The Dark Knight ‘Live’ On Stage at City Square Mall

Posted in Event Listings, Media Invite, Reviews, Weekend activities with kids by jahbella

We were invited to one of our favourite malls for ‘Live’ Meet and Greet Shows over the weekend. This time it was for something quite different from your usual Barney/ Dora and the likes of it. Instead it was a ‘Live’ Meet and Greet show with DC Comic’s Dark Knight – Batman.

I bet you must be wondering what kind of a performance would Batman be able to put up, perhaps a typical fight scene routine. That’s what we thought as well but decided to go any way since Jah is really into his superheroes. I have to tell you that he was not disappointed and in fact even Bella and us, adults were enthralled by it.

Every kid loves a good comic!

Some serious stuff indeed!

And now for some fun before the show begins! 🙂

We were warned that the show was going to be alittle ‘dark’, just in case the little ones got abit frightened. But JahBella (4 and 2 years old) dealth with the ‘darkness’ just fine.

The show was a combination of a simple martial arts display (which Jah loved because there were ninjas involved!), an abstract bat dance segment (which Bella was happy bobbing to) and a final skit and fight between Batman and Joker, with an “oh my goodness” Batman rappelling from the top floor act which left even the adults super impressed!!

Ninjas! Always a hot favourite with Jahbella!

Joker’s Assistants according to Jah

Every show needs a villian

But the good guy always wins!

Jah was asking me prior to the show if he would get to take photos with both Batman and Joker and I can tell you that the answer is YES!!

Yes all clearly avoiding the Joker

The kids were so pumped by the experience that they wanted to continue ‘living’ it. Thankfully, there was a DC Comics Superhero Adventure Zone, right next to the stage area. JahBella tested their superhero powers in 3 different missions and it was great fun! The activities were simple enough even for Bella.

Handpainting is always fun!

Look mummy! I’m Flash!

And I guess I’m Wonder Woman? 🙂

We are fast!

Good Aim!

Caught you!

If there is one mall show that you have to go see this September Holidays (especially if you have superhero crazed kids) then this has got to be the one.

Oh and in case you have missed the Choo Choo Train ride in front of City Square Mall previously, the train ride is still there! A really fun ride for the kids to take round the green. 🙂

More details below

The Dark Knight ‘Live’ On Stage

Date: 5 – 13 September

Time: 7pm (Mon – Fri); 2pm & 7pm (Sat & Sun)

Venue: Level 1 Atrium

With a minimum spend of $50*, shoppers can redeem a Meet & Greet pass one hour prior to each show and snap a photo with The Dark Knight, limited to 50 passes per show.

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DC Comics Justice League Adventure

Date: 5 – 13 September

Time: 12pm – 9pm daily (last admission at 8.45pm)

Venue: Level 1 Atrium

With a minimum spend of $30*, shoppers can redeem an Adventure pass at the L2 Customer Service Counter, limited to 200 passes daily

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DC Super Heroes Display (Costumes and Photo Booth)

Date: 5 – 13 September

Venue: Level 1 Atrium

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Batman Mask-making Session

Date: 5, 6, 12 & 13 September (Sat & Sun)

Time: 4pm

Venue: Level 1 Atrium

Redeem a pass 10 minutes before each session at the Level 1 stage area, limited to 20 kids per session, aged 4 years and above

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*Terms and Conditions apply. More details can be found on http://www.citysquaremall.com.sg*

13Aug2015

Beach Day Out to Lazarus Island

Posted in Weekend activities with kids by jahbella

If there is one type of activity that Jah and Bella really enjoy, it would involve lots of sand play and splashing around in the water. However we haven’t exactly been able to find an activity that allowed them to do both at the same time (save for the Port of Lost Wonder). So needless to say, I was really excited to learn that they could possibly be able to enjoy some sand play and be able to swim in a nice little lagoon at Lazarus Island and all we needed to do was take a 30 minute ferry ride over.

Ok well sort of, this ‘expedition’ was going to take abit more effort than just a 30 minute ferry ride.

We chose to head over on a Public Holiday as there were more ferry timings offered. We had to wake up bright and early to ensure that we could catch the 9am ferry from Marina South Pier. I guess you can say that we were quite fortunate that there was quite a demand for the ferry that day so the ferry company decided to launch more than 1 ferry during that 9am slot. This meant that we were still able to purchase our tickets when we got there at 845am.

While there was a “Provision/ Convenience” shop at the Ferry Terminal, we came prepared with our Nasi Lemak, Snacks and Cooler bag of drinks. This is absolutely necessary because there are no shops on the island and we had planned to stay on till 150pm. (The ferry departs every 2 hourly on the weekends and Public Holiday).

Bella enjoying the view from the ferry

The ferry ride was fairly comfortable and quick and we were at St John’s Island before we knew it. Yes you read correctly, we disembarked the ferry at St John’s Island even though we were headed to Lazarus Island. The only way to get to Lazarus Island is either by a link bridge (20 mins walk) from St John Island’s jetty or by hiring a private boat/ yacht to take you there.

Upon reaching St John’s Island, it was tempting to just stop at the nearest beach/ lagoon. After all, it was just next to the jetty, had abundant benches and a wide canopy of shelter. However we decided to go the whole 9 yards and persevere. We headed left from the jetty and commenced our 20 minute morning stroll towards Lazarus Island.

Turn left upon reaching the jetty and you will see a long sheltered path leading to a breakwater/ ‘bridge’

The long unsheltered ‘bridge that links St John’s Island to Lazarus Island

An early morning stroll is pretty easy and fun

Safe enough for Jah to venture ahead of us and also tons of people fishing along the side of the ‘bridge’

Keep walking and you will eventually come to a clearing on the right that looks like this…

The beach was pretty empty when we got there at about 10am except for 2-3 families and we managed to score a spot under 1 of the 2 only trees they had on that beach. Watch out for the big red ants though! Honestly apart from needing that spot to set up shop and have a quick bite, you will be spending most of your time in the water. I know we did!

The kids loved the clear green water and while it might not be ‘international’ standards, it was by far the best I have seen in a long long time! The adults were reminiscing about how we used to swim in the East Coast waters 20 to 25 years ago and even this was cleaner that what we had back then. The kids alternated between playing with the sand and just soaking in the nice little lagoon until all of us were all wrinkly.

Shallow clear waters

Time to relax…

Even Miss Scaredy Cat eventually succumb to the cool clear water

Sand!!!

Sand play before the private yachts started to pepper the waters

The crowd started coming in on the 2^nd ferry (11am) and the private yachts started turning up 300m away from the shoreline as well. It was honestly a little annoying when they started whipping out the jet skis and what not, but well we tried to ignore all that and just enjoy the moment.

The slight downer to our trip was the fact that the rain clouds turned up and brought the storm in from the sea about 30 minutes before we were ready to pack up for our ferry. 😦 Thank goodness for the fact that I had packed in our raincoats (I know! Who brings raincoats to the beach right? Haha). And the fact that Jah and Bella had such a sporty Uncle and Aunty who just rolled with the punches and used the picnic mat as a makeshift ‘umbrella’.

It really started to pour as we headed back on the ‘bridge’ or maybe because we were kind of in the middle of ‘nowhere’

Honestly the rain wasn’t that much of a downer in my opinion because we got to enjoy a really awesome sunny morning and it was kind of fun for the kids to walk in the rain in their raincoats. Joel and I were also extremely impressed by the little troopers especially Jah who clearly was feeling really cold and tired but never whined and never gave up. He only requested to stop once when he spotted shelter because he was hungry and wanted a cookie. We stopped and he immediately shouted “ok lets go!” after he finished his last bite. Love the boy to bits!

Jah stopping for a quick cookie to warm up

The little trooper frog

Before embarking on this trip, Joel was alittle concerned about the lack of toilets or changing facilities but honestly it is do-able with abit of planning. Kids are easy enough to change in full sight of everyone and while we adults figured a way to change, I reckon it would have easily been ok even if we didn’t. The 20 minutes walk back in the sun would have dried all of us up, that is of course unless you faced a rainy end to the day like us.

Probably would have dried up by this point if not for the rain (almost at the jetty)

Keeping warm in the ferry with blankets that JahBella’s uncle brought…yes who brings blankets to a picnic right?

We would head back there in a heart beat and this time we would be even better prepared than the last. Definitely a place to bring the whole ‘kampong’ to spend a nice morning out. Oh and if your kids still have the energy after the beach, you can even stop over at Kusu Island which is the ferry stop before the ferry takes you back to Singapore. 🙂

Sharing a moment once we got back to mainland Singapore

JahBella’s Mummy

7Jul2015

JahBella @ the Singapore Zoo – Should we renew our membership?

Posted in Weekend activities with kids by jahbella

We have had our Singapore Zoo Family Annual Membership for almost 2 years now and we are starting to wonder if we should renew it for the 3^rd consecutive run. After all we seem to be using it a lot less in recent times and how many times can a kid visit the zoo right?

So we decided to head to the zoo for ‘one last time’ before our annual membership ends in 2 weeks time and see if the zoo still holds the same appeal for the kids.

Since we forgot our umbrella strollers and neither parent was in the mood to carry a 13-15kg child in this hot weather, the kids were in for a treat! We rented a little wagon for them to enjoy their ‘ride’ through the zoo. The wagon could fit two kids comfortably and it cost S$15 for a full day rental. We were there for about 2 hours but it was still good fun and better than dragging tired kids around.

Did we really succeed in getting everyone to look at the camera and smile?!!!!

We visited the Koala Enclosure which was all the craze over the June School Holidays. There was a sign outside which informed us of the estimated wait (20 mins according to the sign) but we only waited 10 mins. I loved it! (for the aircon! :p) The kids were curious about the koalas for all of 5 minutes and then Jah wanted to go for the Elephant show. (To be fair, Bella was alittle more ‘nurturing’ and liked the little bears abit more.)

Now the Elephant show, yes the ever elusive Elephant Show! We have been to the zoo countless times over the past 2 years but no we have not caught the Elephant show. In fact we have seen all the shows and even some shows twice or thrice but we always can’t seem to get to this one on time. However getting to the Elephant show and ensuring that we had a seat for everyone, meant that we had to forgo the giraffe feeding and the Animal Show at the Kids area). In fact we almost didn’t get a seat because the seating is really limited and it runs out so quickly.

Surprisingly the kids were ok with waiting 30 minutes for the show to begin and it was pretty fun. Jah apparently wants to come back for the Elephant show again the next time. But someone probably has to remind him that that means no giraffe feedings and what not.

After grabbing our customary Fanta Slushies in the special tall bottles, we were off for lunch. One of the reasons, I don’t fancy coming to the zoo is because I always have trouble figuring out how to feed the kids after. The choice of F&B or lack of really bugs me because there is so much potential and space here but so little ideas. I absolutely hate having to eat KFC everytime we come to the zoo and they don’t even have the breakfast options available. 😦

So I was quite excited relieved to find out that they had open a few new F&B outlets at the entrance of the zoo. This meant variety as well as a fast exit to the car after lunch. We decided to try out Chawang Café which served pasta, fish and chips and a few varieties of hotdog buns. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food and the speed of the service. That being said, I wished they had some options for the kids or at least a kid sized portion. (Side note: I would go for the hotdog buns over the fish and chips which Jah rejected because he didn’t like the ‘oily’ taste’. The hotdog buns were pretty decent with their different toppings and sauces).

So will JahBella be renewing their Annual Family Membership for the consecutive run? At less than S$200 per annum for a family of 4, we will have to go to the zoo at least twice in the year to make it worth our while/ money. I say why not! After all the kids do love the Singapore Zoo and we do have one of the best zoos in the world don’t we? 🙂

JahBella’s Mummy

23Jun2015

Carnival Fun @ City Square – Good Ole Fun In The Park [Media Invite]

Posted in Media Invite, Weekend activities with kids by jahbella

We recently visited City Square Mall again so that the kids could try out some of the rides at its Good Ole Fun In the Park Carnival. Honestly we have been spending quite a lot of time at this mall, given that one of Jah’s favourite shop is at this mall (haha care to guess which one? :p)

The kids especially Jah was ecstatic when I told him we were going to a carnival. I’m not quite sure what he really imagines a carnival to be like but I suppose the word carnival just appeals to him. He was also really excited to know there would be bumper cars as well and insisted that that was THE ride for him.

However that all changed when we got there and mummy ended up on the teacup ride with both kids. Don’t laugh! The teacup ride was quite high on the dizzy factor but we all enjoyed it! Do note though that they don’t exactly allow an accompanying adult to go for free and so the adult also has to pay for a ticket. Not sure about the other rides though but that was what happened for the tea cup ride.

Jah was tempted to try mummy’s favourite childhood carnival ride, the pirate ship but he was a little put off by the genuine screams of the little ones. 🙂 Maybe next time..

Highlight of the day for everyone was the Choo Choo Train ride..the ride that would go round the City Green thrice. The kids loved it when the train driver would honk at people to get out of the way. The last time we took this train, it was around Christmas and Bella was still a little clueless at 18 months old. But she throughly enjoyed herself this time around. While it was definitely a squeeze for the 4 of us to fit into that little coal car, it was really good fun and you can see from all our happy faces. 🙂

So if you would like to bring your kids down for some good ole carnival fun, head on down to City Green (in front of City Square Mall).

Good Ole Fun In The Park

Date: 29 May to 28 June

Time: 6pm – 10pm (Mon – Fri); 12pm – 10pm (Sat, Sun & P.H.)

Venue: Level 1 City Green park

Enjoy!

JahBella’s Mummy

19Jun2015

[Media Invite] Barney’s Jukebox Party ‘Live’ Meet and Greet at City Square Mall

Posted in Media Invite, Weekend activities with kids by jahbella

So if like me, you have two kids who are of different genders, you will know how hard it is to find an activity that is a perfect fit for both or a cartoon character that both adore or can relate to. Actually scrape that, if you are a parent with at least 2 kids, you will probably be able to relate to that anyhow. The constant competition to either go for the exact same toy or both deciding that they want to do something totally different for the weekend. :p

Have you seen our house? It’s like a toy shop because we basically had to cater to both their preferences. Kids 1 Parents 0

Which is why I get very excited when there shows or appearances by cartoon characters which they both love. Of course even better when they are free for them to catch. Yes I admit that I’ve had to exclude Bella from watching Peppa Pig Live because it was just not economically viable to bring both kids with 2 adults and pay top $ for good seats. We had to pick who we thought would enjoy it more and the jury is still out on whether we made the right choice.

So it was fantastic when we heard that City Square Mall had Barney and Friends over for the June Holidays! City Square Mall has always been known to put up a good show so we knew we wouldn’t be disappointed. 🙂 The last time JahBella ‘met’ Barney and Friends it was over Christmas and Bella was so much younger. This time around she knew all of the Barney songs that were played while we waited and she sang and danced along to them.

Oh my goodness!!!! I’m really going to meet him!!

The wheels on the bus!

Is that barney???!!!

The show seemed to feature very new/ original tunes which maybe I wasn’t familiar with :p If anything I wished that there were more sing-a-long tunes like the ones they played before the show started. But of course there was the all time favourite “I Love you, You Love Me” at the end of the show. What I do love about these character performances at Ctiy Square Mall is that they are always of a decent length. Not to short that you feel silly queuing or waiting for it and they almost always have some fringe activities to entertain the kids with before or after at their City Green (outside the mall). More on their Uncle Ringo Carnival (happening till the end of this month), in our next post.

So if you have not been done to City Square Mall yet for their latest show or if you are still wondering where to bring the kids this weekend, this might be a good reason to head down there. Take note that this is the last weekend it is happening!

Oh yes and don’t forget to grab your meet and greet passes for the show too! With a minimum spending of $60, shoppers can redeem an exclusive pass for the Meet & Greet session and a carnival ticket one hour prior to each show. Limited to 50 sets per show and terms and conditions apply.