Yumz @ Indonesia

Food had always been THE highlight of every trip that we made.

Lufthansa served light snack on our flights to Singapore-Jakarta while Garuda served Nasi Goreng on our Jakarta-Bali flights. Food is one of the reasons why I do not fly budget :)

We stayed in Aston Marina Jakarta because it was near to our friend's house. In Bali, we stayed in InterContinental Bali Resort. InterCon is popular for the wide spread at Breakfast Buffet. We stayed in the Singaraja Wing. Additional benefits of accommodation in the Singaraja category include a dedicated Reception serving complimentary tea, coffee, fruit and cookies as well as featuring a well stocked library of DVDs, boardgames and reading materials.

Our first meal in Jakarta was a sumptuous and fresh seafood dinner.

Our friend bought us local Nasi Lemak for breakfast.

We had Mee Bakso for dinner. Our friend brought us to a store favored by the locals. You add soya sauce and vinegar to your noodle, or like me, simply eat it as it was served.

We had Indonesian durians and Jakarta "Martabak" as supper. We bought both the savoury and sweet ones. The savoury one was like those murtabak that we ate from our India stores; but it was many times tastier! If you choose peanut fillings, the sweet one would taste like "mee cham kueh". However, many many many times tastier! We ordered half chocolate and half peanut; the generous fillings was simply unforgetable!!!

In Bali, our friends brought us to Naughty Nuri's for wicked ribs! Verdict? "I used to think that Tony Romas have the best ribs" :)

A must-try in Bali was babi-guling. Our friend bought us the "traditional" version of it. Yumz!!!

On our previous trip, we visited Made's Warung at Kuta. This trip we visited the one at Seminyak. Seen here, Nasi Campur and Gado Gado :)

We had seafood supper at Jimbaran. Beachside seafood restaurants :) Travelling with our Indonesia friends was an added advantage! They knew where to go for the best food; for both tourist and locals and we felt safe that we would not be charged a higher "tourist" fee :)

In conclusion, I cannot wait for my next Bali trip :)

Kidzania, Jakarta

KIDZANIA is a unique EDUTAINMENT CENTER for children between 4 to 16 years old and their parents. It is a kid-sized replica of a real city, with streets, buildings, retail and different vehicles going around the City. Here, children play adult roles and learn how to be a doctor, a pilot, a construction worker, a private detective, an archeologist, an F1 driver and over 100 other PROFESSIONS and OCCUPATIONS.

Kidzania has it’s own economy; ‘Kidzo’ is the legal currency. Each time you visit Kidzania, you will receive a 50 kidzos check. Once inside, you must go to the bank, cash your check and use your money to buy goods and services such as: rent car or a boat, get a hair-do at the beauty salon, or shop at KidZania Department Store for instance.

Kidzos are not for sale with real money, if you spend all your kidzos or if you want to earn more, you must get a job and work to provide a product or service such as firefighter, dentist, hairdresser, or constructor, or choose among many different professions. At every activity you may spend or earn kidzos. For example: at the Ice Cream Factory you can earn money, while at the Pizza Restaurant you can spend them.

If you want to save Kidzos and manage your credit balance, you can open a savings account at the bank. These were what the kids did at Kidzania on our recent trip to Jakarta!

Kids getting their wristbands and Kidzos. Ready to "work" so that they can "earn" and "spend".
First stop, get a Kidzania driving licence. Then quickly start work in a Milk Factory, where children learn how to manufacture milk.
Next stop, the Ice Cream Factory. Here, children will learn the process of making popsicles and prepare their own popsicles. They have the freedom to choose the flavour they like best for their popsicles.
The next few hours, they performed Justin Beiber's "Eenie Meene" in a disco, learnt to fly a plane using a flight simulator , drove a car and baked cupcakes...
While the older kids went to be delivery women and painters, Debbie became a packer in a minimart and a nurse in a nursery. She did activities such as
bath the baby, dry the baby, give powder to the baby, scale and measure the baby length, dress
up the baby and lullaby the baby.
With the money earned, the kids opened a Kidzania bank account that came with a "real" ATM card. Children could withdraw Kidzos from a "real" ATM machine :)

This place has become a "must-visit" for our children!

A Night of Star

The entire family was out to support Denise in her first dance performance in school. Every year, Fairfield showcased their Aesthetic Club with a night of performance. This year, the event was held at NUS - University Cultural Centre.

After every club had performed, the P4's put up a musical "Table of Five Thousands". The teachers wrote the script, songs and directed the musical. The entire hall sang "Amazing Grace" during the finale.

That's our "STAR"!

What an awesome night! Like what JX says "Arts is good for the soul"

Birthday Celebration Continues...

Debbie celebrated Part 2 of her birthday in school. Simple affair - Dora cake with nuggets, Dora plates, napkins, fun picks and goodie bags :)

No bouncy castle, magician, balloon sculpture, face-painting, clowns.... Yes, just something simple :)

Happy 4th Birthday Debbie!

Finally she turned 4! Debbie picked the theme and chose her guests.

Dora! I bought Dora cupcake stand, Dora loot bag, Dora paper plates, Dora napkins, Dora fun picks and printed Dora invitation cards for her classmates. Thank you, Aunty Jenny, for the beautiful and delicious cupcakes that sat so nicely on the stand. (if anyone wants to borrow the stand for your gal's birthday, please let me know)

She named her guests one by one. She was very specific in who she wanted to invite. One mother asked me if I was really going to let her decide... I told her "it's her party" :)

Thank you everyone for your generosity! Your presence and presents made her day. Some of her remarks were "Oh, I always wanted this!", "Oh my goodness!" and "Wah.... I like this!".

Holiday to Phuket (June 2011)

Silkair MI754 - we were ready to fly to Phuket at the invitation of the Ho's.

The best part about flying non-budget is the food :) It is always something that I looked forward to.

Even though it may not be the most fantastic. From the smiles of the kids, you know that they were enjoying every bit of it!

We stayed at Marriott Vacation Club, Mai Khao. Some people advised against it and told me that it would be far. However it turned out to be ideal for us. It is near to the airport and 45mins away from Patong, supposedly the "happening" place in Phuket. It was a great choice because it was near to the places that we wanted to go :) And the environment was definitely quieter and cosier than Patong.

4 adults and 5 children checked into a 125sqm, 2 bedroom villa!

The villa was clean and the place was fully-equipped like what home would be.

Kitchen, with all sorts of appliances, laundry area with washer and dry (detergent included) and prompt housekeeping services...

Breakfast not included, but who needs breakfast when there was a supermarket just at the door step of the hotel at Turtle Village, a fully-equipped kitchen and our very own chef, Debra :) Every morning, she would prepare an All-American breakfast for us!

Day 1: Explore hotel and Turtle Village, a little mall beside the hotel. Shopping started at Esprit Outlet, tucked at a corner of Turtle Village. We had cheap and nice Thai food at The Coffee Club

Day 2: Day-trip to Patong. Driver was nice to stop-over at Premium Outlet for us to get a quick bite and to do a speedy 30min shopping :)

We had 4 free adult tickets to Fantasea - the Ultimate Nighttime Cultural Theme Park. Our tickets included a buffet dinner in a SUPER HUGE dining hall and a 1.5hr cultural and elephant show.

Children got to ride on the elephant. The place opens at 6.30pm and the whole place brightens up at night.

Day 3: Visit to Splash Jungle Water Park - like the Wild Wild Wet in Singapore. Whole day of water play.

In the evening, we went back to Premium Outlet for more shopping! 30mins was definitely not enough... :)

At night, driver drove us to Thanoon at Sunset Beach for cheap and yummy seafood! We had crab, fish, squid, tom yam soup with prawns and many more...for less than S$100.

Day 4: Visit to Mai Khao Beach. The red flag was up and the waves were huge! Heard many horrid stories of people being dragged by the waves, we were cautious not to go near the sea.

However, the kids were all excited to just catch the waves at their feet.

21:05 - Landed! Home Sweet Home.

Domestic Violence!

Creative way you can use a "noodle"

Debbie Hit By Food Poisoning (Gastroenteritis)

Debbie was down with Gastroenteritis, better known as food poisoning, recently. She could not eat for 4 days :( Praise God, she did not vomit and could still drink water which was the important! Most kids had to be warded due to dehydration because they were either vomiting or not drinking.

To cut the long story short, it took her 7 days to be up on her feet again! Now I am on a mission to fatten her up!

Mars Needs Moms

Was invited by Klessis to watch the preview of Mars Needs Moms. The entire family went and these were what they had to say...

Daddy (cheekily) : The moral of the story is "if you listen to your Mom, the martians will take them"

Mummy (not happy with what Daddy said) : The moral of the story is "Daddy always come home late from work"

D3 : 3D movie was fun! (this is the family's first 3D movie)

D4 : What movie? The one with the picture near my face?

Maid : Very touching; especially the twist at the ending

Parents, bring your children to teach them to appreciate their mothers, especially the primary schoolers, since it's their term break next week. And if they do not want the mothers, the martians want them ;)

Here's the official trailer of the movie.

Babies Galore

Baby Summer (Ivan * Audrey)

Baby Olivia (Henry * Siew Yan)

Baby Zac (Adren * Sharon)

Debbie - CNY Performance

This is Debbie's 2nd CNY Performance in Pat's Schoolhouse. Ms Mayce, her English teacher, commented that she was one of the best dancer in class :) We are not too sure where did she get the genes from... If you noticed, she was also singing along!

Angry Bird Birthday Party

What a pretty birthday cake!! I promise the mother not to mention the cost... :)

Debbie took one of the birds. She didn't forget to pose with it before eating it :)

There were magic show and face painting. The birthday boy, Darren, and Denise had their faces painted.

Homecoming

Watched Homecoming; a CNY comedy with a heartwarming theme :) When I knew that Klessis was giving away a set of 4 Limited Edition ez-link cards, I decided to participate in the Giveaway on her blog.

I just received my prize today :) Now I can give my family of 4 each an ez-link card! Thank you, Kless!

Denise's 7th Birthday Celebration

Denise's birthday celebration started in November on the last day of school.

We bought cupcakes from Crystal Jade and had a simple celebration during recess time.

To take advantage of her Swensens Kid's Club membership, we went there THRICE to have dessert in December :)

On her actual day, Denise had complimentary "Firehouse" from Swensens.

Part of her celebration includes watching Yogi Bear :)

The day before her actual day, we invited some of her friends over for a mini-celebration. We took the opportunity to invite our friends over to our new place. Not a house-warming; but more of like sharing the joy of moving into a new place with them :)

Magician Shiny Shawny entertained the children.

Simple food - Nasi Lemak from Qiji

Goodie bags; bought and prepared with the help of D3 and D4!

Happy Birthday Denise!!!