As our friend was getting married at G.H Universal Hotel, we had the chance to stay in this uniquely beautiful hotel.

The place is modelled with a Italian Renaissance theme, and I can really understand why my friend was getting married here.

Hotel Rooms are a bit small, so we opted for a room that was bigger than the regular Superior Rooms. The Governor suite was definitely just the right size for my family (2 Adults and 2 kids). However,  basic toilet amenities like the Toilet Sink was a bit small for the 4 of us though…

However, the best thing about this hotel is the decoration!

The decoration was even more stunning on the night of the wedding. It was like a castle set in the midst of the Indonesian mountains.

But if you are wondering what is there to do in Bandung…well…the rumours are true. Bandung is full of factory outlets!

Here, you can find fashion from Calvin Klein,Boss, Abercombie, Armani Jeans, Fred Perry and many other fashion brands. Yes…and it is true as well…I believe some are genuine rejects, but some of them are fakes as well.

However, prices are very affordable, and I am sure that you can find a good bargain when you are over there! My wife was especially excited over the kids clothes! After all, kids don’t mind if it’s a fake Gap, as long as it is comfortable! She bought lots of stuff for the kids, especially for Nicole who was back in Spore!

However, we are always thinking of creative ways to throw a really fun party, and our latest idea is having involving food. If you have not caught on…do keep on reading…

Yes! As all kids love OREOs, we had our very first theme party of 2012, built around OREOs.

Needless to say, we did not have to do much to get some really enthusiastic fans!

Well, if you have not been to an OREO party, to tell you the truth…neither have I! But I guess that’s the fun part of party planning…Brainstorming and coming up with our own Games!  

Initially, we wanted to build a bath-tub full of OREOs and get Daddy to come dressed in an OREO Mascot costume…create our own OREO MAN (instead of Superman)

However due to budget constraints…we just had an OREO Tele-match and other  Simple Party games.  Frankly, after doing so many parties, kids are the easiest people ever, and as long as the games are fun, they don’t really need the fanfare! (We instructed the kids to come in OREO colours too! Blue, Black or White!)

In fact, the games were not very complicated. When the music plays, run around the room and shout “Oreo…Oreo…Oreo” (You get the hint right), and once when the music stops,  stand on the alphabet indicated by the game-master. There were only 4 letters to stand on, and they were of course the letters needed to form our favourite snack O-R-E-O .

And guess what? After running around for 5 times or more, I was out of breath! Haha… age catches up!  

I have not led Party Games for kids for a very long time, but their energy was contagious. Next, we had an OREO tele-match where the kids had to go from Point A to B balancing an Oreo pack on each palm. Thereafter, we did “Passing the Parcel. The kids loved it!  

And to end off the party, we proceeded to the classroom for our cake cutting session.

This lovely Barbie Agar-Agar definitely added to the Party Effect, and at $45, was definitely a great alternative to a normal Party Cake. Nadine is into Barbie at the moment, and that’s why we got her this blonde sweetheart for her Birthday.

The rest of the kids were also wondering, how were they going to eat their blonde friend later!  

Here’s a family photo with Nadine before we go! Happy Birthday Nadine! Daddy and Mummy had great fun making your day Super Special! We are believing for you to grow into a beautiful confident women when you grow – And one day when you are old enough to read this post! We want you to know that WE LOVE YOU!

Well, looks like history is in the making! She has ONE shaky tooth, finally! But what an amazing tooth it is! Let me show you a pictorial. Do focus your eyes on those centre pearlies.

Nicole – March 2010

Nicole – December 2011

Nicole – 17 March 2012 (Can you see the gap…?)

Nicole – 31 March 2012 (That one tooth is overlapping the other, while the gap widens)

And this is today—5 April 2012:

My baby’s teeth moved! Or her jaw grew larger! And in God’s miraculous ways, the teeth just moved with it!

We can’t wait to lay our hands on that one tooth and yank it off. But of course, that would mean holding down a very violent and aggressive 7yr old girl. We checked with the dentist too, and he says it’s her jaw growing, and since no adult teeth is out yet, the gap in between teeth naturally increases! *phew!*

So the tooth fairy continues her wait… … ……  Anyone else had teeth move or jaws growing so obviously?

UPDATE – 10 April

The tooth came off! “When I was blowing my nose” . . .

So she wrote her first note to the Tooth Fairy. My oh my… check out her note!

She wants $50 for her tooth, and then she changed her mind and she wanted more. She even wrote down her address so that the Tooth Fairy would not lose her way.

I quickly said, the tooth fairy only comes for your FIRST tooth and never again! As this magical fairy is a bit expensive to keep ALIVE!…Fairy Tales are a bit expensive to upkeep in pragmatic Singapore… hahaha….

Although I was educated in Perth, Australia, one does not hear much about Darwin. However, due to a Facebook Contest, I had the chance to fly to Australia with Silk Air, and find out about Darwin for myself.

As it was Silk Air’s inaugural  flight, we had a Paparazzi welcome as we landed on the Air Strip in Darwin. Also received my first certificate from an Airline, as we were presented with special souvenirs to commemorate the whole event.

If you are wondering about the flight, it was comfortable with full flight facilities and we were even given champagne to remember the event!  

And the major question everyone is asking me…What is Darwin like?

Well, to all my Aussie friends, it is definitely smaller than Perth!

The city is like twice the size of Albany, and still very much a frontier town. Here’s a few photos of the streets in the City Centre.

To tell you the truth, it has been about 12 years since I stepped onto the Great South Land, and just seeing a Coles and Woolworths (Both are the local Supermarket Chains) brought back good memories  

Here’s a photo of the local Coles:

Most of the shops close at 5pm. But the restaurants and the Supermarkets close at 10pm, so the town is not completely dead at nightfall.

And in case you are wondering about accommodation, here is a look at the hotel we stayed in.

Ok….Now the million dollar question beckons…

Is Darwin worth considering as a vacation spot?

Well, we went on this trip without the kids, as we were only given 2 tickets, and after going there…we think that the kids would enjoy it as well.

This is definitely a different kind of adventure, as it is more out in the wild and not for the shopaholics who love shopping at Takashimaya.

And one of the most exciting adventures of this trip was CROCODILE FEEDING!

If you grew up in Upper Serangoon, and if you are thinking of the little Crocodile Farm near Upper Serangoon Shopping Centre, please wipe away that image from your mind.

Crocodile feeding in Darwin is one scary experience, as the Crocodiles come up REAL CLOSE to you, and you can just feel them “eye-balling” you as a quick subway sandwich. In fact, all that is missing, is the theme song from “JAWS” as we embarked on our Crocodile Adventure.

As Darwin is surrounded with Marshland, Crocodiles are very much of the environment. 

Northern Territory Tourism brought us on the “Spectacular Jumping Crocodile Cruise” for some first hand experience in Crocodile Feeding.

The boat has a upper and lower deck, where the lower deck offers more spectacular views, as you get really close to the croc,  and you can feel them breathing down your neck…

Ok….it’s time to take a look at our prehistoric friends in ACTION!

Yes! This is a close-up of my friend that accompanied me for the next 2 hours!

Check out the detail of the critter’s skin…and those teeth!

These creatures are about to 4-5 meters and they can grow up to 7 meters and 1 tonne in weight. They are so heavy that they don’t even need to bite you, but they can crush  you by their sheer weight.

I must say that these critters looked really impressive when they are eating, and they certainly are very sly and cunning when they approach their prey.

And taking their pictures can be a bit unnerving at times, as they seemed to be staring at my window! (Mind you, the windows are all the way down, and there have been incidents of Crocs jumping into boats)

And in case you were wondering, they are being fed Buffalo meat for lunch!

Besides the Crocs, we also had a trail of wild birds following the bird, and the owners gave us a chance to play with our DSLRS, as they let the birds fly down for some bread.

This whole cruise was certainly a MUST DO experience when you go to Darwin, and this is something that you definitely need to include in your itinerary when you go up to Darwin.

As the Official Blogger for the iLight Marina Bay, I managed to interview Adrian Goh, the creator of “Garden of Light”, which is a light projection on the Art Science Museum. The exhibit incorporates  a variety of light and sound effects to tell a story about environmental sustainability and highlights the beauty of the natural world.

1. Where did you get the ideas from to do this light display in Singapore?

This projection technology has been around for many years and its very
popular in Europe. In fact Singapore has adopted it for a few times in
National Day and even the Youth Olympic games opening ceremony. However,
these are not really 3D in nature. This projection this time is the biggest
3D mapping projection so far in Singapore with content creation of 3D object
and also mapping on the building structure itself. Unfortunately this
festival’s theme do not allow us to do other "very Popular" effects like
building transforming, cracking etc. Everything has to be based on
"beautiful" and "positive" content.

2. We’ve been so amazed when we saw our local icons transformed during iLight. Was it intentional to use these familiar icons?

Yes, projection on Art Science Museum always a popular icon. It was a
challenge to project onto a 3D object with duo-axis curved, the curvature
for depth of focus and brightness is 1 of the most challenging thing in
projection.

3. Which is the most challenging display that you had to put up in iLight? Why?

I believed this is the one. 16 projectors over 3 different spot, 3 different
angle, 3 different distance 60m, 160m and 280m respectively.

4. Which is your favourite display and why?

Coral Garden, a nice blend between technology and nature.

5. How is iLight different from light exhibitions in other countries?

In this festival, you sees the sustainability effort and at the same time
being able to entertain the visitors just like every other lighting festival
around the world.

—————————End of Interview——————————————

Do check out the exhibits at the Marina Bay before 1 April 2012.

Check out the Light Catcher creation workshop as they recycle everyday items into  instruments that can catch light.

Situated within the Breeze Shelter which is near the Marina Promontory, this event will appeal  to young participants, and it will last for approx 45mins ($6 per pax)

Stay tuned for more exciting events happening this weekend!

Yes! The Marina Bay area is not going to be the same for the next 3 weeks (up to 1 April 2012), as it has been transformed into a lighted magical wonderland.

And if you are wondering if there is anything to do for the kids…Well! Yes! there is!!!  

We started our journey last weekend at the Marina Promenade area (Outside Stand Chart Building and next to NTUC Building).

Besides the food stall that lined the Marina Bay, there was a FREE Light Painting booth.

Basically, the crew will give you light torches, and standing against the Marina Backdrop,the cameraman will take a picture with a shutter delay.

This will  create a picture with light streaks, which they will email to every participant at the end of the day.

As you can see, we need some practise in this!

Another must-see attraction for the kids is the “Light of Merlion”. With hidden projection units, light is projected onto the Merlion, resulting in a multi-coloured Merlion, set against the picturesque bay area.

To make the project even more interactive, there is a touch screen panel, which dictates the colours of the Merlion.

The kids had great fun, as they saw their creations come to life. As expected, Nadine who loves the colour Pink, made a totally Pink Merlion!

Stay  tuned, as I blog more about the Marina Bay area in the coming weeks. But if you going down on the weekends, you can register for guided tours or take a look  at map of the bay over here.

I guess most parents have heard of MindChamps and the good thing about them is that they have a Free trial Class, for the kids to try out the class for themselves. Basically, if you are looking for more than a tuition program, MindChamps seems to fit the bill!  

Centrally located at places like Toa Payoh and City Square, Mindchamps aims to educate kids on how to have a Champion mindset and train students on the Art of learning. The Program aims to nurture kids in having good emotional intelligence, application of learning techniques towards the school curriculum and thinking creatively when faced with problems.

It sounds like a real exciting program, and I can’t wait to see how much  Nicole has absorbed from the program…If you guys have any experience with the program, do let me know as well!

First, they brought me to iFly where I had the chance to explore the sport of body flying in the World’s largest themed wind tunnel for Indoor skydiving.

With no jumping and plunging and no aeroplanes, this sky dive experience was going to be mind blowing for me!

However, my “WOW” experience did not stop at iFLY, as Standard Chartered also gave me go “WOW”  with their new Savings program!

Yes! Singaporeans are used to a less than 1% Savings rate, with local banks like POSB and DBS offering rates, which cannot even deal with an inflation of 1%.

StanChart’s latest saving account offers a High Savings Rate of 1.88% for depositing your money in their savings account (Up to 1st $25,000).

And all you need to do is to charge a minimum of $500 to your linked credit card or debit card. This will also definitely be very easy to maintain for any family, as the amount spent can be due to your petrol, groceries or anything else that you will need to spend on.

These facts definitely made me go WOW, as it seems like a Win-Win scenario for any consumer.

Coupled with iFly, the WOW experience lingered on. Check out the bloggers as we went flying with Standard Chartered.

I thoroughly enjoyed the experience at iFly, and I even saw some kids doing it. They were totally agile and beaming all over as they came out! Hopefully, I can bring the kids there some day.

The StanChart Savings Plan is also totally rocking, and I am looking forward to opening my 1st account with them soon. Do click here for more details.

And before I go, here’s a message to my Mum!

In Singapore, we always praise our kids for being “So Smart” “So Clever”, or just simply saying “Good Job!” However, studies have shown that we should praise kids for making the effort rather than just their intelligence.

Children who don’t attempt things they won’t be successful at, may come from misguided praise. In fact, giving kids the label of “smart” does not prevent them from under-performing. It might actually be causing it!

Psychologist have found that “When we praise children for their intelligence,”  “we tell them that this is the name of the game: Look smart, don’t risk making mistakes.” And that’s what the fifth-graders had done: They’d chosen to look smart and avoid the risk of being embarrassed.

A few years ago Carol Dweck, a top psychologist, took 400 students and gave them a simple puzzle.

Afterwards, the students were given six words of praise.

Half were Praised for intelligence: "Wow, you must be really smart!"

The other half were Praised for effort: "Wow, you must be hard working!"

Dweck was testing whether these simple words could alter the students’ mindsets. The results were remarkable.

After the first test, the students were given a choice of whether to take a hard or an easy test.

Two thirds of the students praised for intelligence chose the easy task – they did not want to risk losing their "smart" label.

But 90 per cent of the effort-praised group chose the tough test – they wanted to prove how hard-working they were. Then, the experiment came full circle, giving students a chance to take a test of equal difficulty to the first.

The group praised for intelligence dropped 20 per cent compared with the first test, though it was no harder. But the effort-praised group improved by 30 per cent. Failure had actually spurred them on.

"These were some of the clearest findings I’ve seen," Dweck said.

"Praising children’s intelligence harms motivation and it harms performance."

The reason is simple: Praising intelligence nudges children towards the fixed mindset – it suggests that intelligence is of primary importance rather than the effort through which intelligence can be transformed.

This reveals a radical new approach – we should praise effort, not talent and we should teach kids to see challenges as learning opportunities rather than threats.

When parents and teachers adopt this approach, and stick to it, the results are remarkable. Kids will just keep trying and trying…till the task is complete. I would love that more than ‘so clever’ kids, don’t you?