesterday when i fetched the boys earlier to hubbi's workplace for dinner at mac! simple pleasure like curly fries and mcflurry! yum!

today, we decided to ditch the car and take public transport and explore places with the boys.

 

1st stop was to chinatown point for lunch. we wanted to explore the heritage place abit but the ongoing rain kind of disrupted that plan. :(

no fret, we took the NEL->circle line to dhoby ghaut where we spent some time at plaza sing before venturing out to hit the streets!

super early dinner at concetto at the cathay before we walked all the way to SAM.

free to public as part of #SG50 and we had fun exploring the small museum. there was 1 point where i was actually having conversations with the boys what was displayed! so touched i almost teared! will i find an art friend in them when that has totally been missing most of the time with the husband!?

ok, it's more like them asking questions and me giving my own interpretations on what's being displayed...

still, im glad with the interest! i should keep it going so they can be my best friends when we hit the museums overseas next time! :D

 

ice cream time (like again..my well nourished muffin...) @ Chinatown point

aimlessly walking here and there! 

 

@ SAM

and from SAM, we made our way slowly to bugis bypassing waterloo street to show the boys the 2 temples next to each other. and from bugis, we took bus home! need to change bus but it was pretty fast~ around 40mins to reach our door step. the boys had fun sitting on top of double decker buses!

long tiring day but we had fun here and there. and tomorrow, we are heading out for our mini staycation in town! *wee* cant wait.

seeing the stars!

I heart this weekend! :D

doing fav. activities with my fav. people. After yz's enrichment class in the morning yesterday, we made our way to bedok town centre for lunch, visit to our fav. library and groceries shopping at bedok mall. simple activities but it was enjoyable especially the library bit! ok, not for everyone... I know a particular mr ng who always doze off while the rest of us excitedly comb the shelves for the next read to borrow back. :P

before long, mummy needed to get ready for sammi cheng's concert at indoor stadium with the peeps! :DDD *woohoo*
with the boys heading to in-laws place for dinner, I made my way for my dinner with the peeps at brewerks. :)
concert started pretty on time at around 8.20pm and sammi was a blast! high energy and high standard of singing all the way for the next 2+ hours!
at 42, she is looking so good (the extra pounds on her definitely make her look much healthier now!) and im amazed at her stamina and strong vocals!
it seems like only yesterday that dd and I caught her last performance in SG 5 years back!

super good performance and outfits!

seated amidst the fan club zone, near the stage and very high the whole night! :D

 

i wonder which will be my next concert..

 

today, we brought the boys to suntec to ..yes.. catch yet another show and ended the evening with dinner at my current fav. roast pork place - kay lee!

we watched MI5 and all i can say is tom cruise still got it! at his age, im very impressed with all the stunts done by him. as the husband said, we should hit the big screen and watch it just to support mr cruise's efforts! LOL.

 

and the ng family (well, 3/4) ended the evening & night quietly reading our new borrows from the library. :D

lovely sunday!

201 telok kurau

we finally found the best durians for this season!! 201 telok kurau!!

brought the boys + husband to try out this evening as i read good things about this durian place. accordingly, the owners has their own plantations where they grow their own brands of MSW and king of king durians!

quality is controlled and better and it has followers of its own.

true to that, the place was crowded when we reached in the evening with people buying 5-10 durians at 1 go! we bought 2 to eat on the spot and it costs us $70 bucks!!

but absolutely no regrets! the flesh was creamy as MSW should be. seeds were small and what's fascinating was YZ, who almost didn't eat much durian for this whole season as he is really neutral towards durians bordering on slight dislike, ate as many as any of us!

I can only say this boy has expensive taste. LOL

and the husband who is forever shocked by prices like this commented for the first time it's worth it and suggested a revisit next weekend!

 

my view is straightforward. we only have so much tummy space and at an age where we get fat just by breathing air, make every calories count right?

so I might just settle for this place for the rest of the durian season!!

 

beautiful fruits - I never get tired of them! *slurp*

Ant man - surprisingly wholesome and good!

brought the boys to suntec to watch Ant-man yesterday and it was a fantastic choice. superhero movie should be like this. wholesome, humorous and family-friendly. as superhero movies get darker and darker (think dark knight, superman vs batman etc), it is getting ironical that they are getting more and more inaccessible for kids which should be their biggest fans.
so ant man is great. the kids were able to follow the story line, enjoyed it and that was pretty much the same for adults. maybe it's just im biased. but who can really dislike paul rudd! perfectly cast as the reluctant hero who gave us the lighthearted moments as easily as he lent weight to the more serious moments.
I still remember thinking he is cute as a button when I first saw him in clueless like 20 years back! gosh, he is like in his mid-40s now! how time flies! but not to mention that he is in pretty good shape for his age. :)
cant wait to see him join the rest of marvel heroes in action!

after the show, we spent some time at marina sq & suntec before settling for dinner @ kay lee!
the roast pork and especially the roast meat are totally yummy! it's HK standards if you ask me!
definitely going to revisit it.
a bit on the pricier side for a plate of roast pork rice but for such standard, im more than willing to pay! yummmmm....

a great way to end a weekend!

day out with the boys!

we all love a public holiday, dont we!

hubbi and i were able to sleep in until almost 10am this morning! what a luxury! :D

no particular itinerary for today - just head to MBS for a spot of shopping (?!).

the husband was busy trying out his new camera for the day and we were his models! LOL.

he appeared in none but 1 of the photos taken today. *wahaha*

 

and MBS is really not a good place for me for there are just so much temptations!!

in the end, I cant resist but got myself a pair of repetto & earrings from chanel... this is bad. what happened to lying low until sept....? @_@

 

non-stop photo-taking by the husband...

 

and it seems like we cant wait till sept for our staycation to start. we just booked ANOTHER one for the national day weekend! cant wait for that in 3 weeks time. yeah!

thanks bb for agreeing to this one on top of the few that we've lined up for rest of year! :D

staycations galore! *wee*

yeah! I have go ahead and make reservations for staycations for rest of the year with the blessings of the husband. no, he's not paying for everything just giving the permission to do so. tsk.

it's all 2D1N stuff - rather frivolous and just for us break out of the daily routine abit. :P
first up, 1 night stay at around town (closer to dhoby ghaut area) during sept school holidays so we can bring the boys on a day excursion to some local museums or duck tour?. :D
1 night stay just for the husband, me (+1 boy?) at a hotel in town for our 9th wedding anniversary in sept! im planning my fav. (boring) activities I guess - movie, shopping + some fine dining in town. fabulous!
lastly, 1 night stay somewhere close to town on my birthday though it's peak period for the husband typically for any last day of a quarter. :(
well, he can work by the hotel pool while I bring the kids for a relaxing swim I guess. :P

cant wait for these mini breaks and of cos our family holidays to Europe in nov! :D
I think it's time to start (day)dreaming abit for our 2016 holidays. hehe.

minions!

the husband decided to give the boys a pleasant surprise - that is, to watch the minions movie! we have been telling them that we wont be watching for the longest time and they have no expectations whatsoever.
as both hubbi and I have been working late for the past week due to our quarter/year-end closing, we wanted to make the weekend a good one for the kids. so we brought them to bugis and hubbi went to buy the tickets without them knowing. :P when I was queuing up to buy the snacks for the show, the elder boy was asking if im watching a show alone. LOL. 
when we led them to the cinema, they kept asking if we were watching terminator (which they really really don't want to watch, lol). finally when the show started, you can see how happy they were! kudos to the man who planned this mini surprise for the little guys. :D
but the show is really a kids' show. I think I enjoyed the despicable me series much much more. zzzz.

dinner was at coco ichibanya @ bugis plus - at the request of the elder boy who wanted to have curry rice for dinner. tsk tsk. the evening ended with us strolling around bugis village area which is bustling with activities on a weekend night.

@coco ichibanya

weekend - facial + Jurong birdpark

after more than a year hiatus from facials, I think my skin needs a thorough cleansing and some pampering! so I made an appointment with the lancome spa located at the revamped capitol piazza yesterday. hubbi and the kids were very nice to accompany me there so they had their lunch at the newly opened foodcourt at basement while I went for my session. it wasn't too bad for a basic facial though I've experience better facial massages before. the extraction process was rather long and painful but what to expect for someone who hasn't have facial for more than a year! it has a good promo going on for now - buy 3 + 2 free! but I didn't commit given my schedule really doesn't permit me to go for regular facials and I am hoping to try a few more facials of other products before really committing to a package..

today, given its the last week of the school holidays, we decided to bring the kids to jurong bird park! more of the husband's idea for im never a fan of spending time under the sun. :P it has been more than a decade since I last visited it! pretty enjoyable for an afternoon as the compound is compact enough to cover all of it well in 3-4 hours time + we watched 2 performances too! quite worth the entry price if you ask me. :D

left: before entering the penguin area

top right: lunch before starting our excursion

bottom right: SG50 displays scattered round the park

crazy hot humid day, but rather good walk around the park

not exactly my fav animals - birds.....

 

I have this phobia of birds in general - keep thinking that they will come close and peck me with those awful beaks. guess the fear rubs off the boys during their growing up years as I always act agitated whenever pigeons, sparrows or crows come near us. :P

so the boys are wary of these animals of flight not unlike me so it's good that they learn interesting facts about the birds this trip and hopefully be less afraid of them going forward.. ha.

 

has been a great active day for the ng family. im starting to think what can we do during the sept school holidays given that we are staying in SG. hmmm...