Hong Kong Disneyland!

we've just got back from our first ever family vacation to hong kong disneyland! it was a short three day trip dedicated entirely to disneyland for our little man, drayden. it was a magical trip! drayden met most of his favorite characters, and we were treated to the most wonderful of service by the people of disneyland - both at the hotel and the park.

we stayed at the disneyland hotel, and was given priority treatment at the disneyland park. we didn't have to queue at all for the shows or any of the rides, and even got front-row VIP seating at the parades and all the shows! we couldn't have asked for any better treatment than this!

our first day at disneyland was a hot and sweaty one! the sun was unbearable, but we still had a great time. we headed for lunch the minute we landed at hong kong, and went straight into disneyland thereafter! we only retired to our hotel room after dinner and enjoying the fireworks show, which was way past nine.

day two at disneyland was a wet and gloomy one. it rained a huge part of the day, and we were quite dismayed that the Lightning McQueen "LIVE!" show was cancelled due to the bad weather. it was to be the highlight of our holiday, considering how crazy dray is about Cars! but thankfully, day three was sunnier, and we managed to get up close and personal with Lightning McQueen!

having all three days of our trip dedicated solely to disneyland meant we had little time to venture out of the resort. we could only venture out as far as Tung Chung (which was just a stop away from the disneyland station) and checked out the Citygate Outlet Mall. food at the food republic was delicious and cheap! we managed to squeeze in some shopping too! noel and i bought a few kicks at the adidas and puma outlet stores, and of course, i treated myself to a couple of goodies at the kate spade store there!

here are some of the photos we took during our disneyland holiday....













more photos can be found on my facebook page!

well, i have to thank the people at Disney for making our trip a truly special and memorable one. i will never forget how kind the staff of Disneyland were towards Drayden. they all seemed to love him! and one thing's for sure, we'll have to go back to HK again soon, and this time we'll explore more than just disneyland!

Top 10 Reasons to Tell Your Kids Stories

As part of its efforts to encourage the young to read, the National Library Board (NLB) organised the 10,000 & More Fathers Reading! initiative for the fifth time, starting on Saturday 4 June 2011. This event was aimed at encouraging fathers to be more involved in their children's literacy development by reading to them.

The reality is, in today’s busy world, many fathers have lost the art of telling their stories to their kids. Thus, in the spirit of this recent event, and also the upcoming Fathers' Day, I feel the time is perfect to highlight the wonders and benefits of reading and telling stories, and hopefully encourage more daddies to start reading and tell stories to their little ones! Reading doesn't have to involve books, you can read interesting pieces of news from the newspaper, articles in a magazine, and you can also tell stories of your own creation!

1. Use them to teach lessons about life.

Stories will stimulate conversations with your kids more easily then lecturing can. There are a lot of issues happening with kids these days, and stories give them a chance to reflect on them.

2. Stories connect your kids with previous generations.

In a society that seems to have families spread out all over, some in other countries, it is vitally important to have ways to have your kids feel connected to their extended families.

3. Stories stimulate your kids' imagination.

One of the best ways to prepare your kids for the world is to engage them in vivid stories that stir their imagination. Kids who are exposed to these kinds of stories will be the creative problem-solvers of the future.

4. Kids who are exposed to stories will continue the tradition with their own families.

Knowing that your family traditions and stories will be carried on by the future generations is very comforting!

5. Stories can encourage your kids when they are feeling discouraged.

Childhood can get pretty discouraging at times. Kids are encouraged by knowing that Mom and Dad have gone through the same kinds of things and have survived.

6. Telling your stories have you remembering your own childhood.

Telling your kids about your childhood is a great way for you to remember and reflect on what was important about your younger years.

7. Telling stories help to create depth and soul in your kids.

In today's TV and gadget crazy culture, telling stories can capture your kids' attention and convey real meaning.

8. Telling stories to your kids tell them "you're worth the time".

Is there anything more important than conveying to your kids that you want to spend intimate time with them?

9. Telling stories is a great chance to convey your values.

Your kids will be getting quite a few messages from their friends and from popular culture. Stories are a great opportunity to sneak in a few cherished values for your kids to hear.

10. Well-crafted stories create a wonderful mindset for your kids before they fall asleep.

Kids will fall asleep faster and with healthier images when you tell them your stories.

----

10,000 & More Fathers Reading! 2011 will run till September 2011. For more details on upcoming programmes, members of the public can visit 10000fathers.nlb.gov.sg

bye, bye buzz...hello volo!

i'm mighty pleased with myself for persevering with my search for a lightweight stroller. it has finally paid off! yesterday i collected the pre-loved maclaren volo i had stumbled upon on eBay. it was a fantabulous buy! it's still in excellent condition, and is in a color that's quite hard to find now - black and beige. and i paid only $90 for it!





what's even better, drayden loves it!

we've been needing a lightweight stroller for the longest time and i'm relieved my search has come to an end. i looked at all the stroller choices in stores and my heart was set on the volo because for one, it's soooooper light at only 3.2kg, and two, it has a carry-on strap.

we needed a lightweight stroller badly, one that we can take on the bus with us. when noel brings dray to class, and they take the bus, they will alight at far east plaza, and that is quite a walk to forum especially on days drayden insists on being carried. when i pick him up after school, i sometimes need to shop for my orders, and after school drayden is usually tired, and shopping while carrying a sleeping child is not fun!

so a lightweight stroller is just what we needed. plus, we're going on holiday in june, and we need one that we can easily bring overseas as well!

Children Little Museum

nestled somewhere in the arab street area, is a quaint little shop called the "Children Little Museum". as its name suggests, it is a museum housing really old school goodies and traditional games...from our time, and even our parents'. its a great place to bring the little ones to show them what we played with when we were children, unlike the iPods, xboxes, playstations, PSPs, and Wiis they have now!

most display items are from the 1950s to 1970s, and it will definitely give each of us a lot of good old memories from when we were young. in fact, to be able to remember the good old days and allow children of this generation to see and understand toys and things from the past, was the precise reason the Children Little Museum was brought about.

somewhere in the Children Little Museum you could probably buy an old school bottled Coca Cola drink, a toy or two, or just find a place to reminiscence. this is perhaps one of the must-visit spots for the children, because how else can one really know what the good old days were like?


image courtesy of travelerfolio.com


image courtesy of slouchingsomewhere.wordpress.com


image courtesy of yebber.com

address: 40 Kandahar Street Singapore 198895

tel: +65 81960138 (SMS Only) (Alan) or +65 96580290 (Patrick)

email: evolution.studios@yahoo.com

admission fees: S$2.00

Opening Hours:
Mon to Fri 11am – 2pm, 5.30pm – 8.30pm
Sat & Sun 11am – 6pm

our apartment!

on the way to yesterday's play date, we stopped by our future flat and apartment which was just two blocks away! we haven't gotten the keys yet, so we could only take pictures of the exterior...but just being there touching my mailbox and house gate was thrilling enough!

the next few months is gonna be busy for us!


here's our flat!


find our apartment! =)


our mailbox!


and our gate!

pool play date

yesterday we brought the little one to a play date with two other of his friends, and boy did they have fun! we brought along his Disney Cars scooter that he got from his teacher friends at school - Elisa, Constance and Juli - and i'm pretty amazed he's doing so well mastering the skill considering it's only his first time on the scooter!

of course, the rule is, he can't go on the scooter without his helmet and safety gear (which we bought separately with the tons of Toys R Us vouchers we got from friends and colleagues!)...and he looked so adorable!

rainbow dreams

i'm in the midst of reading a really awesome book called "Rainbow Dreams" and i thought i'd share it with you. "Rainbow Dreams" would be especially handy if you are a parent of a special needs child, or if you are an early childhood professional working with special needs children. for me, i found it a very interesting read because it helps me to understand the common medical conditions and developmental delays, such as autism, asperger syndrome, dyslexia, speech delays...and many more...a lot better. it doesn't hurt to have this knowledge, especially since i am working with children.

it's a very detailed read, not only on the medical conditions, but also on the history of special needs education in singapore. it gives me a better understanding of the community and a deeper appreciation of the people that work closely with them. it has also given rise to this interest to work with special needs children. i think not enough is being done for them, and they are so quick to be judged and ostracized...and if i could i would do my part towards helping them being accepted as equal among us. well...we'll see where it brings me after i complete my early childhood course.

get this paperback for only S$23 at Times, Kinokuniya, Popular and Tan Tock Seng Hospital Pharmacy. it is also available at Rainbow Centre at $20 per copy. all proceeds from the sale of this book will support Rainbow Centre Training & Consultancy. for more information, click here,

dray's class party!

wednesday was dray's actual birthday and we had a small party with his classmates with more birthday cake!

drayden is THREE!

we've just got back from our annual 'do: drayden's birthday party! it's become a tradition to hold it at Aloha Changi, and this year the party was held at Seafront Chalet D. we had wanted Changi Cottage like last year, but unfortunately, the place was not available. and more importantly, we had wanted to hold the party on a saturday, instead of a sunday, but funnily, all chalets resort-wide were not available on saturday. sooooooo....we settled for seafront chalet D on a sunday.

the worst thing that could possibly happen at an event, happened. it rained. no, scratch that, it was a storm!! i was so, so, so disappointed because all my decor plans had to be abandoned! and not to mention the money i had spent getting them that went to waste. i had elaborate plans for the outdoor area that all went to waste thanks to the rain. and my poor, poor party guests...that had to arrive in such threatening weather!

we had rented tables and chairs (that cost us well over $200, mind you!) that went unused! they sat in the rain, all 16 square tables and 60 chairs. we had a CARS themed party this year, so i even had black and white checkered table cloths (that cost $11 EACH!!!!!!) that were not put to their intended use. and table centerpieces, table arrangement ideas...argh!!!

in our frazzled state of mind, we forgot a few things. we left the laptop - that contained the CARS soundtrack - and also the DVDs "Cars" and "Maters' Tall Tales" at home. we even forgot to put Dray in his CARS t-shirt! to make it worse, my laminating machine broke down at 5.37 in the friggin' morning while i was laminating favor tags in my sleepy stupor. i had to frantically enlist a girlfriend (my savior!) to get me a new machine, and were hurriedly laminating the remainder at the chalet even though guests were already arriving!

in hindsight, i realised why this year's party was a lot more stressful than the two years before, and why i started the party preparations late. the first two years, drayden didn't have a mind of his own, so we could decide what the party theme was to be, and start getting it ready early. but this year, we let him decide what he wanted, and thus, just to be REALLY sure, and so that he doesn't change his mind at the last minute, we only started planning this year's party in february. that's right! in only TWO months prior!

but well, i think in all, my son had a blast with his friends at his 3rd birthday party!
we had activities for the children, such as a "body art" table of CARS temporary tattoos, coloring, CARS keychain making, CARS mosaic art, CARS dominos, Mater's tyre game, and more!

well, here are some photos of my boy's special day!
let's start with the party invites that i made...and favors i put together for the kids that came!






favors for baby boys


favors for baby girls


favors for the older girls - since girls don't really fancy CARS!


the piston cup!



labels are self-designed


stickers for the boys!


notepads for some of the older boys


CARS bouncy balls for the boys


CARS pull-back toy with jelly beans inside!


all packed in a CARS toolbox!


construction cone cups i just HAD to get!


self-designed tags


the tool boxes with self-designed tags



CARS soap made by a girlfriend for the adults!


putting up the CARS scene setters


it took us an hour to put it up! and it made for a nice backdrop for photo-taking!


our Lightning McQueen standee! it's nearly 2metres long!





cupcakes on a race car track!



fill 'em up! =)






drayden's Lightning McQueen pinata!


his CARS birthday cake! with CARS candles!




beaming with his presents!








station signs i never got to use!

more photos will be uploaded in my facebook soon!