July 2020 school holiday - Jewel

After 3 days of too much walking, we rested at home for a day - homework day. Then on Friday, we headed out to Jewel.

The lovely clouds and blue sky on our drive to the airport; and spot the number of grounded Scoot planes!

Started with breakfast at Starbucks Reserve. Both Daddy and I do not fancy the regular Starbucks and hardly ever step into one. But after Shanghai's Starbucks Reserve experience, we were convinced that Starbucks Reserve is in a different league. And we were absolutely right. The service, coffee and food at this Starbucks Reserve were just amazing! Worth every dollar (and it was many)!

The Canopy Park was really enjoyable. With the controlled number of people allowed at any one time, for safe-distancing, it was also a very pleasant experience.

Rounded off the day with a late lunch at Ding Tai Feng, where the famished Aaron satisfied his hunger with ginger while waiting for the food to come! Ya, this 9-year-old has some weird taste bud!

July 2020 school holiday - Science Centre

 We've not been to the Science Centre for a long time. It's certainly changed a lot, and made tonnes of improvement. So much to see and learn! Too much actually, and it was impossible to see everything. Had to be selectively. We all had a great time!

And 2 days after his birthday, we finally bought a birthday cake. 

July 2020 school holiday - zoo

Aaron requested to go to the zoo for his birthday. We didn't realise that visitors have to book time-slots beforehand. So when we got there late morning, the next earliest slot we could get was 2pm. So we went for lunch first.

2pm is super hot, and we certainly had never been to the zoo at that time of the day. Perhaps that's why we'd never seen the white tiger! Our 2pm slot turned out to be a blessing!

We also saw a few orang utans basking in the sun. But had definitely seen more when we came in the mornings.

Went into the Reptile Garden for the first time ... Daddy's been wanting to go there but I hate reptiles. This time, the kids want to go in too, so I was out-voted.

This is our body temperature family portrait - the way vipers and pythons would "see" us!

The zoo is huge. With the tram, there really was a lot of walking. It really tired us out. Had to go home for a rest before dinner.

Birthday boy requested for Shake Shack for dinner. Last year, we went to Fat Boys, and he finished a full-size burger all by himself for the first time. This year, he ate 2 Shack Burgers!

My baby boy is now 9 years old! He still behaves like a baby sometimes, and loves to snuggle up to us. I ask him all the time, if he'll still hug me and hold my hand when he grows up. For all other future-oriented questions, his answers are usually "I don't know". But for this question, it's always a resounding

"yes"!  🥰

July 2020 school holiday - USS

Due to the circuit breaker, school calendar was totally messed up. And so are the school terms and holidays. The kids resumed school on 2 June - meaning no usual June school holidays. Instead the kids had a 1-week break in July. That week happened to fall on Aaron's birthday week. Of course, we couldn't go anywhere. So we were tourists in our own country.

Monday, 20 Jul - Universal Studios

A very empty USS, where we could take lots of wefies without crowds in our photos, and queued for 5-15 min, if at all, for rides.

We started off with lunch at Vivocity, as USS only opened at 2pm.

And while waiting for time, we went to the Samsung shop where Nadine was thrilled to see a nice big poster of BTS.

There were the usual safe entry registration and temperature checks. But other than that, there was no fuss, and no crowds at all. First time we could take photos with all the key features without anyone photo-bombing us.

We did all the rides we wanted, and Aaron bought his 1st (of a few) birthday gifts at the Transformer gift shop. But without the usual theme park crowds, the experience really wasn't the same. Felt a bit like an abandoned park.

After a tiring day with too much walking, we headed for dinner - Aaron's 1st birthday dinner request - Sukiya hot pot. Again, it wasn't the same experience. We couldn't get the food ourselves, like the usual Sukiya buffet. Had to order and food was were served everything by the wait staff. Nonetheless, it was a good dinner, and more importantly, the kids enjoyed it.