Hong Kong Trip Day 3 and Day 4 (December 27-28, 2012)

Day 3 and Day 4 - Macau

We booked a room in Venetian Hotel which is so cool and instead of sight seeing around Macau we end up sleeping since it's very homey :).

The hotel has a winter light show which captured the attention of our little one. He enjoyed it a lot and even after going back to Singapore he keep looking forward for Christmas and go back to Macau.

Here's some of our picture.

Hong Kong Trip Day 6 and 7 (December 30 and 31, 2012)

Day 6 and 7 - Avenue of Stars and New Year Firework

A long overdue post, but better late than never.

It was so cold on that day and probably conducive for our little one to sleep.  He was asleep when we reached to the Avenue of Stars.  We took some pictures then headed for dinner.

Here's some of the pics in Avenue of Star, buildings are decorated with lights and it's entertaining to watch. My son appreciate it a lot, we purposely awaken him so he can see it.  Although we can see similar skyline in Singapore but in Singapore, buildings has no Christmas lights so it's dull to watch at night.

I forgot to bring hand gloves for my son, so he end up putting his hand in his jacket pocket all the time.

When we got to the hotel, our little one has a good time  playing in hotel's bath tub with his dad watching him while mommy is doing some shopping with friends.

On new year's eve, we decided to see fireworks.  We watched from Marco Polo hotel courtesy of my friend's sister who is staying there. It's probably one of the best hotel to book at new year time.  It was still a fun experience although the fireworks was not as grand as the one in the year of the dragon's fireworks.

                                              playing with daddy while waiting for the fireworks.

From Marco Polo parking area, cars were not allowed to park on that day.  It was reserved for guests who would like to watch fireworks.

Indeed, when bringing kids on holiday, the schedule is more relax.  The more important thing is our little one remembers the trip and looking forward for another holiday.

Hong Kong Trip: Day 2 (December 26, 2012)

Hong Kong Trip: Day 2
HK Disneyland! Here we come!

Marriott SkyCity Hotel has a shuttle bus going to disneyland every day @ 10AM but unfortunately we missed it.  We took a cab going to Disney Hollywood Hotel.  One thing to take note though that there's additional charges for every luggage :).

Disneyland Resort is a little bit far from Hollywood Hotel but not to worry since the hotel provides shuttle bus going to Disneyland Park.  It was almost lunch time when we got there.

I kinda regret missing the train going to disneyland!  Next time we will definitely try it.

Disneyland Resort Entrance

My son love's the Mickey's PhilharMagic the most, so it's a must see for those with kids.  It's 3D show, when jewels floating around, my son would try to catch it.  Since it's his first time to see 3D show, it was fun seeing him doing it. He loves Tinker Bell so naturally, he would try to catch her as well.

We mostly spend our time in Fantasyland. The queue to have a picture with Mickey is time consuming, almost an hour but it was worth it since my son loved his picture with Mickey Mouse and proud of it.   We missed "The Many adventure of Winnie Pooh", didn't know that it's a nice show since it doesn;t look attractive from outside. Just recently when we were reading some reviews that we realize it was actually different experience and must see.

It was only after dinner, we had a chance to go to TomorrowLand.  We were able to ride Autopia, all 3 of us were on the same and it was so tight :).  Next time, Janjan can already drive his own.  He was not so keen in riding some rides as well, so we need up just taking pics and walking around.

Main street, U.S.A at night time.  There were some bubble snow, makes it more fun for our little one!

And of course, the most awaited fireworks.

Hong Kong Trip: Day 1

 Hong Kong Trip: Day 1 (Dec 25, 2012)

We arrived quite late on Christmas Day @ 11:00 PM, pick-up our luggage and wait for our hotel shuttle bus.  For our first night, we choose Hong Kong SkyCity Marriott Hotel which is very close to the airport. 

Here's the shuttle bus would look like:

Here’s the map where to wait for the shuttle bus.

 Our room for the night.

Let's Play TAG!

My son has a new cool toy! It's a LeapFrog Tag Reading System.

Do you want your kids to love reading books?  Have you ever wonder how to make reading with your kids enjoyable and fun?

I am writing this to share with you how enjoyable and fun reading with leapfrog TAG.  It reads each page to you.  It can even read each word one at a time if you point to them!  There are also vocabulary games, picture finds, and a few other activities built in for each book. When my son got the toy, he couldn't stop playing with it.  He points it to the words and pictures in the book.  He is so happy with
it, it's the first thing he looks for in the morning and the last thing he play before going to sleep.

Here's  some of the picture of his book collection :)

bought the books in amazon.com 

You can buy this device in AMAZON.COM

December 2011 Gateaway!

This is a long overdue post! I wanted to write this down, in case someday my baby will ask me about our experience there.

We spent our 2011 year end holiday in Turi Beach Resort, Batam.  It's 45mins ferry ride from Singapore so that's the obvious reason why we choose it.  We booked for 3 days and 2 nights for the price of 1 night (yes, 2 nights for the price of 1).  It was off peak (Dec 26 - 28), so that's probably the reason why they have a promo.

The resort's location is somewhat isolated.  No establishment, mall or store nearby so guest have no choice but to eat, buy water and other food in the resort and mind you it's a little bit expensive. The resort has two style, there's a modern rooms in the left side and balinese style in riani wing.  Our room is in riani wing and somewhere up in the hill. What i like about this resort is the ambience and very relaxing.  The beach is ok, clean and hmmm not sure what's the best word to describe it.  Let's just say that i have seen beaches so much nicer than this.  I maybe a little bit bias about beaches since i grow up in an island surrounded by beaches and i have seen a lot of very appealing beaches, one can't even resist in getting so close to it and feel the water.

Here's some of the pics:

The modern rooms:

Swimming pool near the balinese style rooms.

Riani Wing units has this terrace

bed fit for a prince, that's our little one sleeping after a day filled with activities!

in one of the small resting area near the swimming pool

have so much space to run around

a closer look of the modern units.

By the way, check-in is a little dis-organized and took forever.  My baby was so restless already and very sleepy yet @2:30, we still don't have our room key.  When we finally have our room key at almost 3pm, we rush to our room right away so our little one can sleep.  We booked an ocean view but was given a room somewhere in the middle, too tired to ask we decided to just take it. It was only after we charge our dinner we knew that our room is registered to a different name. Strange, since the room key envelope had my husband's name on it,  so it must be correct.  At first, they were not willing to lower our room rate and insist that we should pay the rate that we have booked for.  I tried to argue but to no avail until i asked for their manager's number... and finally agree to change the room rate.

For our meals,  Lunch is around 25SGD (not sure if this is the price now), dinner is around SGD30 while breakfast is free ( included in the package)

Overall, it was a great experience but not something i look forward to visit again.

All About Photo books!

Photo book is in!  Gone are those days, where after our pictures are printed, we are given a "free album".  Now, they advised me to avail their photobooks.  Curious about it, I give it a try but the layout in the shop is simple and need to top-up/pay more money if you want to have a nice layout (in photoshop or other collage software maybe). 

I decided that i will try to create the layout for my photobooks.  At first, it looks so simple and eventually i learn to be "more creative".  My first photobook was my son's "First 12 Months".  In that photobook, i make sure that every month is represented.  When i first saw the photo book, i was in tears that anytime i wish to recall my baby's growth, all i have to do is open the book.  So after that, almost all events in my baby's life is in photobooks.  Now he is 3.5 yrs and here's the books that i have created so far.

I still have many more to put into photobooks like our recent vacation last yr and our 2012 Moments. The layout of these books are "lay flat" style.  Here's some of the pages:

Truly, photo album has evolved into a much more meaningful and fun to see.  Can you imagine how many photobooks will my son have in the future?? He might have a library full of his childhood pictures :).