Cold Storage Kids Run + Discount Code for JahBella’s readers

With two extremely active kids (ok 1 extremely active and 1 extremely hungry kid :p ), we have been contemplating bringing Jah and Bella for their first race/ run for some time now. However our main concerns have also been whether they will be able to cope with the length of the run, whether they will be able to cope with the crowd of adult and kids runners and of course safety especially when the run takes us to the road.

I was very excited when I heard about the Cold Storage Kids Run which is back for its 8^th consecutive year, because it is designed specifically with the kids in minds! With 13 categories consisting of competitive (sprint) to non-competitive (family fun) races and ranging from 800m to 1.6km, kids from 6 months to 12 years old will be able to participate.

The fact that the run is a kids-focused running event (Asia’s first and Singapore’s only!) that is conducted within the ground of Gardens By the Bay, addresses a lot of my concerns.

Jah and Bella will be participating in the Family Fun Category which allows for 1 parent to accompany 1 child and they will be attempting 800m under the Jolly Kiwi Category for 2-4 years old. Super duper excited that we will be able to run in the same category as a family (perks of having kids close in age 😉 )

This year, the Cold Storage Kids Run will also be introducing a new 3Gen Family Run category to promote inter-generation fitness and bonding so those who want to include grandpas and grandmas can also do so.

See the chart below for more details on the race categories.

Race Categories

Categories

Kids’ Ages (yrs)

Distance

Sprint (Individual, Boys / Girls)

Speedy Orange

Sporty Apple

Boogey Banana

11 & 12

9 & 10

7 & 8

1.6km

800m

Family Fun (1 Parent + 1 Child)

Happy Grapes

Merry Berry

Jolly Kiwi

Stroller

11 & 12

9 & 10

7 & 8

5 & 6

2 – 4

6 – 23 mths

800m

3Gen Family Fun

(1 Grandparent + 1 Parent + 1 Child)

4 – 12

800m

When I told Jah a few days ago that we will be participating in his first run and he will get his own little race t-shirt (which has green – his favourite colour) and a medal if he finishes the run, he was ectastic! I’m confident that this will be an awesome introduction to the world of running for Jah and Bella! So if you are looking to introduce your kids to a race/ run as well or a fun and healthy way for them to burn some energy, sign up for the Cold Storage Kids Run now!

Do note that this year’s run is limited to the first 5,000 registered participants so do register early. Running Clinics and Dynakids Classes will also be held every Saturday in the month of April and slots are running low for these fun fitness classes so check out this link – http://www.kidsrun.com.sg/fun-camps and register fast!

Oh yes and before I forgot! All readers of Jahbella.net will be entitled to a 10% discount on top of the early bird rates (before 9 April) and off regular rates (after 9 April). Just quote G3TACTIV3JAhB311A when registering for the race! 🙂

Scroll down for more details or visit the official website at www.kidsrun.com.sg for more information.

Happy Running!

JahBella’s Mummy

Race Day Details

Date: 17 May 2015 (Sunday)

Location: The Meadow @ Gardens by the Bay

Time: 7am – 12pm

Registration period: 19 March – 16 April at www.kidsrun.com.sg

(Early bird discounts available if you register before 9th April)

Activities on race day include a sports-themed carnival, running clinics, sports introductory classes and more.

Registration Fees

Category	Early Bird	Normal
Sprint	$32	$35
Family Fun (including 3Gen Family Fun)	$40	$44

Race Pack Collection Details (Fun Fest)

Date: 2 & 3 May (Sat & Sun)

Location: F1 Pit Building

Time: 11am – 8pm daily

Activities include stage games, mascot appearances and more.

14Mar2015

Amazonia Indoor Playground – Review

Posted in Reviews, Weekend activities with kids by jahbella

A long time ago, back in the day when my only child was just starting to explore the wonders of indoor playgrounds and when our old bones were just being introduced to this unfamiliar concept of crawling on all fours for more than 5 seconds, I heard about Amazonia. However my research led me to believe that this particular indoor playground was not suited for my 1 year old child (yes Jah was a really early walker/ runner so we took him to indoor playgrounds really early). I read it consisted of huge structures (3 storeys high) and steep slides and well that was all it took to deter me then.

So when we were brainstorming really hard for a new place to bring the kids on a weekend without help, we thought maybe we could finally give Amazonia a shot. Jah is a lot older now and well Bella is the 2^nd kid and we know how parents get abit more relaxed and ‘complacent’ after the first :p It also helped that we found two Amazonia discount vouchers in the house (don’t remember how we got them).

To be honest, I found the place to be alittle on the pricey side but I suppose that also explains the crowd levels which made it rather pleasant. There were 3 areas for play – 1 area for pretend play/ masak masak near the entrance, a toddler area for under 3s (which I never got close to because Jah just refused to play there) and the huge 3 storey playground structure.

Actually the huge 3 storey structure was pretty forgiving on our adult bones. Given its height and higher ‘ceilings’, I found that I was on my fours a lot less and also because I refused to crawl through tunnels now. It was alittle less forgiving on my knees though, because the distance between steps were pretty wide. While I would say that the structure is probably safer for the older kids, Bella didn’t have much issues getting around as long as we were with her to ensure her safety.

My favourite part about the entire place was actually their café and the fact that they served proper food. A lot of indoor playgrounds which we have been to, would serve the usual nuggets, fries, hotdogs, snacks and the occasional pizza. However we got to order a substantial meal – a hot plate of Beef Rendang and Nasi Goreng which at least meant that we didn’t have to go home hungry after all that activity. Yes, Joel and I were working quite hard for our meal!

Kids Menu – Spaghetti

Kids Menu – Fish and Chips (I apologise for the half eaten pic – there was at least 4 slides of the fish) 🙂

While the place and some of its facilities/ toys seem alittle dated, it is generally a nice place to bring the kids if you are looking for something alittle less crowded or rowdy. Having a café with a good menu also helps and its location in a mall also makes it good for running errands or finding alternate food options. 🙂

JahBella’s Mummy

9Mar2015

JahBella’s Day Out at Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden

Posted in Weekend activities with kids by jahbella

The very first time we visited the Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden, Jah was a mere 5 months old infant. I remember Joel and I pushing him around in his infant car seat cum stroller and taking a stroll through the ‘little park/garden’. Quite obviously we didn’t find anything suitable for a 5 month old and proceeded to forget all about that little place in the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

Fast forward almost 3 years later and now with 2 kids in tow, we decided to head over to the Jacob Ballas Children’s Gardenfor one of our weekend morning outings.

The Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden is free of charge and the only requirement is that kids are accompanied by adults and adults are accompanied by kids. I found that requirement quite cute. :p Oh and also no food and drinks a lot so please feed the kids before going there.

We fed Shaun the Sheep before our visit and we got a happy sheep!

The garden has a small water play area (mainly equipped with little jets and sprays on the ground), a sand pit area, lots of interesting fruits and plants growing along the pathway, a suspension bridge, a nice treehouse with 2 slides and a large sand area as well as lots of other educational areas for the other kids. We spent almost 2 hours at the gardens and most of our time was spent at the treehouse and exploring some of the little nooks and crannies of what Jah calls the deep dark woods! We even had some fun narrating and role-playing the Gruffalo story while exploring the ‘woods’.

We spotted bananas on our walk in…:)

Mummy! The bananas are green! My favourite colour!

Quick guys!!!

Huge treehouse!

The garden is supposedly targeted at 5 year olds to 12 year olds (especially the more educational activities) but my 21 month old toddler and 3 year old kiddo did just fine although you will probably want to keep a close watch on those age groups and follow them around. We also saw lots of kids their age who were happily enjoying the water play area and the other sand pit.

Think the sand there was quite tasty too…

Come meimei…korkor wait for you..

Meimei! We are going on a mission!

Whee!!! Byebye!

A mouse took a stroll in the deep dark woods, a fox saw the mouse and the mouse looked good!

Be prepared for the kids to get alittle grubby with all the sand and sweat but nothing a little water and washing can’t solve.

Literally a tree house…

And yes they entered it..

There is also a little café at the entrance of the garden and that was where we headed for our quick lunch. The kids were pretty wiped out by the time we were ready to leave so we figured rather than pack them off somewhere for lunch, a quick fix at the café was just perfect.

The seating area is very family friendly and they even had little chairs and tables for the young ones. The seating area can get pretty packed at times but you will eventually be able to get a seat if you wait around alittle. We were fortunate to find empty tables as we were exiting. The café has a wider ala carte menu however I didn’t notice it and ended up ordering their set menus. The meals took about 10 minutes to be served which was perfect for famished and impatient children. A wonderful morning in all and definitely adding it to our list of places to go that won’t break the bank. 😉

Grubby, sweating…

Thirsty…hungry…

JahBella’s Mummy

1Mar2015

iTheatre’s Aesop’s Fables (Media Invite)

Posted in Media Invite, Plays/ Theatre, Reviews by jahbella

Theatre boy (Jah) and I were invited by iTheatre to their latest production Aesop’s Fables at the Raffles Hotel Jubilee Hall and we decided to bring Papa Joel along. Papa Joel usually hates it when I ask him to join me for a play or musical because he just doesn’t have the attention span for it :p But he was more than willing to come for this production because he wanted to witness Jah’s interest in theatre for himself.

This is our second time at an iTheatre production (the first was Hop and Honk) and I have to say that you realize how super passionate they are for theatre and super good at what they do when you see the effort that goes into their programme booklet, stage set and props.

Mandatory Poster pic

Checking out the programme and activities in the booklet 🙂

Thanks for the goodie bag iTheatre!

Programme Booklet

Awesome backdrop

The 50 minutes show (no intervals) revolved around a theatre troupe, the Crowfoot Troupe taking us through 8 fantastic fables. The show was filled with catchy tunes, intelligent humor and great acting! Jah had declared a few times to me that he was scared of some of the characters even though he understood that it was all pretend, just like in his speech and drama classes. He even said “the uncles and aunties act so well!” :p

Wefie!

The show is suitable for theatre goers ages 3 years and up. Although they do say till 13, I’ll have to say “up” because adults like Papa Joel and I enjoyed ourselves immensely too! Papa Joel actually thanked me for bringing him along for the show!

Not only did I enjoy the production elements of the show, I also truly enjoyed the storyline. It was nice to be reminded of the moral of the story behind each Aesop’s Fable. Yes the ones we had learnt as children but somehow had forgotten that they apply to us even in today’s world. It also has given me a lot of ‘material’ to work with for the next couple of months when it comes to introducing Aesop’s Fables to Jah and telling/ reminding him of the moral of each story.

So if you are looking for some good fun for the family and something educational for the little ones then check out iTheatre’s Aesop’s Fables! We can’t wait to catch Gingerbread Man by iTheatre when it premieres in May! 🙂

Next up!

And I leave you with some ‘moral of the story’ that we took away from the show 🙂

“When you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one.”

“Never trust flatterers”

“Don’t let your greed overpower you or you will lose everything”

“Never swop your friends for enemies”

JahBella’s Mummy

24Jan2015

Kidsfest 2015 – The Gruffalo and Our First Play of 2015

Posted in Plays/ Theatre, Reviews by jahbella

Jah and I attended our first Kidsfest show and our first play of 2015 today (definitely more to come!!) We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and I think I just might have found my permanent theatre companion. 🙂

Goofing around before the show

We caught the Gruffalo at Kidsfest 2015 and if there is one story which Jah and I know like the back of our hands, it’s the Gruffalo (lots of kids and parents knew the stories by hard too!) We have watched the movie and read the book so it was only right that we also caught the play.

For those who are familiar with the story (book or movie) and the tone at which it is told (often in a whisper or calm tone), you would expect that the play was also going to be ‘level toned’ if you get what I mean. But the play was quite the opposite and totally hilarious!

The first thing Jah asked when we entered, was “mummy are we in the deep dark woods?” so kudos to the props team!

The deep dark woods….

The actors also hit it out of the park from the start of the show. We had kids and parents laughing non stop from the beginning even Jah who is ever-serious at plays, was extremely tickled and totally mesmerized by what was on stage.

Totally comfortable…totally captivated..

I’m having lunch with a Gruffalo…

There were jokes weaved in that the kids got and there were jokes weaved in that only the parents got. The play had whimsical and nonsensical moments (in a good way) and it was awesome fun!

We or at least Jah also enjoyed the wide range of merchandise available for sale at the foyer. Yes my little theatre-going shopper of a son came home with quite a loot and to be fair, mummy also really liked the stuff.

A new school bag anyone?

Some toys too perhaps?

Bella and Joel joined us after the show for a family pic. The organizers had arranged for a photo opportunity wall and we could have our photos taken and sent to us via email. A wonderful souvenir photo for families!

Family pic!

I love how this little boy is slowly and truly starting to enjoy theatre plays and musicals. Of course it also helps that the kids theatre scene in Singapore is getting a whole lot more interesting and vibrant. I can’t wait to start cultivating the same interest and love for theatre in Bella. 🙂