what a busy tizzy day we had!

wild wild wet:

we took e mrt to pasir ris, and hoped to take e free bus from there, but it wasnt running over lunchtime. so we took bus 354 instead. the kids were happy. it was a cheap short ride. only 2 stops. had it not still bn drizzling we wd have walked.  we had a picnic lunch under a quiet walkway when we arrived. it was a peaceful time while waiting for our friends.  we cd see e waterplay area alongside and kynan was very excited each time he heard the warning bell before the bucket tipped. he was soooooo looking forward to going in. he cd barely control his excitement while waiting for our friends to finish their lunch ;) 

this was to be a very special outing for the kids. we hv never gone b4, and wd not hv afforded it otherwise. we had wild wild wet tkts from buzz news-stand that got all e kids in free. i tried getting a 1-for-1 discount with my dh's ntuc card but they wdnt allow it w/o him, so i ended up getting a smaller discount with my bb-bonus card. i paid $11. we had a friends kid with us who also got in free, but as his mum wasnt going to be swimming, they took her i/c and let her kp going in and out every 20min. she was very patient and actually kept it up. (i sure wdnt have! ;))

lazy river was kay's best bit. while i think e boys liked e slides. ky enjoyed 'tube-surfing' at e wave-pool too, but the others were too scared to venture far. at e jacuzzi e water was slightly too cold to enjoy, (due to the drizzly weather), but still, all picked up the courage to go behind the waterfall. :)

we stayed in the water from opening time until abt 6+pm. i'd brought some showergel along, so bathed the 3 of them there-and-then, myself included. then we headed for dinner at e-hub: fish and chips and hotdogs. thereafter we planned to use up our 5free tkts for the ferris-wheel.  alas, we were informed that they werent accepted for use on fridays. i really didnt want to dissappoint the kids as they'd bn longingly ogling it the whole day...waiting for the lights to come on b4 they went on. i explained to the young chap there and he was so sweet as to give us all a ride. telling us to kp out tkts for another time. what a wonderful day to end a day! (and so different from our experience at the www tkt booth. thumb up for customer service with a heart!

oh and did i mention: when we arrived much earlier in e day, we swung by explorerkids:

it gave us something constructive to do while waiting for our friends.  sorry M that we had to go w/o u... but e timing was not rt...mb nxt time :)  i had only 1 tkt that entitiled one adult and 1kid to free entry. so i thought i'd pay for 1 more kid and enjoy something special for this one time that we were there. at this place i cd use my dh's ntuc card, which was great, and signed up for kay as a member on the spot...not so cheap... but it entitled her to cheaper rates than the general public on that day, aaaaand with cheaper rates until e age of 12yrs. (so i thot it mt be helpful for nxt year wen ky goes to school...mb a change of scenery now-and-then for kay....)  no problem with getting her card, except that i had to come back 3x upon their request before it was finally ready at 7.30pm...

reg e "free" coupon for ky and myself... that's where we had some 'issues'.... the middle-aged lady manning the booth informed me that it was actually a mis-print by sph, and that their managemnt from that very day when we'd arrived, was only allowing them to give 50% off.  i told them in no uncertain terms that it was false advertising and the legal merits of such. furthermore, that any miscommunication or loss of income shd be settled btwn them and sph, and not btwn them and the customer. :)  the poor old lady was not qt sure what to do with this terrier of a woman, so she past me up the line.  when the manager came by, before i cd say ver ymuch, she assured me that it was all a misunderstanding and that the tkt was really valid. but somehow i felt they were really just trying to pull a fast-one on their customers.  :(   mmmm....

none-the-less, we were happy to finally be inside. but a little dissapointing i thought, while looking over the place. for the price, it really is qt a small area. there was one large 3d maze with a few slides, a small rock-climbing wall, a walk-through 'cave', a white ball-pool, and a small toddler play-area with some foam rockers and a square metre or so of colourful balls.  there was another ball-cannon fenced-in maze area that cost $5.50 extra per child. also, a small 'tree-top-type' climbing area with obstacles to balance/step on, that stood abt 1metre up from the ground. that also cost an extra $5.50 per child.

alongside we spotted a small ice-rink. no charges were on display, but i imagine they mt hv bn steep, as there was no-one enjoying it the whole time we were there, nor later when we walked past for our dinner etc.... both kids were keen on e ice-skating though. so mb nxt time (they dont know it yet, but it's the last treasure on the chart ;))  [the chart has long been finished, as has the troublesome behaviour, but i wdnt let them open it until we'd found a place to enjoy the 2nd treasure: bowling.]

so on our way to dinner, we swung by e bowling alley at e-hub.

we'd heard games were only $2 each. unfortunately all the lanes were taken up, and there were 19ppl in the queue waiting. we didnt bother to wait. 'were pointed in the direction of a small kiddie-bowl play area hidden away in a corner. this is where there were $2 games. we gave e kids 2 games btwn the 3 of them. it was fun for them to chuck the balls. they raised their hands up in 'victory' poses each time they knocked a good number down. small and cheap... and they semed genuinely satisfied that they had got their dues. (like i said, a few months back they had earned the bowling session through 1 month of super-good behaviour. it was charted on a treasure-map with the reward written on a folded-up piece of paper in a sealed-up chest at e end of e pathway.)  they hv bn very patient while waiting, and i'm so glad it cost me only $4.  (much cheaper than e previous movie outing we had!)

so tq so much to Aunty Elz who kindly informed us of all these wonderful ways to have fun on the cheap!!!  and tq to Aunty SM and little M for accompanying us. it wdnt hv bn the same w/o friends... and M, u were so so brave to go down all those slides. u even got so brave that u starting going down w/o any of us! wow, u really surprised me! 

it was a super-dooper day!  daddy was so kind to fetch us all after his course, and kay was happy to finally settle down for a snuggle and some well-earned peace-and-quiet.  we all came home exhausted and slept v v v well! 

and cd we hv a nice rest e next day? no way!...we all put on our walking shoes and went for a looong hike along the hsbc treetop-trail with the scouts. but more of that in e next posting :)