Transformer, iLight, Safra cycle and Army Open house

A few exciting events are coming up...

Starting from next Sun 11th Mar, Transformer will be inviting you to Kopi at Old Airport road Resorts World Sentosa. Cybertron Con will run from 11-14Mar.
(actually Old airport Road is where the cute Prime and BumbleBee drum up their Cybertron show :p)

We have blog about Transformer More-than-Meet-The-Eyes earlier.
Have you bought your tickets already (click http://www.rwsentosa.com)?

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Marina Bay's iLight second year will be illuminated from 09Mar to 01Apr. This year's theme will be "Light Meets Asia"

Celebrate Marina Bay's mesmerizing night scene with 30 special light-installations. Bring your family or darlings down for a romantic stroll. (read our Romantic Marina Bay post) . You can find out more about iLight here --> http://www.ilightmarinabay.sg

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Army Open house will run from 24-28May at F1 Pit building. Cool, all the artillery and tanks will not be lapping F1 tracks, but you can expect more crowds. Read ST's article for details.

Sengkang Babies should be veterans by now, having covered all 海陸空 open-houses. Read our (Navy, Army, and AirForce) adventures. We cannot wait to camouflage the kids again !

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Kang's fumbling cycle ride was made one month ago, he is more confident today. But we are getting ready to race down Paya Lebar Air Base in June !

It is not everyday that we get to cycle or blade down the Air force's runway !
Safra together with RSAF has organised "National Runway Cycling & Skating 2012" on 17th Jun.

Register online here --> http://online.safra.sg/nationalrunway/
This event is free for family category, so bring your family down for some morning exercise :)


Credit.
Transformer photo from SPRG and iLight photo from http://www.ilightmarinabay.sg/

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Wasabi kids !

This is not an advertorial for Wasabi :p

Kids saw adults munching on green peas. These green peas come with a mild coating of Wasabi !

Daddy tease them with one, they immediately went for their water bottle.
We thought kids would be taught a lesson about being greedy keke. (we know our own kids' appetite for spicy food, and we do not recommend you try this on your child)

You know what? They came back for more. We have to make sure Wasabi coated Green pea can only be dispensed by parent.

Just make sure kids drink plenty of water.


Our No1 Wei can even eat the raw Wasabi ! We have to control his intake.
No worries, we do not intend to introduce raw fish to kids yet.

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Travelling with kids

It is never easy to travel with kids, no wonder some say holiday trips can be "suffering,
or back-breaking" with kids.

For us, we have to manage our expectations, cut down that romantic candlelight dinner. Traveling as a couple is totally different from traveling as a family. Our focus, itinerary are all geared for kids. We recommend that you always have a plan-B, as you can definitely expect some hiccups :p



If you have not travel oversea or even hesitate to bring your child on that first flight, why not consider driving to Malaysia? It is near, you plan your own journey, and the exchange rate is in our flavour.
Once you have more confidence, go further.

Ensure your itinerary is flexible, so that you can still enjoy, and there is no need to rush from point to point. It will be exhausting, and we hate it when everyone on the bus is waiting for us !
Personally, we prefer free & easy tours, when we can take our own sweet time to savour the sights, food and culture.

Money is important, our (2+4) accommodation and flight tickets will form the largest expense ticket in our budget. That's why we need to research ! We do not need the Best "resort, food or experience" that money can buy, but we definitely do not want to pick a LEMON ! We find blog reviews and references extremely important.

Do drop by our travel itinerary in Apac (Krabi, Taiwan and Malaysia roadtrips are recommended)
--> http://sengkangbabies.blogspot.com/p/holidays.html




From young, our four kids have been traveling with us. Although our budget cannot fly us to Europe and US, they had no lack of fun when we travel in Asia.

The No1 tip for parents who are traveling first time with kids, go try our bus and MRT first :p
(and please remember to leave the car and maid at home)

No2 tip, after every holiday, the kids will always remember the farms, animals, nature, rather than the City, the themepark, the food etc. Kids do not need a sophisticated itinerary :)

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Shopping Centres Roof top water playgrounds

It seems like all new shopping centres are now equipped with rooftop water playgrounds. We have been to a few, maybe your kids will love some water fun too? Click on the photos for our blogposts :)

...Changi City Point


All Kids love water !


.... Nex


..... Sembawang Splash


We have not been to the following water playgrounds yet... IMM

....and Vivo City.

Image for Vivocity and Imm are from the respective links,[Vivocity], [IMM].

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Looking at the colourful slides, swing, water sprays and even Treehouse, it is definitely nicer than barren concrete. SengkangBabies say, give us more Green spaces anytime :)

Tampines 1 is the latest shopping centre with a rooftop playground.
Someone has decided to bring the Zoo to the roof haha ! (Read about Tampines 1 here)


Meanwhile, if you are interested to know more about our playgrounds, just click on our "playground" tag.


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HFMD outbreak (Hand Foot Mouth Disease)

Recently, Straits Times reported that HFMD incidences are peaking again :(
Parents whose kids are in childcare center will be praying hard for their kids to stay healthy.

We do not know when our child will be infected !
..and we can only hope for all parties ( teachers, parents and kids) to practice good hygiene routine.

From personal experience, it is very demoralising to bring your kids daily to school, and discover another classmate down with illness, one more added to infection statistic.
(16 cases and MOH will force school to close).



Traditionally, HFMD used to breakout after kids return from their holidays, but this time round, the disease has decided to pop up earlier. We blogged about the “bochap” and “selfish” parents back in 2010
Read --> http://sengkangbabies.blogspot.com/2010/08/hand-foot-mouth-disease-hfmd-go-away.html

If you see parents bringing their sick kids to school, sound the Alarm, tell the parents off, or at the very least, escalate to the teachers and principal.
Teachers are the gatekeepers, but we understand some parents are very inconsiderate (不自动).
Just because they cannot take leave, they will bring their sick child to school, maybe infecting the other kids !

Teachers can highlight importance of hygiene, and reinforce good hygiene practices by asking kids to wash their hands regularly (and sanitizing).

..but we just need one irresponsible parent to bring a sick child to school..
.. and the rest is history...


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It sucks, when you are a responsible parent, but is indirectly affected because of some selfish parents.
For parents with more than one kid, the family now risk having another innocent child affected !!

Extracted from --> http://www.hpb.gov.sg/health_articles/hfmd,
do not bring your kids to school if they exhibit the following symptoms :

· fever
· sore throat
· ulcers in the throat, mouth and tongue
· headache
· a rash with vesicles (small blisters, 3-7 mm) on hands, feet and diaper area. The vesicles are typically on the palm side of the hands the sole side of the feet and very characteristic in appearance
· loss of appetite

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More information can be found at MOH website too
http://www.moh.gov.sg/content/moh_web/home/diseases_and_conditions/h/hand_foot_mouth_disease.html


Take care.

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Shops in Greenwich V

Daddy had earlier blog about our Amazing Race adventures at GreenWich V. You can watch how the three teams challenge each other to eat the most haha. {Click for Video}

Today, we would like to share more about ToastBox and Home-Fix. Actually, this is Daddy's homework, after all we did enjoy ourselves two Sats ago :)

#01 - Paul's thumbs up, the universal language for TipTop. The curry chicken is tender and not too spicy, and we love the milky gravy. Daddy can eat plain rice with this gravy alone.

When Wei saw Daddy scooping the curry, he quickly rush over to satisfy his craving. Yes, our boy loves everything spicy and hot, and that includes Wasabi !


Another signature dish from ToastBox is their Peanut Butter toast. The thick and sweet spread of Peanut will hit your nose. Needless to say, it was gone before we can say "Peanut ... Butter" !


After eating our fill, our next challenge requires us to build a cabinet ! Ok, Daddy exaggerated, we need to find two tools needed for cabinet fixing.

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#02 - It did not take us long before we solve the clue and head to Home-Fix. Where else can we get all the tools under one roof? In the olden days, we have to rely on 五金店 , but now Home-Fix serves our Diy needs.


In Home-Fix, you will not go wrong with drills :p
Even if you are not quite a handy man, we can always rely on the friendly staff's recommendations.

Off topic, Daddy's best friend is WD40. One spray fixes everything.
(Squeaking door, rusty bicycle chain, dry cabinet rollers etc)
WD40 has been around for 50+ years, do you know what it stands for ?

Your light bulbs store, every man worth his salt must know how to change light bulbs. Unless you prefer some unscheduled RomantiC moments :p


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More group photos :)


Interested to know more about the other shops in GreenWich V ? Do drop by our team's recommendations :
- Sandra (BerryLite and Empire State)
- Phoebe (Gong Cha, Prima Deli and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf)
- Klessis (Cedele and Soulworks)
- Paul (Phoenix Medicaland Paradise Inn)
- bloggers' challenge (eat, walk, guess, eat, walk, see, play.. repeat for 10 outlets !)


Now you know about team Lifestyle's powerful kids (both big and small), share our joy, vote and stand to win $50 vouchers. Voting starts 13Mar, click here for Voting instructions.



Click on photo below to read blog posts from the other teams..




** Photo credit from team Omy and Phoebe
More event photos can be found at SengkangBabies fanpage :)

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Who are http://purebloggers.com, OnlineSeoSearches.com ?

As a blogger, you get invitations to attend events, or help promote awareness. Sometimes, we love the limelight or we get extra privileges, but Sometimes, we also get weird invitations.


#01 - Avoid invitation from unknown sources
With so many spams and social phishing laying around, we should be paying more attention to suspicious invitations. Who know, which hackers or porn website might be tagged to your blog !
(Daddy admit he loves conspiracy plots from FBI, CIA, NSA spy movies)


#02 - Turn on your comment-spam filter
All comments will need to be approved before publishing, you will see some funny characters trying to pose a comment on your blog.
Fortunately, most are advertising, and not spammers. (cbox and text boxes are the worst source of spams)


Can you imagine what will happen if your blog crashes, or you mess up the html while playing with widgets? Most bloggers are not html programmers, so a regular backup will help. You do not want to spend countless night trying to decode "< a> and the < / a>" !!

#03 - Daddy tries to backup his blog and template at least once a month.


It is a simple 5 min job, which hopefully will ensure our SengkangBabies blog runs smoothly.
Have you been backing up? You will be surprise how easy your blog can crash :p


ps.. if you have backups, try to restore onto a "Test" blog. Just to ensure your backup SOPs are working as it is. Assumption will only lead to disappointment.

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We saw the Dog Whisperer today

..actually Mummy found Dog Whisperer's poster. Cesar is like our best friend's version of Super Nanny.
He talks to dogs :)

We had earlier blog about this weekend's National Geographic Channel Free Pet Shop. The rain did not stop dog lovers from gathering.

The ground is muddy, the drizzle came and go, but that did not stop the crowd (humans and dogs) from mingling at East Coast Park (behind carpark D1).

Kids help themselves, and pat so many doggies. (they avoid any dogs bigger than themselves keke).
Actually, all the dogs were very well mannered.

Cute Maltese, but behind every cute dog, tells a story of abandonment :(
Today's event was meant to encourage dog adoption, and prevent dog abuse.

Wei Ting and Alvin brought their beloved Kushi along, come let us sayang you :)

For non pet owners, it was quiet an eye opener. When Wen Yi mention dog was wearing diaper,
we thought he was joking haha!

Groom and treat your best friend. The cup cake looks tasty enough for human consumption keke.

Look who we found ? Ms Lin, Yi's former teacher. Her friend was so kind to loan us a dog to walk around. Kids were over the moon with excitement.

Yi is quite an expert at letting the dog lead him, or should it be the other way round haha?

Doting big brother, we can see kids' loving nature when they are handling pets.

If your kids love animals, bring them to East Coast Park on Sunday for an unforgettable experience.
As we do not own any pets, our younger kids get startled easily (maybe intimidated) by the bigger dogs.


Video : How does Cesar read dogs' mind ?


More doggy tales can be found at Sengkang Babies album :)
More updates about Nat Geo Free Pet Shop can be found at their fanpage.

We would like to thanks Genevieve and team for informing us about this event. Although we did not adopt any dog, our family had a fun outing today.


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Chingay in Sengkang

Tonight parade will be at Bukit Panjang, and tomorrow Jurong.




We spotted PM lee on one of the floats. Kids were happy to wave back to vips.




..but we are eagerly waiting for "mother of all mobile-columns" to return to Singapore NDP. Wei and Kang could not forget the impressive 2010 lineup. Click link below for the video clips.
http://sengkangbabies.blogspot.com/2010/07/ndp-2010-rehearsal-with-mobile-column.html

Video : Mobile columns..streaming



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Nothing is Insignificant

How many 20 years do we have?
1st 20 years studying..
2nd 20 years working..


That's life's mathematics for adults.
Kids grow even faster, month by month.

.. their shoes no longer fit after a few months
.. they have grown bulkier, Daddy struggle to carry 12kg Xin with one hand !
.. no more diapers, changing of milk formula
.. they do not need bodyguard to bring them toilet in the night anymore
.. school bag suddenly so heavy 15kg (Primary school)
You get the idea...

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When we are working, or busy with projects, do we sometimes pause for a few seconds, and ponder, imagine what are the kids doing at home or school? Daddy sometimes remind Mummy to take more photos of their activities.


Activities..
Waiting for school bus, their favourite corner at playground, Xin learning hallelujah, and Yi singing in Mandarin ! Daddy did not know our kids were making some hamsters FAT !


It make you realised time flies. Kids grow up overnight.
Starting from today, Daddy and Mummy will maintain an album..to keep all the insignificant photos :p

If you have been missing some kids activities recently, what are you doing about it?
Some of us can always make another baby, relive the insomia stages again,
but SengkangBabies confirm stop at four haha.


Memories, are not only made of milestones, memories are only complete when we have all the tiny insignificant moments. As Chinese would say "酸甜苦辣" (sour sweet bitter spicy).

We will add more insignificant photos along the way.. to remind us that we should not take anything for granted. Click to unlock our album.


Wei, where are you going next?



ps.. if this is the first time you are visiting Sengkang's Babies, read our introduction page :)

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I want to grow old like them !

Cool! who say old people cannot be happening !


This choir does Rock, and it's member's average age is 80 years old !
Just hear them croon in the video clip above.

Definitely not your average Grandpa and Grandma :0
Come May, Young@Heart will be in Singapore as part of "Singapore Arts Festival".

Interested to find out more about Young@Heart's bio info?
Do pop by their homepage or Fanpage :)

What an inspiration !

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Greenwich V - Bloggers' challenge

Last Sat, SengkangBabies went to Seletar Hill's new shopping mall, Greenwich V.
Omy, together with Far East team had organised an Amazing-Race.

Fifteen bloggers in three teams, "Urban, Village and Lifestyle" will roam the new lifestyle hub,
cover 10 shops each, complete some tasks, and stuff ourselves silly !

All these sounds easy, until you take our kids into account, we have a Bigger team. You see,
Lifestyle team consist mostly of parent bloggers Klessis, Sandra, Phoebe and Paul.

So, we gather at Empire State for the briefing and late lunch. Nobody is listening to Alvin and team when we saw the BURGER haha !! Can you blame us? the burger is HUGH and tasty!

Mushroom or Terriyaki Chicken pizza, both are Nice :)

Hold on, we have not even started Amazing Race yet, how many more dishes
are we going to consume along the way! Bloggers look at each other, and loosen our belt (gulp!!).

More to come...

At 3pm, waiting for Flag off, after our full meal at Empire.


Jesslyn is our assigned Game Master. She will provide hints for the next task, and the team will have to make an intelligent guess.

The ten clues for today.


#01 - Yogurt at BerryLite Yeah! Everybody loves it, and nobody notice Daddy Andy cannot take sour Yogurt :p

Really love our Red theme, Lifestyle = Lively!


#02 - Carrot Walnut cake at Cedele, love it ! Ms Cheng took her time to recommend Cedele's best dishes, and we were not disappointed.

Do try out their Valentine concoction (Iced Choc Rose, and Lovely Berry MilkShake). Cedele is daddy's favourite outlet for today's challenge :)


Some of you might be wondering, how come our team always finish our tasks first? Daddy is not counting the number of members in our team, but **hint hint

The kids sure can eat a lot !

At every F&B outlet, we just order the kids to charge Front Line and attack. Kids prove useful too, when adults are penalised for wrong answers !

Thank you Gladys, your star jump is perfect, kids really make our day a Fun one !


#03 - Gong Cha (贡茶), this is Singapore's 40th outlet. Wow, Singaporeans are thirsty for more Gong Cha !


#04 and #05 -Daddy will share more goodness about Toast Box and Home-Fix in a separate post.


#06 - Waffles at Prima Deli. We always have spare room for chocolate waffles. Did you know Prima Deli is also Singapore's longest running food franchise?


#07 - Coffee Bean And Tea Leaf, we need a recharge. We know the cheese cakes are superb, but ...
Coffee and tea will do.


#08 - The most value-for-money proposition of the day came from Phoenix Medical. Our team consist of (Leader, TimeKeeper, Photographer, and Caption Writer), the toughest job must be TimeKeeper aka Paul.

At every outlet, Paul has to ensure we finish our task on time. Now, you can imagine how challenging it is to drag the kids away from their favorite pastries, fries, hotdogs or yogurt! So we unanimously arrow recommended Paul for some rewarding facial scrub.

Actually, Paul like facial, but he was quite uncomfortable when Mummies and Daddies start snapping away like paparazzi.

His face is so radiant after the wash :p
(we notice all three teams sent the guys in for wash, wonder why?)


If kids get sick of munching, there are always magic-show and story-telling to entertain them. They love the dragon tattoos. The fountain at the center seems to be popular with kids, with or without swimming attire.


#09 - Paradise Inn serves great Chinese cuisine. Unfortunately she is our 9th stop, and our stomach is 90% filled ! We heard their double boil soups are very famous.

Fortunately, we did not start with Paradise Inn, otherwise we will be so full, and will have trouble completing the other F&B challenges !


#10 - Klessis interviewing Elly, Soulwork's most popular stylist. Soulworks is 4-in-1 outlet, for your Hair, Nail, Face and Body pampering.


After 2.5 hours, and 10 outlets, who will be the winner? Daddy just knew our group is exhausted, climbing up and down with kids in tow is no joke !

Guess Village (green) or Urban (black) team won? Click on link for result and photos.

Team Lifestyle receiving our 2nd prize award, some member have already gone off, as kids are too tired :)

Congrats, we received a $200 voucher for our effort, courtesy of GreenWich hub.



Yi : Daddy, can I STOP eating already? (this is his honest feedback keke..)



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You can gather more info about Greenwich at their website http://www.greenwichv.com.sg

Credit. We would like to take this opportunity to thanks Far East and Omy for this fun event, and the F&B outlets for hosting us and prizes. Photo credit to OMY and Phoebe (BPDG).

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Daddy's personal thoughts...
- maybe we can cover five instead of ten outlets. Everyone will be able to savour the gourmet and services more passionately, yielding more quality and comprehensive reviews.

- Daddy actually felt like letting the F&B outlets down, when we cannot finish some of the food (food is good, but we were too full)

- More importantly, we will have more time to interact with our blogger friends :)
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.. our Supper, courtesy from Chinta Manis.



Take a look at Team Lifestyles' contributions :)

If you are still hungry after above photos, do pop by Sengkang Babies fanpage !


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