JahBella’s Top 10 Blog Posts of 2014

Posted in Eating Out with Kids, Holidays, Kids health, Online Shopping, Perth, Photoshoot, Plays/ Theatre, Reviews, Tips with Kids, Travel Planning, Travel with Kids, Weekend activities with kids by jahbella

2014 marks the beginning of our blogging adventure – a decision to document our special family moments and vacation experiences as well as to give a little insight into the everyday lives of two full-time working parents, with two childcare going children. Although we have only been blogging for the last 5 months of 2014, the attempts to note down our experiences and thoughts have truly enrich our lives in more ways than we could imagine.

So to round off and recap our year, here are our Top 10 Blog Posts of 2014.

1) Why a C-Section Doesn’t Make You Less of A Woman/ Mother

A reminder to all c-section mummies that regardless of birth method, we are all precious in the eyes of our little ones and a c-section does not make you any less a mummy.

2) Little Nyonya – Peranakan Outfits for Little Girls

Want to know where to pick out food quality Peranakan outfits for yourself and the little one? Little Nyonya has really authentic and beautiful pieces!

3) The Playhouse @ Rochester – Review

An Outdoor AND Indoor playground for the kids, with yummy brunch food for the whole family

4) Update on Jah’s Head Injury

A life-changing and scary moment for our family this year in fact the entire family + uncles and aunties are still pretty shaken by this event. We thank God that Jah is well and healthy today.

5) 3 Must-Have Items When Flying With Kids

Our family’s must haves when flying with kids and looks like we will be trying these items on Bella in 2015.

6) My Top 4 Kiddy Products of the Moment – (Sep 2014)

While we are no longer using our Double Stroller, the other 3 items still continue to be my favourite parent-life saver of the moment..

7) How to Survive an Eye Test with a 3 year old

We will be attempting our 2nd eye test with Jah in Jan 2015. Perhaps another post soon on how we survived the same test, this time at a private practitioner. In the meantime, this should lend some insight on what goes on during an eye test at a government hospital.

8) Trigg Beach Family Photo Shoot (March 2014)

Our first of many more family photo shoots in Australia (i’m sure). Its really hard to get the whole family to look at the camera together pix especially when attemping wefies so I’m totally for photo shoots during our vacations..at least it guarantees some nice pics to take home with us 😉

9) Hop and Honk (I Theater) – Review

Jah’s introduction to his first full on theater play + an intermission and we survived! In fact keep a look out for more reviews on upcoming I Theatre productions in 2015! Can’t wait!

10) Getting Spectacles for Jah – The Ups and Downs

Finding a place that offers spectacles for kids below primary school going age, is really a tough feat in Singapore.

We are glad we found a place to go to for good quality spectacles that are ‘child resistant’ – a 3 year old is not going to treat his specs with the same care as a 13 year old.

So here are our Top 10 Blog posts from 2014!!

Thank you everyone for your support and we hope to share more of our adventures, tips and activities with you in the new year.

Happy 2015!

JahBella’s Mummy

15Dec2014

Hilary’s Boat Harbour – Perth (March 2014)

Posted in Holidays, Perth, Travel with Kids by jahbella

The last day of our Perth Holiday 2014 was spent at Hilary’s Boat Harbour. It was quite a drive out from where we were staying (approx 45 minutes) and I would have given it a pass, if not for the fact that I had to collect our photoshoot pics. But I’m so glad that we were ‘forced’ to make that trip and quite sad that we didn’t do this earlier in our trip.

We were spoilt for choice when it came to food options but we settled for The Sorrento Beach Shack because of its very apparent child friendly facilities. Jah was more than happy to explore their dedicated play area and he would have gone home with a few of those toys if he had any say in the matter.

Close by to the restaurants, was a little inlet with very shallow waters and a nice sandy ‘beach. Thanks to our photographer’s advice, we came prepared with swimming gear and a nice picnic mat. The weather was nice and warm and Jah had tons of fun trying to catch little fishes with his sand bucket. To be honest, Joel and I had lots of fun trying to catch them too. :p Bella entertained herself with ‘sand eating’ on the beach and well making new friends. 🙂

There was also a little playground on the beach but that area got a little hot towards mid-day.

I wished we could have spent the entire day at Hilary’s! There were attractions like a Marine Discovery Centre or ferries to take you to Rottnest Island. There was even a water theme park situated right next to where we were. I think the kids would enjoy it if they were a lot older. And there was definitely no shortage of food and drinks options to keep everyone full and happy for a whole day.

This brings me to the final instalment of our Perth Holiday 2014! It also just made me realize that since we only scrap the surface with this trip and fully intend to revisit most of these places, our to-do list for future Perth trips just got longer!

Recap of our Perth 2014 Itinerary

Day 1: Four Seasons House

Day 2: Swan Valley Caversham Wildlife Park and Margaret River Chocolate Factory

Day 3: The Maze, Chinese Food and San Churros @ Northbridge

Day 4: Penguin Island

Day 5: Trigg Beach Family Photo Shoot

Day 5 (Part 2): Lansdale Farm School

Day 6: Kings Park Lotterywest Family Park

Day 7: Swan Valley Cuddly Animal Farm

Day 8: Adventure World

Also check out our Perth/ Margaret River, Western Australia Trip (Auguest 2016)

So yes, if anyone thinks Perth is too boring and has nothing fun to offer the kids and adults, think again! 🙂

JahBella’s Mummy

26Nov2014

Adventure World – Perth (March 2014)

Posted in Holidays, Perth, Travel with Kids by jahbella

Before I start on this post, I have to apologise for the lack of photos as our camera’s battery went dead on us and well handphones and theme park/ water theme park don’t agree. :p

Adventure World is a giant theme park that has a big water park area and a nice rides area suited for the young ones. The place also has huge empty grass patches throughout the park where families can set up shop. I seriously have no idea why we never came to this place in all our years of holidaying in Perth!

Adventure World is really a place for people of all ages. I would recommend coming early so that you can find a good spot especially if you are coming during the weekends. A lot of local families bring their own ice cooler box, little camping chairs etc, but a picnic map, towels and a change of clothing is all you need if you want to travel light.

We parked ourselves in front of the big water play area which was relatively shaded. That area is also closed by to the toilets, lockers and some food kiosk. We attempted the big water play area a few times but chickened out everytime some water hit us as it was simply too cold. Yes our photos seem to suggest that it was warm and sunny but I remember it was approximately 23 degrees or so. The kiddy/ toddler water play area was 100m away and the kids spent some time there but yes it got cold after a while too. I’m guessing all these will be perfect and very popular in summer.

From the kiddy waterplay area, you could see some of the rides available – Old school Viking ship, rickety roller coaster and a spinning tea cup ride to name a few. I will always remember Adventure World as the place where Jah experienced his first roller-coaster ride. I really don’t know what got into him but he wanted to try it and he also wanted to try the Viking Ship. I was petrified during the rides, petrified for him and that he would freak out in the midst of it. He took it well though and endured the rides till the end, but when asked if he wanted to repeat it, he gave politely or not so politely declined ;). The only ride that Jah wanted to go on repeatedly was a ride that took us around the park and it gave us a bird’s eye view of everything from above. The only downside for me and Joel was the fact that we had to pedal it ourselves!!! It was a 2 seater which meant that I had no help from the one sitting next to me (he couldn’t even reach the pedals!). It also doesn’t help if you have someone/ two teenagers in the ‘car’ behind you, going extremely fast and chasing you down. Come on! No fair!

For those after a thrill, the park also has humongous slides and it was very very popular with the teenagers. I really wanted to give it a shot but I doubt Jah would have allowed me. Ok I asked him for permission but he said no. :p

Adventure World will definitely be back on our itinerary again the next time we return to Perth. And while we have never been to Perth in summer, this might be a tempting and good enough reason to.

Next Up – Final post from our Perth Series – Hilary’s

Go to this link for all links to our Perth, Western Australia Trip (March 2014)

Also check out our Perth/ Margaret River, Western Australia Trip (Auguest 2016)

JahBella’s Mummy

19Nov2014

Swan Valley Cuddly Animal Farm – Perth (March 2014)

Posted in Holidays, Perth, Reviews, Travel with Kids, Videos of JahBella by jahbella

After exposing the kids to the Swan Valley Caversham Wildlife Park on Day 1 and the Lansdale Farm school two days ago, I was starting to wonder if another day spent with animals would be wise at all. Wouldn’t the kids be extremely bored of animals by now? Was it going to be worth the drive? I’m pretty sure a lot of people would probably have decided to give it a pass if they were in our position but we decided to go ahead with it.

It was a really really hot day and I was getting alittle irritable with the weather and the potential of it being a disappointing day for the kids. But I can’t tell you how wrong I was.

The Swan Valley Cuddly Animal Farm may not look as polished as some of the other parks. In fact I have heard people describing it as run-down and dirty and therefore discouraging others to visit it on their trip. But honestly, it’s a farm! I don’t expect the farm to be in tip-top spanky clean condition, after all animals live there!

What I liked and enjoyed about the place was really the fact that it stayed ‘true to its roots’ as a farm while still managing to accommodate the little children and make things a little fun and interactive for them. What amazed me about the place was the young girls who were working there and dealing with the animals! It was pure hard back-breaking work but these teenagers didn’t seem to mind it one bit. They took their work very seriously and were not concerned about how hot it was or how dirty/ smelly things were. Definitely something a lot of teenagers could learn from.

The entry cost to the farm included interaction with animals, free tractor rides around the farm, free food to feed the animals and free bottle feeding to name a few.

Continue reading →

10Nov2014

Penang Holiday – Hard Rock Penang Facilities (Oct 2014)

Posted in Holidays, penang, Travel with Kids by jahbella

Apart from impressing us with their rooms and service, Hard Rock Penang wowed us with their ultra child friendly facilities. The main draw of the hotel for families would be their awesome pool area. It’s almost as if the pool was made to cater to every segment of guests that Hard Rock Penang could possibly think of.

Pool and beach view from our room

Sandy area close to the beach

We have the pool with its waterplay area for the little ones and then the slides which were not too thrilling so that the little ones could go on it safely. It also catered to the tweens and the young at heart adults like myself who could ‘pretend’ to use it because my child wanted me to follow him. :p

We also have the pool area which was filled with a sandy bottom (I think this might be a Hard Rock feature) except in this case it is found near the area leading out to the real Batu Ferringhi Beach.

And last but not least we have the pool area where pool side rooms could access directly to and also certain pockets of deeper waters to discourage the younger kids and provide abit more peace for adults who want to lounge around.

Besides the pool, the Hard Rock Penang also has a very good kids club. While we didn’t get to try the kids club programme which included cooking and art classes. We enjoyed the toys and equipment within the kids club and it allowed us to distract Jah when we needed to pack to move rooms. In fact Jah was more than happy to be there and kept asking to go over. I was super surprised by this and he actually allowed me to leave him there for a little while when I had to go back and check up on the packing. Jah is ultra clingy to me and the fact that he could let me go and just hung out with the kids club facilitator, is testament to how comfortable and friendly the environment is.