WOW your child this September school holiday

All kids look forward to holidays like us adults unless if like me you have kids of your own, then a holiday isn't really a holiday, you have to plan activities for your kids to do :p Well, I have a great suggestion for you and your kids this school holiday, join the WowART Studio Holiday Workshops! The workshops run from September 5-9 2011 and are for children aged 2.5years till 12years.

Both Kayden and Dylan have been with the art school since the start of this year and after each lesson I am ALWAYS pleasantly surprised with the quality and creativity of their art pieces. Have a look below at some of the photos I've taken with my iPhone of their art pieces which always garner oohs and ahhs from friends on Facebook :p



Dylan was just 2.5years when he started and no, he was not too young. The holiday workshop for under 4years is specially designed for the younger children and has a wide variety of medium and artworks for them to choose from. Clay modeling to wire sculptures and yarn painting, their little hands will be filled as they enjoy the process of creating their own art!

For the older children, they have two main workshops to choose from - Artist & I and Claybook. Artist & I is a canvas workshop where 2 impressionist artists Claude Monet and Edgar Degas are introduced. The Claybook workshop allows children to unleash the writer in them as they enjoy the pleasures of handling clay. They create their own stories and make the characters from clay. This 3 day workshop is sure to keep the child entertained and allows room for them to be creative. Each lesson is 2.5hours and I would recommend this workshop if you have the time.

Details of the workshops and fees are below. You can also give WowART Studio a call at 6352 2221 for more information or to reserve your place in the workshops. Early birds enjoy a 5% discount if you sign up before 30 Aug 2011! Do update me here if you bring your kids to the workshop, I am sure they will enjoy themselves whilst unleashing the artists in them :)

In A Heartbeat for Chloe & Aleks

Today we celebrate our nation's 46th birthday and as with each national day, there is a new song for the celebrations. The official song this year is "In A Heartbeat".



This song cannot bring on the flood gates like my all time favourite "Home" but the music video is well produced and tells the story of Singapore from the perspective of a family, mainly the Mother and Son. As their life journey progresses, so does our nation. I feel this would be an opportune time for me to share with you the tough journeys and needs of two little Singaporeans Chloe & Aleks who both suffer from rare disorders. Chloe from Pompe Disease and Aleks from Gaucher Disorder, both of which are very rare genetic disorders and require a huge sum of money annually for their treatment. As these conditions are extremely rare, no organisation nor government body provides funding of any kind in Singapore. And it is with more awareness and support that we can hopefully put Singapore on the map for government funding of Lysosomal Storage Disorders (LSD) and Rare Disorders Society Singapore (RDSS) patients.

What is LSD (Lysosomal Storage Disorder)?
All lysosomal storage disorders (LSDs) have a similar origin: a genetic (inherited) problem that causes a deficiency or malfunction of a particular enzyme in the body, so the enzyme cannot properly rid cells of waste material. There are no cures for most of the LSD and treatment is mostly symptomatic. However bone marrow transplantation and enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) have been tried with some success in some cases.

I hope that you can show your support for the RDSS on their Facebook page.

Or support the RDSS Piano Recital Charity Fundraiser.

Let’s come together in a heartbeat and help little Singaporeans like Chloe and Aleks by raising awareness of rare disorders, fighting for their right to survive and the need for treatment beyond economics and politics with (hopefully) government funding!

Rollercoasters

Almost everyone I know enjoy a rollercoaster ride. Well not me. I am terrified of them except for these two rides which I find still acceptable - the Wipeout @ Dreamworld in Gold Coast Australia and the Viking which was formerly at our East Coast Park. Eerrmm that was some years ago, I may not be able to stomach those rides now. So imagine my horror when we arrived at Sentosa's Imbiah Lookout at the invitation of Sentosa and was told that we will be experiencing 4 different "rides". *GULP*

The first seemed harmless enough, we were ushered into the Sentosa 4D Magix cinema to watch "Pirates". The boys were excited about watching a movie and were curious when given the 3D glasses to wear. I got a little suspicious when I saw that some of the seats were wet. Hmmm. It was a first time experience with 3D for the kids and even I was astounded by how we seemed to be "in" the scenes and part of the action. The opening screen was a treasure map unrolling followed by a cannon turned towards you then BOOM! Kayden let out a shout in fright and after that he was afraid of every emerging scene. Haha my little chicken boy ;) His younger brother was much braver and managed to watch the rest of the movie laughing at Captain Lucky! Be warned, you will be tossed about in your seats, have some water sprayed at you, wind blown and even some tickles at your feet to complete the 4D experience!

Next up was the Extreme Log Ride! Ok this one I was not looking forward to because it simulates a real rollercoaster ride with wind blasters and 9 motion capsules nestled within the theatre, all operating on a state-of-the-art 6-axis motion system. Objects come to life right off the screen with your 3D glasses on. We were rushed to the top of the mountains, before plunging down the deepest valley while dodging flying logs! I have to be honest that I closed my eyes for the most part of the ride (ok, actually throughout the ride accept for the moments when it seemed safe) :p Kay decided to not wear the 3D glasses so he wouldn't be frightened by the ride but he enjoyed the motion on the capsules we were seated in. Legs wobbling, we moved on to the next ride.

Phew! It wasn't another rollercoaster ride, it was a fun 3D shooting game while seated on motion-based saddles called Desperados. Dylan had to sit on my "horse" together with me as he was too short to sit on his own. Then we all galloped through the dusty town of ‘Wild West” while shooting bandits, cactus and other objects with a laser gun :p It was fun and everyone enjoyed this one!

Finally to end the morning's thrills, we slowed down with a ride on the Tiger Sky Tower. Thank you Sentosa for your generous invitation and we hope to be back for more 3D and 4D experiences soon! :)

(all shots taken with the Lumix GF3)

Didn't win lah!

Sorry for the hiatus since the Singapore Blog Awards 2011 ended with me being a loser in the Best Family Blog category. I have been sulking and on strike and zero inspiration to write whatsoever. You believe me? Hahahaha! No no it's nothing like that at all! Since they announced the 10 finalists weeks ago, I already had my bets placed on my friend Ed from Edunloaded and Daphne from MotherInc! I was just asking for votes so I don't come up last if they suddenly decide to announce from 1st to 10th place :D A big hearty congratulations to Daphne for clinching the prize! She writes really well and totally deserved the win. So congrats woman!

Anyway it was a great party that Omy hosted at the Shanghai Dolly. I got to meet all the other family blog finalists and everyone was so nice it's sick! How can competition be that friendly but it was :) Ok ok except for some star bloggers who think they are too high class to mingle with us newbies. But it was great meeting new friends and old. Here's a group picture of all of us parent bloggers which I stole from Leonny's blog :p



Apart from those I mentioned earlier, here are the rest of my competition :D Yvonne, Klessis, Sandra, Andy and Sharon.
It was wonderful meeting you all and hope to do this again soon if not next year! :)

I would also like to send a big shout out of THANKS to all my friends, family and clients who voted for my blog. Thank you for taking the time to do so, I really appreciate it! Ok! Now I got to work harder and write better and post more often to have another go at next year's award. I'm ready for the challenge, let's go!

Goofing on the tracks

images, editing and gif animation by our fellow goofball, intern Yvonne :D

She's got a Ticket to Ride

(I thought of this concept after seeing the shot and got our talented intern e'von le angelis to complete the look with these awesome illustrations! I wish I can draw like that :p)

Her mummy likes to joke that she has a "25 cents face", meaning one that doesn't smile much. That she is a difficult subject to shoot, is true but only if you need her smiling :p I find Bernice to be quite a good subject for mood shots. Plus she is a beautiful child :) Here she is by the KTM railway tracks which will be closed to the public after today.

the Brat who loves Me

(photo taken with the HTC Sensation smartphone)

When the terrible two tantrums didn't come, we were pleasantly surprised and silently happy. Silent because if you celebrate "out loud", then the opposite might happen :p As we witness others' two year olds behaving obnoxiously, we silently scoffed and marveled at how sweet and adorable ours was. Well one of us must have accidentally displayed our emotions because now that we have past Dylan's 3rd year, all the signs of a brat has started to emerge :s He has bouts of terrible rage and tantrums which he seem unable to control. He would hit out at us or his brother and scream or shout in protest before giving you one extremely evil angry look! When these displays of brattish behaviour happen in public, I wished the earth would just swallow me up.

But then again, he has this other side of him that's cheeky and funny, adorable and clever that makes you wonder if he was possessed that moment ago when he flew into a tumultuous tantrum! Here are some examples of the other side of Dylan.

I was drinking apple juice and his sharp eyes spotted that. He came up to me asking for some. I said no, you already had yours. He then said,"Mummy, sharing is caring!" (a phrase we often use when wanting him to share with his brother) :D

He has been going diaper-less in the afternoons after his nap till bedtime. When we were in the car the other day after picking him from school, I asked if he needed to pass urine. He said no. While daddy was parking the car at our block he suddenly exclaimed that he needs to WEE WEE! I panicked and asked if he could hold it till we get home? He replied exasperatedly, "That's why I don't like LIKE THIS! (points to his diaper-less crotch area) I want to wear pampers!!!" :s

He doesn't let anyone else hold my left hand as that is meant for him (and him alone). When gor gor accidentally holds that preferred left hand of mine he will shout possessively," That's MY MUMMY!" and proceeds to tear off his brother's hand. On occasions when I am tired and can no longer bao bao him, he relents and let's daddy carry. I will then hold Kayden's hand and he will be looking over daddy's shoulder and explaining to gor gor,"That's my mummy, later you give me back ok gor gor?" Haha! All if a sudden, I feel like an object!

When I ask him to do something and he doesn't listen, I'll say,"I'm going to count to 3!" and start counting threateningly "ONE!....TWOOO!!!...." Then that bugger continues counting to 10 while doing whatever I was asking him to before the counting started :-|

Some days he will be very considerate, like when I've been carrying him for some time, he will suddenly say,"Mummy tired, I will walk walk" and he will come down!

When I drop him off in school, he will not let you go without a hug and a kiss. On days when you feel and look like crap, he comes and hug you and say,"My cute mummy!" awwww, how not to love this little brat you tell me?

Retro Radio Baby!

Can't resist posting this shot of baby Jun (9 days young) I shot this morning. He is lying on top of a giant retro radio! Isn't it cute?! And the baby too of cos :D Happy midweek everyone!

Children's Season @ SAM

The Children's Season is an item on my "Things I Die Die Must Do With The Kids" list and we almost missed it! Well, we did missed the one we went to last year at the National Museum but heard from friends that the Art Garden installations at the Singapore Art Museum are way better so earlier this week on my day off, I brought the boys down together with the whole studio :p

Here's a video of what the Art Garden is about in a nutshell.


And yes! It was as fun as it looks! The boys started off by prancing on Walter, the curious colossal bunny. SHHH, we didn't know they were not allowed to touch him as there were no guards around to stop us and you know kids, they were attracted to the big white thing the moment they saw it.


When the museum opened it's doors after a 15 minute wait, we were off to catch the dancing solar flowers installation. There was also an elephant where the kids could decorate with colourful stickers given by the museum staff.






Next came the paper fruits market where we fold and create our choice of 3D paper fruit. Dylan selected an apple and Kay a starfruit. It was terribly tough for us adults to put the fruits together let alone the kids. But finally we got them done, ta-dah! And you could exchange your paper fruit for a real one! But we opted to keep the paper fruits after all that hard work we put in :p






We rushed upstairs to catch the animated shortfilm Lost and Found by Philip Hunt which is about a little boy finding a penguin on his doorstep and his determination to help the penguin find his way back home to the south pole. This magical tale of friendship and loneliness is based on the best-selling picture book by Oliver Jeffers which I am going to buy for Kayden since he enjoyed the film so much :)


Ok, then it was off to the room decorated with toys, sand, artificial grass and styrofoam with walls covered entirely of modular toy train tracks. This was definitely a hit with the boys as they got to build their own tracks and once completed, they were given a battery operated toy train each which would run on the tracks they created. Boys haven I tell you! We were stuck here for the longest time.










This is the Tree of Love which is decorated with papier-mâché animal dolls, created by children and participants from non-profit organisations with the artist. Visitors are invited to add on to the work by penning their hopes, thoughts and feelings on the trees.






Kayden covered the entire giant cake with decors made of fabric in the Mummy Dearest room.




We didn't have time to do the GO! installation as it was past the kiddos' lunch time and somebody was getting extremely grouchy! Don't look like it from these pictures but the end of acceptable behaviour was drawing near :D






So we quickly headed to the colourful room which had big round blocks for the kids to push and colour match to the round circles on the ground. They were busy here for all of 5 minutes :p






And so ends our visit to the Art Garden. We certainly enjoyed the exhibits and interactive installations and can't wait for what they will have lined up for us next year!

Trainspotting

Today marks the end of an 80 year run for the KTM train service into Tanjong Pagar railway station. It is a historic event with reporters, photographers and the man on the street clamoring at the station for one last look, photo or meal before the last train rolls out slightly before midnight. From tomorrow, the service will only be available from the Woodlands station.

Exactly one month before, my friend Ik Hui decided that just for fun we should go for a ride on the train with the kids to Johor Bahru and back! What a swell idea and the boys were pretty stoked about going on their first train ride too (i try to ignore their whining while we got seated onboard about "what's that smell mummy?!").

Here are the pictures taken with my iPhone yet again. Yes, I brought the DSLR but with two kids to mind for, it was just easier shooting with the phone :p

CHOO CHOO!


the 3 adventurers


our seats and ticket


love the reflection of kay


the boys missed their naptime


jaeden chirpy and checking out the onboard brochure


while Ik Hui looks on




two good friends


sharing is caring!








KTM, the end of a good run.