June School Holidays Kids Fun

It’s the mid year school holidays! Usually during the school holidays, there would be lots of kiddy activities for the kids. Ranging from paid enrichment school camps to free indoor and outdoor activities. Kids and parents will be spoilt for choices.

Recently I set up a diy calendar (Click here if you would like to download an editable copy for your own planning.) of schedules and events which I would pin up on the wall for the kids to keep track. The calendar for this month is full of  fun activities.   

Diy calendar of events

 Nic would refer to this calendar daily to notify me of the upcoming activity and whether we will be attending.

Most of the activities were held throughout the week through weekends, so we could only try to make it for the weekend activities.
28th SEA Games in Singapore

Singapore hosted the SEA games this year as part of the SG50 celebrations. It was such a grand event with load of activities to engage everyone who went. We didn’t want to miss such a special moment for Singapore, so we bought some tickets and brought the kids to watch their first SEA Games match. 

   
    

In aircon comfort

 It was a badminton quarterfinals match. We were enjoying the excitement when halfway through the kids got bored and started asking when the game will end, countless times. We gave in and left the match a while before all the matches ended. We managed to see the final score after all. Some kind of first SEA game match for the kids.. duh..

The game booths were too crowded so we didn’t manage to play at the booths. Just took some photos for momento.

   
 The atmosphere was great and the games spirits high. We didn’t have enough of the atmosphere, so we went back a second time and we glad we found the symbolic SEA Games flames. Proud to be hosts.

 

The torch

  

The lion was too bright

 

Images of Singapore and Madame Tussauds (RWS Singapore)

My mother-in-law got lucky and won some tickets to the Images of Singapore and Madame Tussauds this June holidays. Just nice to bring the kids to check out the 2 attractions that we haven’t been yet.

Photo-taking at Images of Singapore was not allowed, so we didnt have any photos there. The kids were rather scared due to the darkness of the attractions where we walked through to view different exhibits with guides explaining the different stages of Singapore history. It was nice but the kids probably didn’t really appreciate it.

Then came the boat ride we saw on the promotional videos all the time. It was rather cool but the big one broke down for no reason, not wanting to sit on the boat. Could be due to the darkness as well. Otherwise, we enjoyed the short boat ride and after the ride, we would enter Madame Tussauds.

 

On the boat

  

The must-take photo

  

Uneasy..

  

Totally awkward

  

The giant and the baby

  

As usual, looks awkward

 We had fun taking photos here but we were stucked for the longest time at ‘Yao Ming’s station’. Why? There was a really basket ball net and basketball for people to have a try at shooting. The kids can’t bear to leave until they get the ball in.

There was also soccer simulation game and golf practice at the sports stars area. We haven’t seen this at other Madame Tussauds yet. Thumbs for the Singapore version!
My Little Pony Picnic (Ang Mo Kio-Bishan Park)

First picnic

The girls are currently hooked to My Little Pony and they were thrilled when we brought them to this free Pony-themed picnic at Ang Mo Kio Bishan Park. It was the girls’ first picnic and it was a really really hot day even though we only went in the late evening. We packed some food (lazy us) and set up our picnic mat where we could find some shade.

The event was quite fun, despite the heat, and quite an experience for them. There were free games station, free snack booths (pop corn and cotton candy) and photo booths. There wasn’t even a single booth selling merchandise, seriously. Not that we mind though.

Many different booths set up

Big turnout

Game Station

Photo Booth

After playing at the games station, we were supposed to get chops and participate in the lucky draw of the day. Unfortunately the queues and the turnout was overwhelming and we couldn’t get to play at all the booths. However the organisers have decided to give all who turn up the chops and the chance to participate in the lucky draw anyway. The girls were quite disappointed at not having won anything so I have to explain to them a little about lucky draws.

Hi-5 Performance (United Square)

They are not that great Hi-5 fans now but still thrilled to watch their performance. This year we are not intending to attend their concert so I thought I would bring them to the mall to watch a short performance stint instead. I don’t usually like to join long queues to get something, but this time round, I thought I try my luck at the queue for a photo opportunity with the Hi-5 crew. It was a weekday and I guess the queue would not be that bad, so I made my purchases to hit the minimum amount required to get a photo pass, joined the queue and waited. Luckily I didn’t have to wait for 2 hours like some parents do during the weekend show. And I got the pass!

So here goes the excited kids with their favourite Hi-5 crew and I thought this is so much better than going for the concert. They sang their most popular hits and the kids get to take a photo with them. But for some reason, the kids there that day didn’t appear to be too excited during the show. I think the HI-5 crew didn’t manage to engage the little audiences enough though.

The kids had so much fun this month they almost couldn’t adjust back to homework and routine days by the time July came. The next event filled month would be December. Oh it’s going to be such a long wait.. 

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Macau with Young Kids

Macau? Young kids? Sure or not? Yes of course! We went to Macau just 2 years ago and we did a Macau day tour in a super cool looking limousine.

The cooler of the 2 limousines we had, due to an accident with the earlier one

Because transport service from the hotel was just as expensive. So we decided to to go for this once a lifetime experience. We really gained a lot of attention everywhere we went.

We went again this year, also around the the Lunar New Year holidays for a short trip because we couldn’t think of anywhere else for the trip. But this round we went without any plans. We pretty much saw all of Macau during the last trip so there wasn’t anything else we really wanted to do. Just go and relax and enjoy the cool weather we never have here in Singapore. To our pleasant surprise, the hotel where we stayed do have a lot to offer for the kids. If you are not planning to go around Macau, you could consider these activities.

Getting there.

Because of the recent air traffic scares, we really only wanted to go with our most trusted airline, Singapore Airlines. Too bad it doesn’t fly to Macau direct, so our plan was to transit at Hong Kong international airport and take the ferry to and fro to Macau. Taking the ferry from the airport also means that we probably escaped the hustle and bustle at the other ferry terminals outside since it was the super peak festive season.

We indicated to the ground crew that we are travelling to Macau and they helped to collect our luggages and send to us before we continue the next part of the trip on ferry. Good service! The ferry was rather empty on both the trips so I guess it was quite a smooth ride. We also found out later on that we are exempted from the airport taxes since we were only in transit.

Ferry ticket counter. Buying the tickets for the next earliest departure.

For Kids

1. Hotel – Sheraton Cotai Deluxe Suite

Comes with 2 rooms, living and dining room

We felt that Sheraton was a good choice for staying in Macau because it’s part of Sands Cotai Central and several hotels here are linked to a shopping mall with lots of family friendly facilities and activities around. It was also not as overcrowded as Venetian.

The rooms were almost full but we manage to book this super cool deluxe suite comes with 2 rooms, 1 living and 1 dining room. The 2nd room is meant to be an entertainment room but equipped with sofa bed. The kids were thrilled zooming across rooms and popping into sofas and beds. The nightly bathtub shower was also a must. We love the dining room the best. Most of the time, during the peak season, food places were filled with crowds. We can then pack our food back and enjoy the meal in the comfort of our room.

Pretty lobby in Spring time

2. Hotel – Sheraton Cotai Magadascar Family Themed Suite.  We finally managed to book this Family room at Sheraton Cotai. But only for 2 nights, so we stayed in the deluxe suite first then move in after this room is available. The room rate is considered exorbitant during the lunar new year period but we didn’t have much choice as the we didn’t plan much activities for the kids. So here’s what they have in the family suite. This suite has an adjoining bedroom for the adults. So the kids can have their own world while the grown ups can have some peace next door.

1. Magadascar themed kids room
2. Wii Game Console
3. Kids bath robes
4. Kids bunk bed
5. Kids furniture

Doorway between the adjoining rooms

The other room

Everything that kids love. Wish they had 1 of this room back at home. They can’t even bear to go anywhere outside after this.

3. Breakfast with Characters

Buffet breakfast at hotel function room

We didn’t really plan for this before we came. When we saw the posters and adverts at the hotel lobby, we went to book it immediately. Honestly, we didn’t really get to eat breakfast properly. Most of the time we were busy rushing to queue at the stage to take photos with characters or posing for photos with characters at our table when they came around.

Busy eating breakfast and taking photo

The buffet breakfast variety

The breakfast spread variety was a lot but spread out over the whole function room, making us walk round and round the room while we were also busy looking out for character table visits and onstage photo invitation. It was a no-peace breakfast in summary. But the kids didn’t really care for the food anyway. They were only on the constant lookout for the next character appearance. Poor mummy and daddy and grandma then. Huh huh.. At the end of the breakfast, the kids were given a goodie bag packed with magasdascar goodies and a game book. All we had to do was to follow the instructions and collect all the game cards and collect a surprise gift at the end of it. This game easily took up the whole morning until afternoon as the card station was wide spread across different parts of the hotel.

Breakfast game book

Guess who did all the running after a while? Must be the daddy right? Thanks hubby for collecting all the cards. Here’s ‘your’ reward.

1 plush toy per completed book

4. Character parade!

Starting point of parade

Really close up

And the chase begins

We almost had Dreamworks overdose this trip. We did all the activities they had and this was 1 of the last, and we came for the parade for 2 days of our trip, chasing them round and round the mall and high-five with the characters. We love the parade because it was indoors! In aircon comfort! Plus we could get really close up with the characters. We can’t really do that back at our Universal Studio Singapore parade. Cool experience.

5. Kids indoor playground at Hard Rock Hotel.

While the old folks were busy at the casino, the kids were running crazy here at the newly renovated Kids City at Hard Rock Hotel. There was strict requirement for long sleeves and long pants. Luckily we had them all.

There was a ridiculously long queue that day due to the festive season and how glad that we finally made it in. We had a huge scare here because the kids were running crazily all around the place, and the worst part was the girls did not stick together. We barely just turned our heads and we lost Nat. We couldn’t find her anywhere even after combing through the place a few rounds. We finally managed to find her hiding inside this bouncing castle, crying because she lost us too. What a major heart drop.

Free play

Toddler area

The bouncy castle that adults can’t go in

They hold art and crafts session at some fixed intervals, and we attended this session that they were making windmills. the kids couldn’t understand their instructions because they were all speaking in cantonese. But we made it after all.

Proud artwork

6. Kids Zone at Venetian

Another indoor kids playground. This one is located at the very popular Venetian. I think the one at Hard Rock hotel definitely beat this.

Table games, tv games area

Nat loved this slide because it was fast and long. We had a hard time getting Nic to try it but she did it finally and fell in love too.

Slide so long, you need to wear a gunny sack to slide down

Kids toilet and washing area

Toddlers area

Slide area covered up so kids can’t run in and out too fast

6. Dreamworks Ice World

There was a special Ice exhibition during the time we went featuring characters from Dreamworks Ice sculptures. We were very impressed. But the place was way too cold for the kids that we didn’t manage to stay for long. Winter jacket were available for loan and we also bought the gloves on the spot but the kids were still freezing cold

2 freezing kids

This ice slide was super fun but too fast and scary even for me because the cheeky staff gave me a hard push at the top. I slid so fast that I zoomed past the stopping area where they laid some mats. Ok, just once, for the kids to see only.

Me attempting the ice slide

Ice Slide

Very impressive ice sculptures

Magadascar!

Shrek and Fiona

The penguins

Ice bridge

For Adults

As usual, after satisfying the kids fun time, we also need some fun time for the adults.

Our biggest concern has always been the mode of transport during our trips. Taxi Taking the taxi, by right, is the easiest solution. But is not the case for us. Here’s why. Maximum passengers exceeded It’s really not as easy as in Singapore to get a maxi cab in many places. We can’t find any in Macau as well. Choosy drivers It is quite common that the local taxi drivers choose their customers, especially during the peak season. Many drivers reject if you are only going to travel for a short distance. Pre-negotiated fare Some drivers bargain for the fare before you board. So forget about meter fares. It is actually a known issue and reported in the local media. Let’s hope the government will do something about it.

1. Casino Hopping

I came up with this itinerary, obviously for the old folks, to go around macau and see the nice casino buildings and colourful sights. So we booked a private tour from the hotel and requested to go around macau for sightseeing. Then I got my mother-in-law to apply for member card at each casino and collect the cards as souvenir. She was rather excited at her collection at the end of the day. Its the year of the goat, but obviously, the casinos still prefer dragons.

Casino hopping and member card collecting

2. St. Paul Ruins

And we have to make it here for at least 1 shot of the famous landmark. This place is ridiculously overcrowded as well during the festive season. So we rushed back out as soon as we are done here

View of the crowd from St Paul’s Ruins

3. Taipa village

We ventured out the Taipa Village, just 4 of us using the casino provided buses and some walking. It was tiring for the kids and they were complaining. But we managed some shots of the somehow quiet and modest village

This was what we came for. The famous macau pork buns! They had a new shop now and it definitely looks so much better than the previous one. The menu selection increased, but we were just here for the buns. Yummy!

At the end of the trip, both kids and the adults enjoyed themselves thoroughly and almost couldn’t bear to go home. I thought we had an overdose of Magadascar, but the kids had no problem with it. Nic did a show and tell on this trip during 1 of the week where the topic was about the places she visited. Everyone was impressed and Nic was also proudly showing off pictures and souvenirs from the trip.

For the daddy and mummy, who did nothing much except planning for the fun for kids and the parents, we did really enjoy the cool weather there, our food trail and, of course, seeing everyone having a nice holiday.