One last (?) ride

After the grand celebrations for Founders' Day on Thursday, Friday was a rest day for everyone, i.e. no school! With our Legoland annual pass expiring on the Tuesday of the March term break when Kai would have his second day of chess NSI, Friday was our last non-weekend chance for us to use our pass.

The bus from Bukit Panjang was less crowded than our previous trips, even the one school day trip Sito and I took. The whole journey was very smooth. Left the house just past 8am and got past JB checkpoint by 9.40am - our earliest ever. Coming back was equally smooth - we left JB checkpoint just past 7pm and reach HV MRT by 8.45pm via Kranji. In fact, the bus at JB checkpoint was waiting for passengers!

We wonder why - was it due to Ramadan??

No surge pricing for our Grab ride to Legoland. Less crowd, good weather. And since the weather was good and we were hungry, we had a little brunch at Jubilee's Nanyang Coffee at Medini Mall. We were careful not to overeat - don't puke on the rollercoasters!

We ordered four sets of kaya butter toast (oooh the thick slab of butter!), two sets of half-boiled eggs, one spaghetti, one mee siam, two milo dino, one coke, one kopi and one barley. Guess who had what :p

Standard uniform for the boys :p

Took the above using my new selfie stick tripod. Didn't use the tripod function as the floor was wet from a night-morning rain. But it's still worth a mention coz I used the bluetooth remote control. I was very pleased with this new toy :)

While Sito went to the rollercoasters with Kai and Yang, I accompanied Yu on his Ninjago conquests. No queue at all just about everywhere. Only a few PRC/Korean families besides us. It was just like our early trips when Kai was still in preschool and we could go on regular days.

Top, second and fourth - all Yu!

He's so big now :)

Spent an hour racing!

It was a good break from the midday sun. And the races were fun with these fancy tracks and proper cars made from bricks of various shapes and sizes, vs. the old race room with only rectangular bricks.

Stepped out of one aircon place into the next - observation tower. Checked out the solar panels and "bushes" and the big Legoland sign. Which kid said it was like Hollywood?

And came down just nice for "Officer in Pursuit!"

Why this Yu so cool??

Went back to the Ninjago/Egyptian area to play more but we didn't let them go into the ball pit playground - that one sucks a lot of time!

Two teams this time!

Of course, Kai and Yang won. The staff directed us to the live show. Not our first or even second time but it was nice to watch. While accompanying Yang to the toilet to wash his bottle cap that he dropped, I found the popcorn kiosk open. The staff said we could bring popcorn to the show so I bought one - still warm!

Happy in front row with popcorn

Yu doesn't know why he showed his palm. Kai's gesture means ✌️ but instead of putting it behind a brother's head, he used his thumb to direct it to them instead!! Don't know what logic...

We didn't take the big train in the end as it was getting late... But must take another family shot using our tripod!

Never sick of this pose in front of the Singapore Flyer

Sito still has the 2019 version as his phone wallpaper! How they have grown...

Took a boat ride. While there was no queue, there were also very few boats. The kids got on three. There were only two others - one was just coming in to fetch another small kid for the ride while the other one was overtaken by our three boys... So Sito and I gave up waiting for a boat 🤷‍♀️ 

Candy floss bigger than their heads!

Can bury face inside, hahaha!

And so we left Legoland on a sweet note... Will we ever return? We shall see...

Bought some buns and candy at BIG before hitting the malls. Standard - foot massage + phone games, dinner at Zanmai Sushi, Ming Ang. Also checked out a mini pasar near the bridge and I ended up with a cup of cheese lekor for supper :p Also bought a new Tupperware water bottle for Yang - 750ml so that he has more water on CCA days.

That ended our excursion. No more such excursions for the boys this year as we prepare for Yang's PSLE!

Happy new year and a summary

It's 2026, woohoo!

So we slept through all the countdown and fireworks :p Old already, cannot understand crowds, cannot stay up so late. 

And on this day, I woke at 8.20 am. So happy until I realised that tmr it's 6.10 am again *.* Yes, the new school year is starting... 

Got the boys to pack their schoolbag today - nothing much coz no timetable yet. Also got them to clear their cabinets but the amount of unwanted stuff was unfortunately very little.. I have three little hoarders...

Since it's the new year (and I have leftover mashed pumpkin from making pumpkin noodles a couple of weeks ago), I made some pumpkin mochi pancakes. Eat 金瓜 to bring in the 金 and may the kids be 顶呱呱 in their studies! But Yu didn't eat any, even when we had a small plate of dipping sugar. Ah well, all the best to him? :p

Later, we'll be having hotpot for dinner. Macam LNY, haha! 

So, what was Clan Sito up to after the Beijing holiday? We spent a lot of time at home studying!

But we did have some fun here and there..

Went to Legoland on Thursday, 18 December. We had wanted to go on Wednesday but since milk delivery is always on Wednesdays, we decided to prioritise milk and go the next day. But I forgot and had ordered frozen meat to be delivered on Thursday. So I changed the delivery to Wednesday. 

Then, I received news from my milk man that the current batch of milk had an expiry date within a week of delivery. So I decided to postpone delivery to wait for the new batch. To avoid confusing my meat seller, I didn't change the meat delivery date. And of all days, my period came on Thursday. Sian... Legoland is fine but the mall toilets aren't too conducive...

The lucky thing was the weather - it was lovely! Finally no rain in the afternoon!

But of course we didn't know ahead of time. It was near lunch time when we got there but we didn't eat at Nanyang cafe as usual as we were afraid it would rain the afternoon. So we made a snack stop at BIG supermarket instead. 

There were still highlights despite having been to Legoland n times. The build-and-race area has been refurnished with a new Ferrari, new tracks and a new virtual race using real Lego builds. Yu finally rode the VR roller coaster with the headset and it was great, he said. 

Kai piggybacked Yang when he said his leg hurt, awww...

Took little dragon with him

Hard to get in, hard to get out - we're old!

The virtual race with real builds

Then we went back to the malls near the checkpoint for lunch, massage and shopping :) This time, Sito managed to nail the time for grab rides so we avoided fare hikes to and from Legoland.

Early dinner at Meng Meng

Back home, chess is a key feature. Since after his exams, Kai has been going for chess tournaments in Bishan some Tuesdays, and attended a few other tournaments. Sometimes, he met a friend or two before that to play. Once, he went to a friend's place and his friend fried noodles for him! Wa, when can my kids cook for me....?!

Mother continued to cook for us though. Went over for dinner one day, and ate too much... Brought home 15 bah zangs and all were gone in three days, thanks to the kids fighting with me for them! But I'm also glad that they like this traditional food :)

Our year-end festivities started with a 2.5kg semi bone-in ham - real ham! Sito glazed it very well and it looked and tasted wonderful! So moist unlike the ham roll we had a couple of years back. But Kai didn't like it as there were fatty bits in the real deal *.* 

Simple Xmas eve dinner

Also took a chicken fricasse recipe and added pasta instead of reducing the sauce. There were also cabbage steak, grilled pineapple slices and sausages. Too much food :p The ham alone could feed us five times! Since then, I had used some ham to stirfry with taukwa and leeks - so good and all the kids liked it. Next week, I'll make fried rice with it...

For Christmas day, we ditched KFC for Jollibee coz Yang doesn't like the 11 secret herbs and spices... Sito made the trip to Vivocity to buy the fried chicken. They were still crispy when we opened them up! The fries were still yummy too. I think really, no more KFC Christmas for us....

Xmas day breakfast at the newly opened Yakun

What's with my hand...? :p

On Boxing Day, we went cycling! But first, breakfast at Macs at Metropolis. Filled them up with a big brunch, cycled the energy out of them, fed them a good lunner at Le Shrimp. Yu took some time to familiarise himself with cycling again before we cycled to the playground. They played mostly on the swings and the flying fox. I tried the flying fox too - so hard to get down when stuck in the middle!!!

Cycling and swimming were the only two exercises the kids had this term break. With Nintendo in the afternoon, none was keen to head to the playground! 

We had wanted to go to the Queenstown swimming pool but the opening had been delayed from this quarter to the next. So we went back to Delta - sheltered pool. I kena complaints coz I forgot their goggles. But by the time they got into the water, they forgot all about it - just splashed around. They also did some form of backstroke so no goggles needed.

So cold!

The Papa boat is still going strong

Come to think of it, that was also Sito's only exercise in December. He got Flu A from Beijing and was quite sick for a few days. Then rest.... until now.... Nvm, he's lean enough and no more IPPT!

Oh, this Christmas, we had a total of three logcakes! Bought two on 5 Dec :) when we went to Jurong East - we had planned to get the Ikea log cake but also saw some at Donki so we bought two :p The chocolate crunch logcake from Ikea was frozen anyway so it ended up being eaten the last. The Donki logcake was a refreshing yuzu flavour while the middle logcake was a black forest one from Prima Deli from our journey to the east.

Would have bought a fourth one after dinner at Le Shrim but it was going to rain and we had two brollies among five of us so we ran off. We were lucky the rain was light at the BV MRT junction and Sito went without a brolly. By the time we cut through the HDB estate to the last traffic light, it was pouring! Took two trips to bring everyone over and we stayed dry, phew!

And most recently, it was our 忘年会！Third time at Makan@Jen and it didn't disappoint. But it got more crowded every year! I was glad I hit the desserts early coz by the time Sito went for it, the logcakes were gone and we had to wait for the next batch...

One hiccup - I went with a weird tummy that I, um, didn't manage to clear in the day. After half a cup of milk coffee at the end of the meal, I started feeling bad. Laosai bad. The rest waited for me in the lobby area while I went in and out of the toilet. At one point, it felt like that Vivocity episode again! I was resting in the lobby, hoping for the pain to subside so that we could quickly grab a taxi home but nope, I suddenly had to vomit. 

I think it was the original tummy ache triggered by the milk coffee. It wasn't like I ate so much until I had to vomit - I already know I'm past the age to stuff myself. So I was very sad - the yummy coconut logcake, the lovely baked fish, the perfectly roasted broccoli, and I spent time and effort queueing for and shelling the jumbo river prawns! Actually I had only three of those prawns. The only upside was that the vomit was sweet, not bitter. Ok, tmi, haha!

Yang asked if I ate chilli, coz he knew chilli upsets my tummy. But these two days, he didn't tell me to skip my morning milk coffee...

Black and blue are the colours of the day

Looking at the skaters while waiting for the bus home

The term break this time felt longer, perhaps coz we left for Beijing right after school ended so the time in SG was more continuous. I would really miss waking up late! Not very late anyway.. Only once did the kids allow me to sleep until 830 am... Else one or two or three might be on our bed at 730 am, which is the earliest I allow them to disturb us...

So, now we're almost ready for the new school year - books mostly settled including wrapping the textbooks, just waiting for others to become available, shoes mostly done, including new shoes for LNY! 

Auntie wrapping books

I used to wrap my own books after seeing Mother do it but my kids aren't bothered... I insist on wrapping Kai and Yang's books but for Yu, well, no younger sibling to give his books to so what's the point?! I decided to ask him - he wanted his books wrapped. Ah well, I asked for it.

Happy new year to us all!

A different Legoland trip

So the cars we hired to Legoland all this while were illegal!!! 😱😱😱

Never knew coz so many websites offer such a service, and our usual drivers always showed a document to ICA officers on our way back.

I was very sad when I saw the news in July, and was only somewhat comforted that this happened only after our June trip.

What other options do we have now? 

1) Pure public transport

• Take train to Jurong East
• Ride a CW bus to Tuas link
• After JB immigrations, change to CW7L for Legoland
• Walk to AirBnB
• Repeat coming back

Total cost ~ $5 + $20 + $20 + $5 = $50 two-way

Duration ~ 30min + 1.5h = 2h one way

Way cheaper but troublesome. This had always been an option but we had not considered this in our past trips coz it's just too much work to lug a suitcase, two backpacks and three kids. Just put here for comparison.

2) Cross-border taxis - the legal type

• Book local cross-border taxis to pick us up from home, drop off at Larkin in JB. I found very little info online - Strides has only four-seaters which can take five of us but not enough seatbelts! It would also be a squeeze to put Yu on my lap now...  But main thing is the seatbelts... Having experienced scary taxi drivers, I prefer seatbelts for everyone. So need two taxis.
• Get Grab six-seater to Legoland. 

Total cost ~ $80x2x2 + $30x2 = $380 two-way

Duration ~ 1h + 30min = 1h 30min one way

I explored taking a Malaysian taxi at Ban Ban St to drop us off at the AirBnB directly but (a) that would require us to lug a suitcase to town, and (b) I don't know if I can just pick a Malaysian taxi if the first taxi in line is a local one; some more, probably need two taxis...

Actually, I don't get the cross-border taxis. They are not door-to-door so need to make a local transfer for every ride. Besides the restricted pick-up/drop-off points, the key issue is the size. Four-seaters don't fully serve the needs of larger families, families with young children (I used to bring portable car seats and stroller along on top of suitcase), families with mobility challenges. 

And local transfers. I had thought Grab in Malaysia would be cheaper but ytd, it cost S$30 for us to Grab from CIQ to Legoland and similarly back due to surge pricing! In that case, it doesn't matter where we do the local transfer. 

If we take this route, would need to check the taxis at Larkin - easy to get Singapore taxis? If not, for the return trip, I'd call for Malaysian taxi to pick us up at the AirBnB, drop off at Ban Ban and cab home.

Troublesome too.

3) Partially illegal...!

I checked in with my usual driver contact. Suffice to say they're very gung-ho... He suggested that if we're concerned, we could find our way to JB ourselves and take their door-to-door home. Hmmm... Now with the news all over the place, I cannot claim ignorance hoho!

Driving is not an option for us so it looks like we can do only day trips for now.. Just that the kids prefer an extended stay, and we can't go to the water park on a day trip coz too many things to bring and lug around. 

But day trips are better than no trips, my boys!

And so that was what we did ytd - left home at 8 am, reached CIQ before 10 am, but had to get to a Grab pickup point, and the ride cost S$30 thanks to surge pricing! These cars were just nearby - our ride arrived within a minute...

Kai brought his phone to play along the way

At the playground with memories of potty accidents...

All my loved ones here :)

Made Kai sit up straight and Yu had to strain laugh 😂

On 1 September, my boys measured as follows:

• Kai: 171cm / 54.5kg
• Yang: 153cm / 44.9kg
• Yu: 135cm / 33.7kg

So Yu is a good 40cm shorter. Sometimes when they play, Kai would carry Yu or let Yu sit on him. Sweet to see but it's very scary to see a kid carry a kid precariously!

Yu finally rode the VR roller coaster!

Not a good shot as I screenshot it from a video. Yu said he pretended to be dead coz it was so scary haha!

There's a new Singapore miniland. Thought we could refresh our family shot on Sito's phone lock screen but I didn't bring my tripod stand.

Just the boys then :)

Yang took this photo - well taken, my boy!

It started drizzling during our lunch at Jubilee Nanyang Coffee. But we still managed to take a few rides. Then it suddenly started pouring while the kids were in a sheltered playground. That was our cue to go. But of course must go via Sea Life as they needed to "paint it black" - they filled the colouring room with black fish 😭

It continued to pour so the Grab ride back to the CIQ area remained high. Another S$30. We had wanted to wait it out since it was still early but when the younger boys learnt the cost and were willing to wait despite being bored, Sito decided that the lesson had been learnt and paid the school fees :p Btw, car also arrived within a minute. So many cars, still so ex.

Kai not bored coz phone

Boys were hungry enough so we went for dinner first. Yang has often been hungry these days. At lunch, he had pasta, two half boiled eggs and half portion of kaya butter toast. At dinner, he had two tamago sushi, two unagi sushi (achievement unlocked!) and six tamago maki on top of beef udon. Think he also had some karaage. Kai can always eat. So can Yu though he overdid it again and was still feeling full at lunch today!

Boy with ebi tempura ate too much - again

Did some shopping too, starting with the supermarket at Medini Mall - must always get them candy. So Sito and I got ourselves some chocolate :) Got some buns for breakfast today, and Ming Ang confectionery for our supper after the kids had their dessert at Macs.

The journey home was smooth. The kids got through the auto gates at CIQ easily. The bus to Woodlands checkpoint was surprisingly fast despite the queue extending all the way to the bottom of the escalator coming down from immigrations. This time, Sito and I didn't use QR code at Woodlands as the kids don't have individual ones. 

And unlike last time, we went for the 160/170 queues instead of the 950 queue at Woodlands - so much faster! We reached Kranji MRT in no time and took the train home. They reached home by 9 pm and I followed shortly as I did a quick grocery run - I need eggs at home to feel secure haha!

So tired. Our legs were aching after clocking 17k steps. But it was a nice trip with theme park, shopping and dining all checked. If we couldn't get door-to-door rides to Legoland, we could at least make day trips. 

But I really wish we could have the door-to-door rides again!

Hot hot Legoland

After a wet trip in March, we were rewarded with a super dry trip this time :)

But it was hot. Very hot. Too hot!

Wednesday, 11 June

Used a different car company this time, contact from JY. Car was Innova vs. the usual Starex. It was smaller but no less comfy, especially for a short trip. Best part was that it was a third cheaper plus we didn't need to get off the car to clear immigration. In fact, we tried using QR code for the first time - it was so quick! Good job, ICA!

Ride was smooth. Immigration was quick. Dropped off our suitcase and headed to Legoland!

So hot that even Kai had no objections to the observation tower

Yang and Yu took on the pumping role for the way to the rescue!

Boat cruise with brolly

Yes, my hat couldn't make it. It covered too low and I couldn't see. For this heat, my usual cap also wouldn't help. Happy to have brolly.

Sito sat with girls while his boys were playing a small game outside the city stage

Enough heat. We checked in, unpacked a little and Sito set up a console game that we bought recently just for Legoland stays! The kids played a bit before heading to AEON for dinner at our fave restaurant, Vivo Pizza!

They spotted this display

But we didn't watch the show. No time. Then last night, the Jackie Chan Karate Kid movie from over 10y ago was showing on TV so we watched it. Bought some lok lok - our first time! - and Blackball desserts after our usual massage and went back to the apartment.

They were enjoying themselves

Thursday, 12 June

Day 2 is always water park day! I just got my period, unfortunately, so I didn't get to enjoy the water on such a hot day :( Nvm, just watch the kids ba!

Silly Kai kept getting the bucket to pour water over him!

Waiting for the big bucket ~ every 15min

I hid in the shade while they spent long time in the wave pool

I was shocked to see this small one carrying this down the steps!

Coz Papa found a twin one, and Yu insisted on bringing the single one back instead of leaving it there. He looked so tiny... Later, Yang brought one up to play - he's big enough to do it safely.

The twin float

This time, we went to Paradigm Mall for rock climbing after our usual lunch at Tian Lai - yes, must eat crab :p But this time, I couldn't eat my full share of the two crabs coz I was too full! Anyway, Yang first suggested rock climbing. The brothers were also keen so we ditched AEON this time.

Awww, so sweet! Or just kidding?!

Yang was more fearful of heights so he went up to 4-5m max

Kai managed to reach the top twice - via the pink and then red trails!

Yu went up to about 6m; he couldn't get past the black part in the middle of the photo above. But good first attempt.

We had a funny ride home. I always tell them to put on seatbelts after entering a car. This trip, the driver said nvm, no one would catch us for not wearing seatbelts. Um, hello, I was more concerned about our safety than whether anyone would catch us! 

Kai didn't bother with the seatbelt at first. Then along the way, he suddenly looked for his seatbelt. Later when I told the boys that the uncle wasn't right when he thought I was concerned about being caught, and that it was because at the speed we were going (~100kmh at parts), any accident would be fatal without seatbelts, Kai said he saw the speed on the dashboard so he went for his seatbelt! Hope they all learn the importance of seatbelts..

The uncle also shot his mouth off on other things, like should find a job instead of studying, more important to earn money early. Wth?! But glad the boys weren't listening.

We all slept earlier. Too tired. Probably the sun.

Friday, 13 June

Back to Legoland. But too hot. We left for lunch at the new Nanyang Cafe, went to Sea Life to cool down, and took a few rides before we gave up and left for AEON. This Nanyang Cafe was so good! Sito had char kway teow, I had mee siam and the boys chicken bolognese.

"I'm worthy too!!" :p

Two boys were very bright :p

Watched a show to escape the heat - I like Kai's smile here :)

New flower display at mini land! Smelly Rafflesia

Sito and mf 💕 

Thanks to Yang, we have a nice shot of just the two of us :) This time, I was lazy and didn't gather us all for a family shot. Just play. Anyway, too hot to pose outside!

Top of the board!

Yu got over 300k points on Saturday but he was only third - stronger players present that day... I think I can play until fingers cramp and I still won't hit this kind of score!

Ice cream before dinner :p

Sito brought Kai and Yu to read at Popular while Yang and I sat outside. Yang had an itchy eye and was not feeling too good. We got him some eyedrops and it got better. 

Dinner was at Nando's. First time for the boys and they liked it! Yeah, one more option for us too!

This bola - doughtnut sandwich with custard filling - was yummy!

Went for massage again. Sito and I had even better therapists this time round. He's still not feeling his heels and I'm still feeling the soreness in my arches. Shiok! 

Oh, we also had a free supper at the massage place. Yu ate more siew mai than Sito *.* I didn't have anything this time though I had a nice kueh on Wednesday. Think it was in March that we first had some food before/after massage. The outlet always has them but we didn't try in the earlier years. Wasted haha! Coz quite yummy.

Blackball was on the late supper menu again. The kids said it was the last night so they stayed up late, even later than poor tired Mama!

Saturday, 14 June

Very soon, it was our last day... Like Friday, we split into two groups and I went with Yu. Yu was again the first kid at the boating school. 

Last we took this aeroplane ride was pre-COVID!

While waiting for Yu at the driving school, I thought I was experiencing what it was like to have an only child - there was time to focus on him and observe him. He drove carefully and stuck to the correct lanes. He gave way at junctions and was so pleasant the whole time :)

Sito book robotics slots for Yang and Yu. Yu and I barely made it there in time! This time, the system and sets were slightly different from March. Yu said it was easier in March. 

They had to measure number of wheel rotations etc

Cotton candy finally!

We went for a sit-down lunch at Nanyang Cafe. Sito had mee rubus and the rest of us had toast and polo bun. Yang and Yu had their wish finally - Milo dino! Next trip, we will have breakfast here :)

Fast forward to today...

We just dismantled five LEGO swords of varying sizes, breaking a few pieces here and there. Finally got the kids to agree to dismantling them by getting them actual swords from Legoland!

Posing with his sword before it was taken apart

Time to book our next trip? :)