Wednesday, May 26, 2010 ;
11:19 PM
22 May
Sat
9am to 1pm
My Uni alumni sent me notification of her Family Day.
For several yrs I had not joined because we were overseas.
The last time we joined, it was held at the Singapore Zoo and we enjoyed it a lot with my sis' family. That time, she didn't even have kids yet and it was just the boys for us. We always felt it was very good fun and good value too. The admission tickets are often discounted and goodie bags, meals, games, stage entertainment and snacks are all thrown in free.
Dh happened to be overseas again so I asked my mom if she can go with me and the kids. Without her help it would be tough. With her there, I can at least have hands free to take pics. She helped me carry bags, collect food with the coupons, etc. I slinged baby most of the time, except when she was awake and I wanted to eat or go to the toilet. :-)
I haven't been to the Jurong Bird Park - a world class attraction - for many years, maybe 15? The last time I went must be with my school, on a field trip! Somehow adults don't go to these places unless they had to bring friends who are visiting from abroad huh?
I was so pleasantly surprised with all the changes.
This is the Panorail ride. It goes all around the park and into one of the 4 aviaries. Cool ride in A/C comfort.
We stopped at the Lory Loft which is an aviary housing many many lories. You can buy nectar for $3 a cup and feed the birds. They really come flocking to you. I have a video on FB where my mom was swamped by the birds. One of them was on her head, several on her arm and one even pecked off a bit of her finger. serious! There was a small cut. I think she might have spilled nectar on her hand.
The boys were similarly thrilled to have all the birds surround and "love" them. ds2 also had one perched on his head. ds1 had a few on his shoulder, arms and even the back of his neck, which made him drop the cup of nectar cos it was so ticklish and sensitive. He was so sad he cried for awhile but my mom went with him to explain to the service staff what happened and they gave him just a bit more for free.
My mom was truly overwhelmed, haha.
ds2 was very steady. He loves animals of all kinds. He is less jumpy than ds1 and could stay very still and let the birds feed. Hence he was the only one who did not get pecked or scratched. He did have claw marks on his baby soft skin along his arms though, but he did not mind them at all. That's my boy!
I couldn't take the screeching of the hundreds of lories after some time, even though the boys would have wanted to stay in there forever. It was very loud and piercing. I thought dd might be scared but although she was startled a few times by sudden near screeches of several birds, she did not cry and was very alert and excited to see these weird things flying around. At least, they must seem strange to her since she mostly see moving humans only in her short life so far.
Took the Panorail again in one loop back to the Main station.
Dd was in a great mood! She enjoyed the sights a lot, like this fountain. There were pelicans, flamingos, swans, ducks swimming/ standing/ flying around.
Then we watched the Birds of Prey show, which is at 10am. It was beside the Picnic Grounds where the Alumni events were, so it was very convenient. My mom helped me collect breakfast, the goodies bags and so on using the coupons the alumni assoc sent me.
After that we went to the picnic grounds for the kids to jump all over the bouncy castles, and play on the playground. There was a splash area too but I didn't bring extra clothes for the kids, so no water play.
But then we used the coupons to collect popcorn, ice cream, lunch (a bento box with drinks and mango dessert) and let the kids play all the games at the games stalls. The food was ok, but the games left much to be desired.
The type and variety of games are ok, they are the usual at carnivals. However, each stall is manned by only 1 young student (volunteer or paid, I don't know). The poor guy at the basketball kiosk was the worst off cos the balls kept bouncing off the sides and into bushes and far away places and he had to bend so much and run after balls. While he ran after balls, everyone had to wait in line.
Queues for all the games were sooooo long. ds1 was pretty good at some games and won a couple of prizes. Eva (my sis arrived late, we met them at the picnic grounds as the kids were playing) saw one of the prizes and liked it very much, so ds1 gave it to her at once, and said he'll go try get another for himself. But then, after that, all the games he played, he did not win a single prize! He felt rather disappointed and told me he really liked that prize but he gave it away already.
I told him it was great he could share it with his cousin and I asked him to look at her happy smiling face. My mom also told him that is his prize, that can make him very happy too, to make others happy.
ds2 also didn't win anything. This game below allows you 4 tosses, and you need 3 to loop successfully before you get a prize. Not easy, cos the target bobs around in the water. But they had lots of fun!
ds2's turn. ds2 tends not to take risks and dislikes anything after he "loses". After trying all the games once, he kept going for the colour spin wheel. That game solely relies on luck cos you spin the wheel twice and if both times it stops at the same colour then you get a prize! I am like, oh man, it's so like him. Or maybe it is just this stage cos I remember ds1 hating to lose anything too.
Now he is slightly better because he can lose, like in chess. Sometimes though, when he feels he should have won easily but yet he lost, he will still be very upset. However, adults also behave like that, so all I do is to try and console him and explain to him how playing games are not always about winning (even though in my heart, I know so many people who don't like to lose, including us parents ourselves).
After that the skies did pour heavily for quite a while. Fortunately there was a huge marquee and we all just sat there and ate our bentos. When the rain reduced to a drizzle, we left. It was tiring but really fun!
rainbows every day, do not worry for the morrow
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We stopped at the Lory Loft which is an aviary housing many many lories. You can buy nectar for $3 a cup and feed the birds. They really come flocking to you. I have a video on FB where my mom was swamped by the birds. One of them was on her head, several on her arm and one even pecked off a bit of her finger. serious! There was a small cut. I think she might have spilled nectar on her hand.
My mom was truly overwhelmed, haha.
ds2 was very steady. He loves animals of all kinds. He is less jumpy than ds1 and could stay very still and let the birds feed. Hence he was the only one who did not get pecked or scratched. He did have claw marks on his baby soft skin along his arms though, but he did not mind them at all. That's my boy!
I couldn't take the screeching of the hundreds of lories after some time, even though the boys would have wanted to stay in there forever. It was very loud and piercing. I thought dd might be scared but although she was startled a few times by sudden near screeches of several birds, she did not cry and was very alert and excited to see these weird things flying around. At least, they must seem strange to her since she mostly see moving humans only in her short life so far.
Took the Panorail again in one loop back to the Main station.
Dd was in a great mood! She enjoyed the sights a lot, like this fountain. There were pelicans, flamingos, swans, ducks swimming/ standing/ flying around.
Then we watched the Birds of Prey show, which is at 10am. It was beside the Picnic Grounds where the Alumni events were, so it was very convenient. My mom helped me collect breakfast, the goodies bags and so on using the coupons the alumni assoc sent me.
ds2's turn. ds2 tends not to take risks and dislikes anything after he "loses". After trying all the games once, he kept going for the colour spin wheel. That game solely relies on luck cos you spin the wheel twice and if both times it stops at the same colour then you get a prize! I am like, oh man, it's so like him. Or maybe it is just this stage cos I remember ds1 hating to lose anything too.
