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Showing posts from 2023

Our visit to Legoland Malaysia

 After hearing all the good (and bad) things about Legoland Malaysia, we finally went there on a 2D1N trip during one of Hunter's school closure days. After much deliberation, we decided to take a bus straight to Legoland. It was convenient for us as we stay in the west (the pick up point is at Jurong East) and it's only $14/pax for the trip there and $12/pax for the trip back. So, early in the morning before 9am, we reached the pick up point to wait for the bus.  The pick up point There was a wait for the bus and I was a little anxious as there was no sign indicating the exact pick up point. However, my anxiety was unfounded as the bus was pretty easy to spot (with a pretty huge sign indicating that it is heading towards Legoland). The bus is comfortable and we managed to reach Legoland by 11plus am. Since we booked the tickets online, we queued at the counter and got our annual pass - a fuss free experience. Free entry for kids below 3 The first thing when we went in was to l

Our 1st home

In a few months' time, we will be moving out of our BTO home. It is a bittersweet moment as we have painstakingly designed our place, putting in months of efforts. However, we (or mainly I) decided that we have outgrown this current flat, and require more space for our growing boy. (And it definitely does not help that both of us are currently working in a hybrid mode.) Our place before we shifted in: Our platform bed - You may be amazed that it fits a king sized bed We chose casement doors for the cupboards I love the spanish made wooden tiles! We got it at Soon Bee Huat Our customized racks in the bomb shelter The view from our home After moving in: The kitchen The living room It has been a good 6 years. 

3D2N trip to JB (Pulai Spring Resort and Sinar Eco Resort)

 Recently, we had an extended family trip to JB. This time round, we went to Pulai Spring Resort for 1N stay and another night stay at Sinar Eco Resort. There were very few reviews for Pulai Spring Resort so I was pretty skeptical about it but my aunty mentioned that it was very value for money, hence we decided to give it a try. The resort was about 0.5 hours drive away from the customs so we took a grab there.  Since we have 8 pax, we booked a 4 room villa for the amazing price of SGD220, which is about $27.50 per pax (inclusive of breakfast). This is the living room area (which managed to fit 20 pax when the MY relatives came over after dinner) The kids enjoying themselves in one of the rooms (They literally played hide and seek) Full moon viewing Enjoying the time in the pool There is a shallow pool for toddlers and babies All in all, we loved the place. It is very spacious for a huge family gathering and the price point is very good. The breakfast itself was not very impressive, p

5 things I did not regret about my BTO renovation

 After 5 - 6 years of getting our BTO flat, I'm finally blogging about it. After living in for a few years, we have some renovation that we regretted, and some that were lifesavers. The 5 things that we did not regret choosing: 1. The rain shower set in the master bedroom toilet We pondered for very long before deciding on getting a Grohe set. In the end, our comfort won over the practical side of us. It serves us well, especially since we have to use it almost every day. I want to rave about their service as well. As you may be aware, Grohe offers a 5 year warranty on their shower sets. When our mixer was a bit tight, we contacted them and they scheduled an appointment with us to fix and change to a new one within 3 days. I was so wowed by their service. 2. Not doing the shower screen in the common bedroom toilet We were contemplating if we should segregate the wet and dry area in the common toilet as I have a pet peeve of stepping on wet ground. In the end, we decided not to in

Learning to read with Bob Books: Beginning Readers

 While packing the house a few days ago, I found this set of Beginning Readers that was hidden in one of the cupboards. I flipped through the set of books and they are very decodable for toddlers who have started learning the CVC words! Hunter is able to read some of the books by himself, with the exception of tricky words such as "the". I find that it is a good supplement for the phonics class and will be continuing to practise reading with Hunter using this set.

Phonics Class at Curious Thoughts Academy (CTA)

Today, I am going to share my review of the phonics enrichment school that I have been sending Hunter to since start of July 2023. To give you the background, Curious Thoughts Academy (CTA) base its phonics classes on Jolly Phonics, and is located in Bugis.  I first got to know about CTA when they launched their phonics workshop. Being the ambitious mum, I thought that I could save some money and teach Hunter phonics by myself. After going through the workshop, I realised the amount of work I have to put in to curate the materials, and I decided that it is best left to the experts and I would just revise the contents with him at home during the week. Below are the information from CTA. They run the classes by terms and classes are tagged by levels.        Price List for 2023                         Hunter is currently in Intermediate phonics and will be advancing up next year.  I love the approach of Jolly phonics as they use songs and actions to capture the attention of kids. As this

Free (almost) activities for toddlers in Singapore

Raising kids in Singapore is atrociously expensive, so I would like to share what I do with Hunter on weekends and weekday nights to keep expenses down while limiting screen time. We try to do a variety of activities to make things interesting. 1. Paper cutting I got the divider papers from my company when they decided to discard the old documents. Hunter enjoyed this activity a lot after I got him the left handed scissors . (Apparently, cutting with a normal scissors is very painful for him as he would keep complaining that his fingers are unable to control the scissors)   2. Outing at Utown (NUS) This is probably the most underrated gem in the west. We like to go to Utown on the weekends to have a picnic and play with balls. And the best thing is that there is no crowd to contend with. It is also very kids friendly as there are 2 foodcourts nearby with toilets and water coolers all around. For adults, there is a Starbucks for your caffeine fix. 2. Outing at Singapore Botanic Gardens