Daddy NiVleK

DadsForLife Point, Click, Connect! Dads & Kids Contest

noreply@blogger.com (Kelvin Ang) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 23:12:00 +0000

Dads For Life Singapore has launched a cyber-wellness themed contest on their Facebook page - "Point, Click, Connect!"

There are cybergames that Dads can play with their children, and a contest to win prizes.

So do check it out!

Who knows? Maybe you can win some prizes?

One day more to our Royal Caribbean Cruise!

noreply@blogger.com (Kelvin Ang) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 11:18:00 +0000

Gosh, I am so excited! Tomorrow is the day where we will go for our cruise vacation. I will be taking TONS of photos and be quite the shutter happy geek out there. In fact, we just went out for the past few days and upgraded our stuff for the cruise trip. Well, actually not really for the cruise trip. It will be useful for us in future but the trip was kinda of a catalyst for us.

First, we upgraded the "baby backpack". The previous backpack that we bought just one month ago was kinda of an impulse buy for me. I did keep telling Hazel that we should get a bag with more compartments so that we can segregate and store Jayden's stuff properly. In the end, just because we saw a bag by Tagger that features removable/changable front panels, I ate my own words and got that bag. It has always been a regret for me. By fate, we were shopping yesterday at Nike for some new sneakers and I chanced upon another bag and it fits what I always wanted to get as a baby backpack.

Tada! This will be our foreseeable bag for the near future. It also has a internal compartment that can hold up to 15" laptop. Perfect for me to bring along either my Macbook Air 11" or the iPad.

And then, being the crazy photographer I am, we spotted another bag by Crumpler and I think it looks really nice and cool.

Needless to say, I bought the bag. This is a limited edition six million dollar home by Crumpler. I love the design. I have two five million dollar home and they have been my companion for quite some time. However, the five million dollar home can only hold my Canon 60D with 17-55 attached and another lens or flash. But with the six million dollar home, I can carry my 60D with 17-55 attached, a flash, a 10-22 lens and a 18-200 lens. Woah. It will be my first time since years that I am carrying such a big camera bag.

And since we were at Vivocity, I thought we could get a glimpse of "The legend of the seas" cruise vessel that we will be boarding tomorrow. But no luck.

We only managed to see Star Cruise Virgo which has left when I took the photo and this Crystal Serenity. No sign of our cruise ship.

But it is ok! We will be seeing it and on board it for the next five days!

Stay tuned for our experiences and photos on board the Royal Caribbean, Legend of the Seas when we return.

Ciaoz!~

Mealtimes Outside with Baby Jayden

noreply@blogger.com (Kelvin Ang) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 01:52:00 +0000

Mealtimes with Jayden has always been quite stressful for us. It is ok when he is at home since there is no one around. But we cannot be feeding him all this meals at home! We need to go out have fun and we do not have a maid to help us. Jayden is not your typical snack crazy baby or a baby that sits there nice and quiet for you to feed him. Whenever we see another couple with a baby at the same age as ours and sitting there nice and eating his food, we stare with envy. He always needs something to keep him entertained during meal times. And when we are outside, we will look for alternative items to keep him entertained. For example….

A wet tissue, either one that we have or those that they provide in the restaurants (At Desaru)

A snack biscuit that he could take and sit there eating happily. Provided he does not throw the biscuit on the floor. Oh, that he does most of the time. Especially these long biscuits. (At Sushi Tei)

Now we prefer to feed him smaller snacks. Those that he can just pop into his mouth to prevent him from throwing the reminder on the floor. (At Din Tai Fung Marina Bay Link Mall)

His water bottle that can entertain him for like…..30 seconds? (At Marina Square Thai Restaurant)

Wet tissue cover? Hmmm this one kept him happy for like 25 seconds. (At Sushi Tei Vivocity)

Same. Wet tissue cover. Haha. Oh, he was quite happy with this particular cover. (At Bukit Timah Frog Porridge)

Or bitting the table? Ok. We stopped him after I took the shot. So this was like for 5 seconds? (At Barcelons Vivocity)

This one works pretty well. Getting the staff to bring us a kids bowl and spoon. And he can pretty much play with it for quite some time when Hazel feeds him. (At Paragon Ramen Place)

When all else fails, we whipped out the ultimate weapon, the iPad! Ok. We used the iPad outside like only once. Most of the time, videos on our iPhones work the best in keep his attention and voice down in restaurants. (At Nandos Katong Mall)

Having said that, Jayden can be a very very sweet and cute boy when we feed him.

He likes to share food with us and has no problem feeding us whenever we ask him to share his snacks.

He does silly smiles like this. We were spinning the fork on the table and he went laughing happily. (At Kenny Rogers Novena Velocity)

Cheekily giving us smiles. (At Sushi Tei)

And going shy over me insisting on taking his photographs.

And here he comes.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……..

Ok. No more photos.

And oh, one last thing.

There was a time when his hair was pretty long and thick. He was rather annoyed by it and the hot weather didn't help. And so, this happened. ^_^

Be sure to check out more photos. I have uploaded much more into our Facebook Page.

Booked our Shore Excursions!

noreply@blogger.com (Kelvin Ang) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:35:00 +0000

I still think the way Royal Caribbean handles the booking of the entire cruise is excellent. Everything can be done online and if you have problems, just drop a email to their customer service and they will reply promptly. And with all cruises, you will get the chance to disembark to the shore for some excursions.

With the help on some online searches and posts from local bloggers that were lucky to have gone for the OMY Royal Caribbean trip, we managed to book and decide on our shore excursions before the cruise trip starts.

So for our KL destination, we chose the "Batu Caves and City Experience". It cost SGD $114.75 per adult and children above 2 cost SGD$76.25. We were interested in the Batu caves part and for me, I have never been to this place where I have heard like a thousand times. The only problem is the 272 steps that is needed to be climbed to reach the top. With Jayden, this is no easy feat. (And hence, the decision to invest in a backpack type of baby carrier) I did check out Darren's post on his adventure and it helped us a lot. I will take note of the monkeys!

And for our Phuket destination, we chose the "Elephant Riding Adventure". It cost SGD$63.25 per adult and SGD$45.25 for children. I am really excited to see Jayden's reaction to seeing an elephant up close and personal. Check out Eunice post on her elephant trip.

Daddy NiVleK's Tips:

Do your online check in early. You can do the online check it and has to be completed 3 days before the departure. This will save you the hassle of having to do all the nitty gritty paper work when you are at the cruise center. You will need to fill up your credit card details for easier charging of expenses occurred on board.

Print your set sail pass. Choose your boarding time. We decided to head there early and enjoy our time on board first before the ship leaves Singapore waters. We will board at approximately 1130hrs. You can choose to board anytime but it has to be no later than 2 hours prior to sail away time.

We will bring along a small bag with necessities for the day so that we will not need to wait for our luggage to reach the cabin before we start to enjoy the cruise! And I guess the first place we will head to will be FOOD!

I am bringing along my Macbook Air and lets hope that there is internet connection and time for me to do some posts onboard. Else, my MBA will be a backup for my photograph storage and also to jot down interesting experiences before I miss them out! Getting old la!

I am getting more and more excited about the trip!

Baby Carrier - Manduca

noreply@blogger.com (Kelvin Ang) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 05:06:00 +0000

We need to get a new baby carrier for our upcoming cruise trip. We are not really fans of bringing a stroller up to any overseas trip but I guess that will have to happen soon. While we are still searching for a new lightweight umbrella type folding stroller, we have found our new baby carrier, versatile in carrying in front, side or back positions. The Manduca Baby Carrier. More on it later. We have the Baby Bjorn baby carrier, (Babybjorn Baby Carrier Synergy) which will hold a baby that weights up to 12kg. Baby Bjorn served us quite well though it was rather underused and we know why. The Baby Bjorn series is rather bulky to bring around and also quite complicated to use. I also did not use the baby bjorn at all to bring Jayden out because that will mean that I have to adjust the already adjusted straps and it will be really troublesome to adjust it again for Hazel. And one more thing, we didn't realize that there are actually carriers that can use in the piggy back style!

And so, we went in search of a new baby carrier. Jayden is almost 12kg and he is oversized for the baby bjorn carrier. We need another one and now, we want one that is more compact, and able to carry him in a variety of positions. And I did a search on the net and saw this shop - Baby Sling & Carriers. They have quite the number and variety of slings and carriers and so, I checked out their range of carriers on the net and shortlisted two carriers - The Boba Baby Carrier and the Manduca Baby Carrier. And if you have a 1 year old baby capable of walking around, you will know that there are times you just want him to be securely carried or fastened in a stroller. Some places are just not suitable for him to be freely roaming around. And carrying a baby for extended long periods of time on your arms is just OMG tiring and back/arm breaking.

In essence, both the Boba baby Carrier and the Manduca Baby Carrier is similar. They are both utilizing a similar shape in a backpack style but the Boba carrier is only for babies above 1 yrs old unless you get the 3G version. The other difference is that the Manduca Baby Carrier offers a deeper pocket and an extendable back panel that can be unzipped as your child grows bigger. Both have the almost similar hip belt design and size that will not obstruct the wearer from sitting down comfortably. And then comes the major difference. Price. Boba baby carrier retails for $189.90 while the Mancuda Baby Carrier retails for $249.90. A $60 difference. And as I said, we chose the Manduca Baby Carrier in the end.

Why?

First of all, we or rather I wanted to get one more versatile baby carrier. I kinda like the extendable back panel feature of the Manduca Baby Carrier. Manduca Baby Carrier claims that you can use it in a variety of ways, including side carrying. While we might not carry Jayden this way, who knows for our second one that we are planning? Secondly, I like the fact that when I tried the Manduca and Boba with Jayden sitting inside, the Manduca feels better. I also think the Jayden sits better in the Manduca than in the Boba. Most importantly, I like the texture and the feel of the Manduca Baby Carrier more. Interestingly, @PruneNuture was also recommending me the Manduca carrier! $60 more is ok I guess.

I should also mention that the staff at Baby Slings and Carriers are a nice bunch. They look like a husband and wife tag team and they were very helpful in answering our questions and helping both Hazel and myself to try on the carriers at different positions. Kudos to them. Excellent service.

And red was the color we choose. Nice eh? I really like the ability to just roll it up and tuck it inside a bag or somewhere. Something I cannot do with the Baby Bjorn Baby Carrier.

Simple box packaging and design. By the way, Manduca Baby Carrier won the Singapore Mother and Baby Award 2011 for Best Baby and Toddler Carrier.

Jayden saw me taking photographs of the box and he cheekily snatch it away and ran out of the room. Caught up with him and you see his expression. LOL. Priceless.

Told him to stand properly and pose for me to take a nice photo. And he did! WOW. GOOD BOY!

With this new gadget, it will follow us to our Royal Caribbean Cruise and more! Hope it serves us well for the trips ahead of us!

Stay Tuned for more photos and experience in using the Manduca Baby Carrier.

I strongly recommend going over to Baby Slings and Carrier shop if you like to check out more stuff.

They are at Square 2, #01-56/57, 10 Sinaran Drive, Singapore 307506. Business hours are 12 pm to 8pm Monday to Saturday, 12pm to 6pm on Sunday (except New Year's day & Chinese New Year).

PS: This is not a sponsored post by any companies mentioned above.

Some changes and challenges ahead

noreply@blogger.com (Kelvin Ang) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 04:18:00 +0000

My lovely wifey has recently just handed in her resignation to the company she has been in for the last five years. She will be moving to another job in a few weeks time. Five years, wow. She was also surprised that she stayed so long in her current position.

Well, with this there are changes to is bound to happen. We previously worked very close in proximity to each other. She will send Jayden to the infant-care center (just across the road) while I walk to the car and drive over to pick her up once she has settled Jayden inside. It is also great for us since Jayden is usually very happy to go to the school unlike one of his friends inside who will scream out her lungs every morning. Seperation anxiety. Then I will zoom to her workplace and then zip back to my own workplace. It is kinda rush since we both start work at 0730hrs and the infant care center only opens at 0700hrs. 30 minutes is just barely making it and a very tight squeeze for me to make it on time to my own workplace.

Her new company is even further than the current one. And I will not be able to send her to work as I used to. Hazel will still send our darling son to the infant care but it looks like I will most likely be the parent that picks him up from the infant care center. This and other responsibilities that has worked for us ever since Jayden's birth will now change.

But I believe and I have also been strongly advising her that this change will be the better for her. Her new job will most definitely provide much more exposure and good experience. Maybe it will get a little tough on both of us, trying to juggle the timing part of rushing to pick him, feed him, etc. But hey, that is what being a parent will require you to do. Juggling things around and still making things work. And for that I have always admired my wife. You know what? As a gadget and technology crazed guy, I think I am quite ashamed to say that I dunno how my washing machine works. Really. I have never used it without her help. I think I maybe able to use it but nah, I am not messing it up. LOL

Hazel has been supporting the family and helping in the everyday things, cooking, feeding, washing, packing Jayden's school bag, etc. I think she is a supermom. And even more so now as I struggle to write my thesis and rush for submission, she tries to give me more alone time to concentrate on my work. (For the record, writing a blog post is MUCH more easier and relaxing than cracking my head to write one paragraph in my thesis paper. I procrastinate too much when it comes to writing my thesis.)

The next coming months will be a real challenge but we will still enjoy the times together happily. We have already planned for the zoo trip, bird park trip and disney on ice! And once I have finished with my thesis, perhaps it is time to consider a second one? Hmmmm..

Here's me signing off, wishing her all the best ahead for her new job! Stay strong and happy!

"V"ictory to you to my love.

Travelling with Baby Jayden - Our Checklist

noreply@blogger.com (Kelvin Ang) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:36:00 +0000

Countdown to our Royal Caribbean Cruise trip - 10 days more to go. It is getting close and boy, we have not really started packing. Unlike the Desaru trip that we went not long ago, this trip is much longer, lasting for 5 days and 4 nights. You can check out our Desaru trip posts here. There are more things to prepare for and there is a big game changer - Jayden is much more mobile now. Fortunately for us, this coming trip is a cruise where we will have the luxury of our cabin available to us most of the time and I will not be stressed over thinking of settling him in a plane. I am not too sure about you guys, but for us, we like to do things slow and steady, not rushing into air travel immediately. :)

Since we are also doing up our checklist for what to bring for this cruise trip, let me share with you on our list.

First things first, safety first.

1) Emergency / First Aid Kit

Ibruprofen / Paracetamol for baby. The former in case of high fever above 38.5 degress celcius and the latter for low grade fevers. If you need to bring just one medicine, this is the one I will bring.
Digital Thermometer. I think nothing causes more worry than not being able to ascertain whether your baby is really having a fever or how high is his fever. A little bulky, but important.
Insect repellent - We bought one and there is still one more capsule for the second use.
Other medicine that your baby is prone to falling sick to.
Normal plasters for small cuts or bites
Remember his allergies, if any to certain medications

2) Sun Screen - Baby skin is delicate and if your trip like ours has quite a substantial outdoor time, bring along a good lotion for the sun and UV protection, at least a SPF 20 protection with UVA and UVB.

3) Food and snacks

Tons of milk powder. OK. We are a little kiasu here but Jayden is quite picky on what he eats and the only way to continue getting nutrients to him if he insist on refusing food is formula milk powder.
Milk bottles x 2 for feeding. One for standby.
Milk dispenser. Small containers that you scoop the correct amount into.
Thermo flask. It might be difficult to get clean hot water outside. Just fill up your themoflask before you leave the cabin/hotel room
Water bottle. Important to prevent him from being dehydrated!
Spoon, fork and bowl - You never know when you will need it
Bib for feeding times. It always get messy - especially if I am the one feeding. ^_^
Baby snacks, biscuits, etc. Bring a variety of them to keep him entertained or not too grouchy.

4) Travel gear

Baby Carrier - We are in search for a new carrier. The baby bjorn carrier is good but only for front carrying and up to 12kg. Jayden is steadily increasing his weight and is almost 12 kg now. A piggy back type of backpack carrier will be more suitable for us. Also, we are climbing up many steps in our travel itinerary, so carrying him constantly on our arms will most probably lead to a VERY VERY sore arm. More on this when I get our new carrier.
Strollers/Push Chairs - For us, we decided not to bring one on this trip but we are still constantly on the look out for another stroller that is more lightweight and compact when collasped. Perhaps you have some suggestions for us?
Backpack - We will bring along a backpack to carry all the essential baby items required, like milk and diapers.
Resealable plastic bags or disposable plastic bags. You never know when some accident might happen and his poo/pee leaks out. So you need a bag to contain the soiled clothes. A disposable plastic bag is good to have to keep soiled diapers after changing since not everywhere has a rubbish bin within reach.
Changing mat - Good to have for placing your baby on to do his diaper changes. Especially when you are not changing his soiled diapers in a proper baby/parent room with nice cushions

5) Comfort & Entertainment

Toys and more toys. Keep him entertained. We are going to buy more toys before we go for the cruise. And keep it and not let him have the new toys until you travel. This way will probably keep him more interested and entertained with the toy.
For us, we will load up our iPhone with Songs and Baby TV Videos. This is always our last resort to use when all esle fails to pacifiy him. Need an app recommendation? Try GoodPlayer for iOS devices.
Diapers, and enough of them. We "budget" for about 5 pieces per day and it should be plenty to go for.
Diaper cream, obviously you do not want a diaper rash to break out during the trip ya?
Swimming costume/swim diapers - Pack them along. Some playtime with water is always fun!
Tissues and wet tissues. A must have to clean him up or any other mess that might occur.
Clothes appropriate for the place you are going. Not too warm for hot places and not too light for cold places.
Shower foam and shampoo. Your baby skin is delicate and we will bring along our Johnson & Johnson milk cream shower cream and then the "no tears" shampoo for Jayden. Best thing is adults can also use this shower foam!

And oh, we still have not bought a new hard case luggage for the trip! Time's running out!

Valentine’s Day Lunch @ JAAN

noreply@blogger.com (Kelvin Ang) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:35:00 +0000

How did you guys spend your valentine’s day? I guess most people are doing dinners rather than lunches. But for us, a good peaceful lunch is the only way. We both agreed that we should not bee going to nice restaurants with Jayden in tow at night. We really do not want to disturb the romantic setting with his sudden loud talking or screaming. We are still working out on places to let Jayden stay temporarily for a couple of hours if we both need to be somewhere alone at night.

And so, both of us took half a day off from work and went to the Swissotel’s JAAN restaurant for a nice lunch. There are other more common places on my mind but I thought, “hey why not? Let’s just try some place that we have both never heard before.”

JAAN is located at the 70th level of Swissotel and the view there is quite stunning. I did not take a picture of the interior but it is actually not a very big restaurant. To call it classy and personal will be quite right. The servers inside there are well versed in the dishes that they serve, explained in great detail. And they are definitely not locals with caucasians making more than half of the staff I saw that day. Both of us went for the 5 course set lunch at $82. By the way, we later saw that the valentine's day dinner is price at $699 per couple.

The first dish was a complimentary starter from the chef. Not sure what they call this but boy, it was nice. I love the sphere shape stuff that you see. That is just so delightful.

And then came something else also not in the 5 course set lunch that we order. A wild mushroom soup. It was unlike any other mushroom soup that I ever tried. FANTASTIC.

HAND-DIVED SCALLOP & AVOCADO "MILLEFEUILLE"

And while eating the nice beautifully presented dishes, you get to enjoy more of the breathtaking view. Isn't that great?

55' SMOKED ORGANIC EGG.

I just want to say. I have never tasted an egg this good.

CONFIT ARTIC CHAR & SHELLFISH

IBERIAN BLACK PORK

Another complimentary dessert. A mango sorbet of sorts. Delicious.

Unfortunately, we were quite underdressed here in this "fine dining" restaurant. Both of us were in just jeans and a casual top. I kinda got a shock when I entered the restaurant full of people in a minimal of pants and dress shirts plus tie. Oops.

After fighting my own "paiseh"ness, I decided to just stand up and walk nearer to the glass windows to take some more shots.

VICTORIA PINEAPPLE

And when I thought that was the last dish, another complimentary after dessert sweets came up to our table.

Coupled with the double espresso I had, this was the perfect ending to a wonderful lunch.

We both loved the food, ambience and the service provided to us (even though we are not dressed "properly") and you bet we will be back here for the dinner set. Certainly one of the best restaurants that I have been to so far.

__________________________________________________________________________________

And if you have been following my posts, check out my iPhone Photography Post.

The following photos below are taken on the iPhone, edited using the apps I mentioned in the link stated above and uploaded into my Instagram feed. So food photography with the iPhone camera! Enjoy!

Glamabox Giveaway - Valentine's Special

noreply@blogger.com (Kelvin Ang) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 07:02:00 +0000

Advertorial & Giveaway

Not sure what to give your loved one for Valentine’s Day? Perhaps you would like to check out an innovative gift for your wife or girlfriend.

At merely SGD$18 monthly, Singapore men may now gift their beloved partners a Glamabox (filled with 5 pieces of skincare or beauty products and services from luxurious and reputable brands), all personally-scouted and carefully selected by renowned-model and TV host Lisa S. (Daniel Wu’s wife) from around the world, delivered monthly to their doorsteps, so they may experience the best first-hand.

With the flood of skincare and beauty products on the market, it takes a super woman to review them all or even compare reviews others have written. At Glamabox, all products have been tried and tested by Lisa S. and Glamabox team so that each box contains only the best products, customized according to preferences and skin types. Every month, your Valentine will receive at least 5 sample sized beauty products chosen just for her, and trust us when we say a girl can never have too much! She will love you for helping her save both time and money on things she adores!

And I have received a Glamabox compliments from the team as another gift for my wife!

The Glamabox comes in a very nice pinkish box with flora decorations. Very stylish indeed!

And in it, beautifully wrapped are the products.

I am no expert in beauty products but from my amateur point of view, the products inside are definitely worth more than $18! (There is actually a pamphlet inside that will describe the products and state the market price) And from what I see from this box, it covers from the face, lips, hair, body, etc!

Make sure you pamper your loved one this Valentine’s Day with a subscription to Glamabox – bring a smile to her face every month of the year! Glamabox sells for $18 per month, or get one month free when you sign up for 12 months.

3 easy steps to purchasing a Glamabox subscription for her:

Step 1: Visit www.glamabox.com, click “Get Started Now”, and register for an account
Step 2: Subscribe Glamabox and choose "Gift Option". Enter your billing details, recipient’s email address and gift message
Step 3: She will receive a Glamabox gift email with a link for her to activate her account and fill in her own beauty profile. She is now ready to receive her first Glamabox the following month!

But wait, if you are still reading this and interested to get one for yourself (mummies here) and your wife/girlfriend, read more below!
Glamabox has generously provided 2 Glamabox as giveaways for our readers here.

Here is what you need to do to win one for yourself!

Comment on this blog and tell us why you like Glamabox.
Join the Daddy NiVleK Facebook page (Like us!) Scroll to the top right hand side and there is a link to the Facebook page.
Share this page on your Facebook Wall to tell your friends!

Contest ends on 13 February 2012 2359hrs.

Winners will be selected by an Internet Random Generator.

Changi Broadwalk - Enjoy the coastal walk

noreply@blogger.com (Kelvin Ang) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:30:00 +0000

We have reattempted to walk the Changi Broadwalk and succeeded! Yay! If you have been following us, we attempted to walk on the 1st January 2012 and did not managed to do it. The sky was pouring!

Well, for this time around, we completed the entire walk. This walk was actually quite impromptu. We just finished visiting one of my friends place and it was still rather early. Since we are already in the east, why not go for a walk?

We started from Changi Point Coastal Walk at the Changi Point Ferry Terminal and walked all the way to Creek Walk, Beach Walk, Sailing Point Walk, Cliff Walk, Kelong Walk and Sunset walk and then all the way back.

This entire walk for one direction is about 2.6km starting from Changi Village to the end near Changi Beach Club. For the record, we took about 2 hours to walk the entire 5Km route.

It was quite a nice day for a slow, leisurely stroll with our little family. The skies were blue and cool wind were messing up our hair!

Taken on my iPhone 4S and stitch by Pano app. Click for high res version.

Jayden was exceptionally adorable and curious that day. He was having fun checking out the vast blue skies and the sea.

Changi Coastal Walk has nice and wide footpaths for its visitors.

The most common thing that you see people doing here is fishing. You will see eager anglers almost every 50m along the entire route.

And of course, nice scenery along the way.

We had to stop by some place to take photos. Yups, we were in "family" theme of turquoise blue that day!

There were actually lots of signs for no swimming but you still see people going into the water, seemingly catching or collecting stuff.

Guess this is the reason why it is NOT recommended to go for a dip in this beach. Rubbish and tons of it. I see broken bottles too!

We are already at beach walk!

Took a breather somewhere. Nope, they are not tired. Very happy instead! I love this shot.

Reaching Sailing Point Walk! Thats pretty fast!

And you will start to see many sail boats.

Click for larger image. Taken on an iPhone 4S.

We went up close and personal with some of them.

And the "biggest" problem for that day. STEPS!!! And we have a stroller!

More steps in Cliff Walk.

I picked up and carried the pram up the short flight of stairs while Hazel carried Jayden up with his water bottle. She told Jayden to hug the bottle and he literally HUGGED the bottle. SO CUTE~

We have reached my favorite part of the walk. The Kelong Walk!

And our darling son was let loose. Haha. He loved it!

This place is actually a childhood place for me. Quite a fair bit of my childhood was spent here. It looks much different now but still oddly feels the same.

The wind was really blowing!!

Can you see that he is having lots of fun??

I am curious to know what was he thinking during this time....

And on the way to the last stretch towards the aptly named, sunset walk.

And the end of the walk!

One last thing, if you see this rock and find it familiar, you should be.

This is a popular spot for local Singapore wedding photographers to take outdoor wedding photography shots. The trend of using this has been going down but there are still many who loves this. We did see a couple that day in casual wear with two photographers in tow.

Check out the rest of the photos here at my new Facebook page. Like my page today! ^_^

Daddy NiVleK's Tips:

Start the walk at around 1630hrs to 1700hrs if you want to catch the sunset or at least a glimpse of it. (Depend on your speed)
Park at the open space carpark near Changi Point Ferry Terminal
As with all outdoor activities, wear proper footwear!
Check out the URA Guide here
If possible, try not to bring your stroller. Else, prepare to carry them up the small flight of stairs at Cliff Walk.
Bring along ample water. We did not find any stalls along the way that sell drinks.
Go for your toilet break before the walk
Bring a camera and snap snap snap~

Sleeping with your child

noreply@blogger.com (Kelvin Ang) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:38:00 +0000

Do you co-sleep with your kid? Or actually, you had no choice? Well, Jayden has been sleeping on his own for a good few months until recently, he found the joy of sleeping with his mummy and daddy.And now, it is not possible to put him in his bed for him to sleep along in his room. He insists on sleeping with us! And then this happened. I was surfing around, saw this image and made me laugh. It is actually quite true. So for you guys out that that sleep with your kids, you will find this very very very familiar.

This is the position when your baby sleeps first on the bed. He is cranky and you just want to let him continue sleeping. Cos in the event that he wakes up when you shift him, you will not be able to sleep early again.

How about this? The neck scarf for the cold parents. For us, Jayden prefers to curl around on Hazel's neck instead. Actually, he prefers to put his butt right on our faces.

Haha. This appears to me quite often! Since I normally sleep later as I am rushing up my thesis, Hazel and Jayden sleeps first and most of the time, Jayden booby traps me. And I had to carefully shift him. And on his slightest movement while shifting him, I stop and hide. And resume. Just like guilty thief. LOL

THE STALKER! Hazel claims that Jayden seldom do this. But he does! Sometimes, he will just suddenly sit up in the middle of the night, start pointing his fingers around and mumbling. Or when we cannot get him to sleep, we will start pretending to sleep and he will sit there, looking at us and disturbing us.

Ahh, one of his favorite. Tickling us. Jayden does this two ways. He loves to pull up my elastic band of my shorts/underwear and then let it snap back. -_- He thinks it is fun. We think that he always keep tickling us when sleeping is just to make sure that we are still around. Smart boy.

This is one of Jayden's favorite too. Giving us a head or a headbutt. And it hurts like hell. I sometimes sleep with a soft toy over my head to protect against his powerful attacks. True story.

This is his NUMBER ONE favorite position. Sleeping across the bed. And that is not all, he will use either me or Hazel's body as his pillow!!

We discussed and agreed that this is not working and really causing us the precious sleep time that we have. It is worse for Hazel since Jayden prefers to disturb her and Hazel is a light sleeper. Thus, we decided to convert his baby cot to a bed and attempt to change his habit of sleeping with us.

Here's his pram already converted to a very low bed. Suitable for babies that just started walking. But this is not the actual configuration...it should look like this.....

We got our spare mattress and placed it near his bed. At the moment, Hazel is sleeping with him and in room. We think that it will be easier to do a slow steady transition. Hazel will probably have to sleep there for a week and then she will slowly move out of his room, leaving him by himself!

Let's hope this works!!

Daddy Nivlek's Note:

I got the images/illustrations from two places. They were not from me. Here and here. Not sure who is the correct original owner. But do check them out.

My top 10 iPhone Photography Apps

noreply@blogger.com (Kelvin Ang) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:26:00 +0000

I just read this article from DadsForLife and thought that why not I do a blog post on this too? After all, I have been extensively using my cameras including my iPhone 4S for photographing everything in my life.

My day out with my little family normally includes a Canon 60D with attached EFS 17-55 F2.8 lens and a external 430EXII flash or a EF 28mm F1.8 lens. With that, I will also normally carry another Canon S95 with me just in case I might need it. And of course, the trusty little iPhone 4S. The best thing about the iPhone 4S is that it is a mobile computer that follows you everywhere and you can edit your photos right on the iPhone itself, upload it on realtime to many social networking sites and share with friends. No more waiting to get a computer to edit the photos and then upload it. Furthermore, with GPS activated, you can even geotag your photos! My wife can attest to the fact that I am juggling with cameras everytime I see something nice. I might shoot it with my DSLR and then shoot it again on my iPhone for instant uploading.

Although the camera on the iPhone 4S is arguably the best camera available on a phone, it does not hurt to edit and enhance the beautiful images with the thousands of apps available on the Apple App Store. So for you guys out there, here is my list of my top 10 iPhone photography apps. For each app, I will show a screenshot of the app in action and then followed by the image produced by that app. No other photoshop done on the desktop other than watermarking the photos.

10. Hipstamatic - US$1.99

Hipstamatic interface.

This is one of my favorite favorite apps of all time (until I discover another one which you will see). It features many different options like choosing a flash type, different films and different lens to choose from. You will snap your photo from the little "viewfinder" box that is shown on the display and the effects of your chosen kit will be shown immediately. One thing to note is that you will only get the base model when you purchase the apps, the developer has included MUCH more lens etc but you will have to purchase additional hipstapaks, each costing US$0.99. By the way, this was one of the first app that got me interested in using my iPhone for photography.

Took using Jimmy lens and Kodot XGrizzled film with flash off.

9. ColorSplash - US$0.99

Zooming in by pinching to get the edges correctly masked

Want to highlight/colorize a certain area on your photo and keep the rest desaturated? Colorsplash is my recommendation to you. You will be able to pinch and zoom in to get almost pixel perfect masking and then getting that part colorized. There is also a few brushes available to choose from to get a better control on the area required.

The final result with only the orange colorized!

8. ToonPaint - US$1.99

Customizing the line sizes and shading amount

Have you always wanted to get yourself a self portrait sketch? You know by either sitting down somewhere in Bugis street and getting a street artist to draw one for you? I always wanted to do that but I just can't make myself sit there and be the subject of other people photographing me! But with this app, you have an instant sketcher in your phone. My twitter profile photo is made using this app! Similarly, more options are unlocked after purchasing add on packs like ToonColor (US$0.99) for a color sketch instead of a black and white sketch.

My Twitter display picture is done using this app

7. CameraArtFX - US$0.99

Live preview of the camera with effects shown

This app is a little similar to ToonPaint. But it is more interesting in that it offers live view of the preview image of the subject you are photographing. It also have more options than ToonPaint and offers options like cartoon, watercolor, etc. Apart from that you can also load your saved images from your phone and apply the effects into the photo.

Took a shot of my Pluto Nanoblock

6. PhotoForge2 - US$2.99 SALE NOW

One of the most advanced photo editing app out there

Forget about the free Adobe Photoshop Express. PhotoForge2 is the app that offers almost desktop like photoshop editing features. It is also the only app that I have mentioned here that features layers support. Now you can blend layers, adjust the opacity and do masking. It is the most comprehensive app that has features like unsharp mask, shadows/highlights, curves, channel mixer, noise reduction and more. With its included effects filter like dreamy, embross, etc, you can do tons here. Add in another US$1.99 for the Pop! Cam and you get tons of additional filters. This addon works similarly to the Hipstamatic app that I have mentioned earlier.

Did this with dreamy filter + vignetting

5. Pano - US$1.99 SALE NOW

Check out the translucent guide on the left. You match it around the same area and continue to snap the next shot. Easy!

Ever feel that the iPhone camera is not wide enough? No problem. Get a panorama app and my choice is the Pano app. It is quite simple to stitch those photos up to create that wonderful panoramic image. It has a simple semi transparent guide to help in lining up the next shot. Also, you can save high resolution image of your panorama direct into your camera roll. Having said that, it has been quite some time since I have taken one panorama shot. Guess I need to fire up this app more often!

Full resolution stitched photo within seconds!

4. Nostalgio - US$0.99

A very simple app for photo collages

Want to create nice looking photo collages? Try Nostalgio. You can choose from a variety of templates, load different images into each frame, rotate, move, spin them or use the camera and take on the spot photos to fill up those frames.Whenever I think that seperate images might be too much, I use this app to combine several photos into one nice photo.

Various templates to choose from!!

3. Snapseed - US$4.99

This app has enough features for the casual user

If you think that PhotoForge2 is a little too complex for you, Snapseed is a another good app. It is also feature packed but perhaps a little less intimidating for casual users that just want to tweak their photos but maintain a certain level of control over it. Like all other apps, it also has a filter feature that applies effects like grunge, drama, vintage etc. One interesting feature is the tilt shift function where you have control to make the photo look like minatures walking in it! Snapseed is the third most used photo editing app that I commonly use for editing my photos.

Note that the photo was taken using my Canon 60D DSLR but fully edited on the iPhone 4S with SnapSeed.

2. Camera+ - US$1.99

My favorite camera and photography app EVER!

It is tough to place Camera+ in the second spot as Camera+ is my number one photography editing app. I am using it to edit most of the photos that I take on the iPhone. I also do use it for taking photos over the default camera app since it has features like "stabilizers" which lets you choose the sharpest photo, "continuous LED flash" for the LED light to be on continuously and not just a flash. The other unique feature is the touch exposure and focus where you touch to focus and then the second finger to expose it correctly.

That is not all. The dozens of filter effects are amazing and does the job just right. I bought the additional I ♥ Analog FX pack for US$0.99 almost immediately after trying out the app. The effects are simple to apply and just require one touch. The only other option is to choose the intensity of the effect. It is great when you want to enhance the photo and want to do it quick.

I did this with a simple clarity filter + cropping to 1:1.

1. Instagram - FREE!

Instagram! It also has quite a number of useful filters!

Instagram is the reason why Camera+ has to move down to number two. Instagram is a social networking app that users post their photos in a square 1:1 format to over 15 million users. There are tons of good photographers uploading their photos daily. And their photos are seriously good! Not only that most of the users that just use their iPhone for the photos that you see in the app and it is pretty amazing what the little phone can do. It drives you and motivates you to take better pictures and also "teaches" you on different method of photography on the iPhone and editing.

One of my earlier works edited purely using Instagram.

Other than being a social app, it has a built in filters effect and border designs for users that just want to have a simple effect applied on their photo. My favorite feature is the linear and radial focus/blur feature where you can create a nice effect and get viewers to focus on certain areas.

Singapore has quite a number of active users in it too and they call it the SGIG. I have not been able to join in their gatherings and events due to my other commitments but I will definitely make a trip down to chat with those wonderful people behind some of the most awesome photography, be it street photography, kids photography, food photography or toy photography. In fact, it is anything under the sun.

So there you go, my top 10 apps for photography.

Do share with me on what is your favorite photography app/s.

One last thing.... if you are on Instagram, say hi to me @nivleksg. If you are still not on Instagram, give it a shot!

A date with the wife for CNY

noreply@blogger.com (Kelvin Ang) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:42:00 +0000

(All photos taken using iPhone 4S and edited on iPhone. I only applied watermark on my Mac)

Two days for Chinese New Year isn't enough for us! We need at least three! And we have not caught any Chinese New Year movie (贺岁片) yet! So, we have already planned to take another day off yesterday and spend some time together. Unforunately, for our little darling Jayden, he has to go to the childcare. Jayden, we will bring you to the movies when you are a little older! Promise!

The first thing to do that day? Find a place for breakfast - We are famished! No interesting places nearby and so, we hopped into Old Town for the breakfast set.

Coffee for me, Tea for her

Assam Laksa for me. I am not ordering this ever. Sardines in my laksa??? Huh?

Potato Prata for her. Although the prat a taste like the pratas sold frozen in NTUC, it is somehow better than mine!

And we added soft boiled eggs too! It is hard to get this wrong. The only thing I am not too satisfied was that it was too cooked for my taste.

Let the movies begin!!

We will only have time for two movies and we decided that we should choose one local production and another Hong Kong one.

Dance Dance Dragon (龙众舞)and All's Well Ends Well 2012 (八星抱喜) were the movies we chose. Not going to do a review but in short, we prefer the local production.

Popcorn time!

After the show, we still have a little bit of time left to just walk around and do some shopping. Items on our list are a haversack to replace the tote bag that Hazel is using to keep Jayden's milk/diapers/etc and a new suitcase for our Royal Carribean Cruise.

I like their way of misleading people into thinking otherwise.

I honestly didn't know that there is this branch in Orchard that look so classy! By the way, it seems like Gong Cha has invaded and took over the entire Orchard area. I do recall any KOI cafe in orchard area.

And we went on to Somerset 313 and finally got a haversack. The decor in 313 is a refreshing one after seeing countless dragons in every single mall. As one of my friends posted in my instagram feed, it looks like Medusa!!!

Photo Essay - Jayden Goes Shopping

noreply@blogger.com (Kelvin Ang) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:27:00 +0000

River Ang Bao / 春到河畔 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Kelvin Ang) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:22:00 +0000

There is one more activity that is a must for many Chinese families in Singapore - To visit the yearly River Ang Bao (春到河畔迎新年新加坡2012大游园) and this year like the previous, has the event held at the The Float @ Marina Bay.

River Ang Bao has already started on 21st Sat Jan 2012 and will last till 29 Jan 2012 (Sunday). Time is from 12noon to 1130pm daily.

Do note that parking in Marina Square will be expected to be very limited and crowded. In fact, we went round and round the carpark and finally parked somewhere with no lots. And since we are already there, why not take some photos?

Here is a map of the River Ang Bao.

The first thing we saw was the "gate". Photo time!

We expected a huge huge crowd and did not bring along our strollers. No picture No talk for the crowd.

The main highlight for this year is the Martial God of Wealth shown here with his tiger. It is believed that the Martial God of Wealth is a symbol used in boosting economy and bringing wealth and prosperity to businessmen.

And as per usual practice, the god of wealth will spread his wealth to lucky visitors that is able to get a piece of "gold". It is actually randomly generated numbers printed on gold colored papers for punters to buy their fix of 4D or Toto. And this just displays the uniqueness of Singaporeans. Wait, I actually meant creativity.

Turning the umbrella on the other side in an attempt to get a better chance of having one piece of the paper land inside! OMG.

With the number of people crowding around, it is quite difficult to get nice clear shots of the many lantern displays in River Angbao. We managed to snug in a couple of shots with Jayden! (with Fu Lu Shou in the background)

There is one thing I did kinda manage to get pretty decent shots of - The Zodiac Animal lanterns, a total of 12 of them!

There is also another place that will interests foodies. The food street. This year, river angbao has over 40 stalls set up with many different delicacies. We were discouraged by the sheer amount of crowd that could be seen and did not went into the food street.

But we did buy some other stuff that is just outside of the food street.

Queued up for this. It was selling at $2 for one or $5 for 3. Being your typical Singaporean, dun waste my effort queuing la, so take 3 lor.

And I also got this Dragon Bread Candy to snack on. It must have been years since the last time I ate one of this. Yummy!

And to wash all the stuff down. An expensive syrup water costing $2.50.No bird nest la. Jelly bits have.

And to encourage donations, the organizers have cleverly use this!

They say you will get good fortune if you can strike the gong with your coin! (Sorry no refund) Simple gimmick but it works! I will have threw my coins into this place if I had any in my pocket!

One last thing, if you are bringing your kids, no worries. They have tons of activities and play areas for toddlers and above.

CNY @ Singapore Art Museum

noreply@blogger.com (Kelvin Ang) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 04:09:00 +0000

What is a better way to spend the long weekends apart from visiting your relatives for the Chinese New Year? Spend some time with your loved ones at the museums!

(Source: NHB)

The National Heritage Board has generously provided free admission to several participating museums (Singapore Art Museum, Asian Civilizations Museum, National Museum of Singapore, Peranakan Museum and Singapore Philatelic Museum) for this festive season. Click on this link to find out more!

Together with my wife and son, we went to explore the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) for the first time.

Superman melting in the heat of Singapore?

One of the main show at the Singapore Art Museum is "the collectors show - CHIMERA" It brings together notable works of Asian contemporary art from 21 private collections around the world.

We had a stroller to push our very tired Jayden around and access was not an issue, in fact the entire place is very spacious and accommodating to people with disabilities.

On thing to note for parents with young children. Some of the pieces in the Chimera exhibit is not very suitable for young children. Some of the pieces require viewer discretion and parental guidance, such as this.

But there are many other wonderful pieces there too.

Statue of Venus by Yaoyi Kusama and Jesus by Takashi Murakami.

By this time, our darling son is already fast asleep after the tiring day out, which is not a bad thing since he needs to rest for the long day ahead and we can have some peace!

Moving on after adjusting his stroller to a comfortable position for sleeping, there are more interesting pieces, some of which shown after the break.

Red Carpet IV by Rashid Rasa. There are thousands of images of animals slaughtered and dismembered body parts used to make this huge mosaic artwork.

Chapter Two: Giant by Tomoko Konoike. This is part three in a four part chapter series of a surrealistic nature in reverse order. This reverse timeline hints at the desire not to look towards the future but to instead to go back in time to the past and to seek answers for the present.

Paper Plates by Hamra Abbas. These are literally paper plates woven intricately with paper strips with the words "Please Get Served".

One of my favorites has to be this.

The chapel.

It is in the chapel on the second level with a array of laser beams shooting on to a mirror on the ground and then reflecting it away. Smoke machines periodically puff out smoke to make the laser beams visible. I think we stayed here for a good time!

And with that we continued to the Signature Art Prize 2011 by Asia Pacific Breweries Foundation.

The grand prize which is also my favorite. From Philippines - Baston ni Kabunian, Bilang Pero di Mabilang (Cane of Kabunian, numbered but cannot recounted) by Rodel Tapaya

What is a trip without some self shots?

And our last stop is to the Learning Gallery.

Remember Walter, the giant bunny?

I like this. It depicts the current generation - titled Goddess Series: Mobile Phone Kids by Justin Lee. Check out the mobile phone carried by the kid on the left and a mcdonald's on the right.

One last thing,

Self reflection for myself. And probably for many. "The grass is always greener on the inside"

Chinese New Year @ Chinatown 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Kelvin Ang) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:02:00 +0000

No Chinese New Year is complete without going to Chinatown! And we did went there to soak into the atmosphere of the festive season and get ready for the Chinese New Year celebrations.

My personal advice

Do not park anywhere near chinatown. It is crazy there and the traffic is horrendous. We parked at "The Central" in Clarke Quay and took the MRT to Chinatown. Just one stop. Saved us the frustrations of getting stuck in the traffic and also the high chance of not getting a carpark lot.

And to start the ball rolling, a shot with the god of fortune!

If you come to Chinatown during this period, you cannot miss this huge dragon in the middle of the road!

And we struggled to take a shot with the dragon in the background.

Not very successful eh? But never mind that. I still like this shot!

As soon as we turned in the first street that sells mainly decorative stuff, our darling son turned into a soft toy detector.

He just keeps pointing to any and all soft toys that he sees, including these cute little dragons.

One will be crazy to try and push a stroller into the packed streets. Leave your stroller at home or in the car. Carry your kid/baby instead. If they can walk, make sure you hold them tight! Check out all the smiling faces on this shot above.

Artist still hard at work at this time of the year!

Singapore is truly a multi cultural and religious country. Here's an Indian Temple wishing everyone a healthy and prosperous lunar new year!

And then we turned into the next street. And this is even much more packed.

Don't you love the lanterns?

Jayden started to shout in this street, mimicking the shouts from the hawkers promoting their products. It is quite comical!

Basically, there are three main kinds of items sold in this entire stretch of the street. You will be likely to find the items sold further away from the main street cheaper than the ones nearer to the main road. I got my 4 packs of mocha for $10, resisting the hawker from pushing me to get another 6 pack for also $10. Walking down and getting close to the main road, I notice the same item being sold for 3 packs for $10.

Here's the three main items sold that are being repeated throughout the street.

1. "Taiwan" Mochi

They come in two types. The first photo shows the individually packed type and the latter, the boxed type which I bought.

2.Cookies

Cookies of all sorts are being sold. The prices are already going down. These cookies shown are being sold for 7 boxes for $10 and you can get 4 bigger type of container for $10. I am sure that the prices will dive down tomorrow night.

3. All types of nuts, melon seeds and preserved fruits

This is also seen everywhere! And you get to sample every single type too!

Just as we were going back, we caught a glimpse of the TV artistes doing a full dress rehearsal of the Lunar New Year Eve program!

If you still have not been to Chinatown this year, go today!!

Chinese New Year in Singapore

noreply@blogger.com (Kelvin Ang) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:26:00 +0000

It is the time of the year again. This year, even earlier! We are still rushing like crazy to get our things done, bought etc. And we still have lots to do (if we want to do). I think that the way we have celebrated the Lunar New Year has getting a little simpler.

Here's what we have done (and will do) for the Year of the Dragon 2012:

1. Spring Cleaning

We did a minor spring cleaning. Basically, me clearing out the useless stuff in the storeroom and Hazel tidying up the rooms. Just look at the amount of bags I pull out from the storeroom. We also threw away more than half of the old clothes. No more space in the wade robe! But this is like I said minor. Back in my parents house, we will scrub the floor and walls before chinese new year! I really don't have the energy and determination to do it. I shall leave the cleaning to my part time helper. ^_^

2. Ang Baos or Hong Baos

Every year is a different zodiac year and this year being the Dragon year is supposed to be the most popular year. And we have already gotten many different designs of red packets for this year! The tradition is that married couples will cease getting red packets from the elders and will be required to give out red packets to the children. For me, it is a little fussy how we do it. We have the practice that if my parents give red packet, I (her son) do not need to give. Guess I need to clarify again!

3. Cookies

Cookies has and still is my favorite part of the Chinese New Year.

My mother makes wonderful wonderful cookies. But over the years, as she aged, the variety of cookies has dwindled. Unlike the past, my brother and I will be sitting in the kitchen for days helping her to roll the dough and cut the cookies with the cutter. We can choose the animal shape we like and even make funny cookies. She will make peanut cookies, walnut cookies, cashew nut cookies, cornflake cookies, pineapple tarts, chocolate chip, almond cookies, etc. Our house will be filled with cookies.

Although the cookie variety has decreased to only three (Almond, Chocolate and Pineapple Tarts), there is one thing she is still insistent on. Cooking her own pineapple over charcoal. There is no other pineapple tart that could ever beat the taste that I have been spoilt with by my mum. I simply love her pineapple tarts with the filling 100% hand sliced, crushed and then slowly cooked for HOURS over charcoal fire. Nothing beats this.

4. Mandarin Oranges

No Chinese New Year is without this fruit. And personally, I prefer mandarin orange over the normal oranges anytime. Why? Cos they simply much easier to eat. You can just peel the skin off by hand and then pop the juicy stuff into your mouth. And I love it chilled.

5. Bak Kwa or Sliced Pork

This is something that I usually only get to eat during the festive period. I hardly even think about it after Chinese New Year. But if you dun eat one piece of this sinful stuff, it just seems like you have not celebrated the Chinese New Year. Prices for the sliced pork is also crazy during this period. The last I saw? It is already selling at $50 per kg this week.

Here's us waiting for our Bak Kwa at the crowded people's park center "Kim Hock Guan" stall.

6. Reunion Dinner

Our first reunion dinner will start just in a few hours later with my in laws at a restaurant outside. Then we will have another one with my side tomorrow. I kinda missed the old days when my grandmother was still around and all the relatives will come over to my place and have a reunion dinner over steamboat. If you have eaten lots of steamboat before, the best part of the whole dinner will be the last. Cos the soup will be superbly flavorful and sweet! Yum.

Nowadays, we seldom do steamboat reunions and opt for restaurant settings instead. It is just simpler.

7. Celebrations around Singapore

This is the part that we have not done. Visting Chinatown, going for river ang bao or checking out the Chingay parade. Nope. Not done but it is something that we are planning to do, time permitting!

8. Pai Nian / Exchange Oranges

The most important part of Chinese New Year?

Going to different places and pai nian! Oranges are exchanged as they symbolized good health and prosperity.

GONG XI FA CAI!!!

What other things do you do during Chines New Year?

Cruise on Legend of the Seas by Royal Carribean

noreply@blogger.com (Kelvin Ang) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:01:00 +0000

BOOKED!

Well, I did promise Hazel that I will bring them to a cruise and I jolly well make sure that I will do it.

Thanks to a few photos that I saw that prompted me to google for this. I did try to book star cruises online but it seems like they are not very updated. Booking with Royal Carribean was easy. A few clicks and I am done with money debited from my credit card account.

And so, counting down to our first cruise as a family!

41 days!

And time to start reading the previous OMY blogs about these cruise to choose a suitable shore excursion program for us and also on what to do on board!

I am so excited!!

Counting down to CNY 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Kelvin Ang) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:11:00 +0000

Why is the Chinese New Year for this year SO early? We have been running around almost every other day to settle "CNY" stuff - Buying new clothes - for her, for him and for me, Buying new shoes - for her, for him and for me. Tidying up the house. Buying new bedsheets. Buying Bak Kwa. Going to the hairdresser. Buying new year goodies. Going to Chinatown. Going to marina bay for the annual CNY festival. Going to Sentosa Flowers. And probably still more that I cannot remember!

OK wait. We still have not done many of the items listed there!

Our weekend plans for last week was kinda busted when Jayden fell sick but well, no choice but to let him stay mostly at home to get well. Since he was much better today, we decided to do some more stuff on our list.

First stop. To a "Ulu" place that I have never been to - Connexis.

We have only really just driven past this place like a thousand times but never ever went close to it. So what did we come here for?

Shoes. Specially shoes from this online shop called "Dear Baby" This is not a sponsored ad. My wife is a fan of a fellow mummy blog and follows her regularly. Emily (Our Little Smarties) did a post on the shoes offered by this store sometime ago and she has been wanting to give this a try. Fearing for not getting a proper size, we went down to the physical store to try out the shoes.

Yes. They have a physical store unlike many others that just operate in the online space. Anyway, the shoes are in the affordable range and looks good! It feels comfortable to wear them too. We had a pleasant experience there and will probably buy more stuff from them.

And with the minutes ticking, we are running out of time and rushed to Vivocity before it closes.

We have received a nice new year gift from Sentosa, a Family Sentosa Islander card and went over to Vivocity to submit our application. Unfortunately, the application will take 2 to 3 weeks to process. But you can be sure that we will have even more photos and posts on our trips to sentosa soon!

Check out the latest hairstyle from Jayden. Unfortunately, I did not went together with them for his third haircut. This time around, it was cut shorter than before but nvm, Jayden is still super cute!

Time for dinner!

Sushi Tei - One of Hazel's favorite place to dine in. And by far, I think I like the Vivocity branch the most.

Jayden is growing to be a little too picky in terms of choosing what he eats. He has learnt now to shake his head to say no when we ask whether he wants a certain thing. And most of the time, he shakes his head when he sees food. This is still rather perplexing at times when he is simply not eating as much as we like him to take. But on the flip side, he is crazy into trying out new drinks. OMG. That is a story for another day.

And here starts the "little sushi" ordered by my darling wife.

I think I am sushi-fied yesterday after eating so much and finishing up every single piece. But it was a great dinner nonetheless. I particularly like the last dish shown. Lovely selection of more "premium" sushis.

By the way, if you are in the mood for shopping for more CNY related stuff like paper cuttings, etc. Check out the stretch in Vivocity.

Daddy NiVleK on Mother & Baby Jan 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Kelvin Ang) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:48:00 +0000

Thanks to Andy for reminding me this while I was reading my blog lists. I almost forgot to tell you guys that we were also featured (small one la) in Mother & Baby January 2012 issue.

Turn on to Page 85!

This was the original image submitted.

Taken in SAFRA JURONG! Ahh...another reminder to go back for swimming!

Here is a snapshot of the page. Check this out.

(Source: SengKang Babies)

And of course, check out our two other Daddy Bloggers, Andy Lee and Kelvin Ang (Yups. Same name. Small world!)

One last thing, thanks to Eduard for choosing us!

Entrance exams for preschoolers?

noreply@blogger.com (Kelvin Ang) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 22:37:00 +0000

I thought that I read it wrong when I first saw this news - "Sorry, your child is not bright enough."

(Source: Today Online)

This is completely and utterly ridiculous.

From the Today Online article:

Another parent, Ms Serene Tan, said her son, who is in Kindergarten 2, was unable to get a place at the Learning Point after he could not pass the entry test in November. The investment consultant, who is her mid-30s, questioned the motivation of enrichment centres that are solely focused on helping students who are already strong academically to do better.

She added: "I find it very odd that they have such comprehensive entry tests even for children at that age. The centre said that my son didn't do well in his spelling and grammar, but he is only in K2."

Wow grammar and spelling test on K2 six years old. Sure, I believe that kids should start learning and it is better to teach them at a young age but entrance exams? They will get streamed later in primary school, grilled in PSLE, tested in GCE O Levels, crack their heads at A Levels or Dipolmas and finally enjoy their university days and graduate with a degree. They will spend the next 20 odd years studying and studying and getting judged based on the results that they will achieve. Shouldn't kids be allowed to enjoy and have fun before they start school?

Have I ever been tuitioned in my school going days? Well, yes. My family was able to afford private tuition teachers for me when they realized that my grades were slipping. It did help a bit on my grades. During my days, I remembered that tuition centers are still not so popular as it is right now. Private tuition was more popular and ex MOE teachers were the hot favorite.

Now, I do notice the trend and growth in these "enrichment centers" but it is getting a little out of hand when they decide to hold entrance exams for prospective students.Isn't a tuition center supposed to be a place where parents send their kids to when the little ones require more help? Oh wait, I know why.

Because these centers do not brand themselves as "tuition centers". They are "education centers" or "enrichment centers" not tuition centers.

In that report, it mentions four specific centers.

Learning point
Learning lab
Creative Horizons
Just Education

And I decided to just hop to their websites to take a look. The following should not be read as a review or anything but just my personal comments ONLY by visiting the website and related sites.

Learning Lab

Personally, I think that the website is created to target high end parents, i.e. the richer ones. The website do not show photos of anything except mostly on their well furnished place. It has a very "Atas" feel to it. But what is more interesting is what I found at the Glassdoor, a place where employees post their reviews and salaries on the companies. Judge the reviews and comments yourself. But this comment takes the cake.

The Learning Lab Anonymous: (Past Employee - 2011)
"Good for the money, bad work environment"
Pros
Salary is great - comparable to entry pay of professionals like lawyers, engineers etc.
If you are talented, CEO will try to show you some personal attention - always a good thing
Job is fairly easy for the pay package
Medical allowance can also be used for your pets
Cons
Senior management is unprofessional and very insecure - if you are talented, they will leave you out in the cold to fend for yourself
Lots of misinformation given out to staff and clients - so in the end you end up not believing anything anybody says
No support given to staff - if you have any problems, you're on your own

And I kinda believe it when they say the salary is great since they are offering $3700 salary pay for their scholarship holders. That is pretty high salary considering the market price for a fresh grad honors degree student in engineering related firms is about $3000.

Next,

From Today Online's article:

The Learning Lab, for instance, said that each year, 70 per cent of its students see their grades improve by 10 percentage points. It added that 297 of its students scored 260 and above in last year's Primary School Leaving Examination.

70% improve by 10%. Yeah. Reads pretty awesome! 10% of what? So what about the remaining 30%? 297 students scored 260 and above. 297 out of how many?

I cannot seem to find any indicative price for their course on their webpage. I also could not find any program tailor made for pre-primary school going kids.

One last thing, they do not show their teacher's credentials or experience nor list their teachers name in their website. Hmmm?

Learning Point

A traditional type of website. But personally, I feel more at ease and less intimidated browsing this website as compared to the Learning Labs.

From Learning Point:

P1 HEADSTART
The P1 Headstart Programme continues from the RFS Programme and gives pre-primary students a headstart in their first year in the primary schools through basic grammar awareness, reading comprehension and simple cloze passage exercises. Students are also introduced to dictionary skills and basic story writing skills.

From Today Online:

Enrolment requirements vary across the enrichment centres: The Learning Point, for example, will not accept students who fail its entry test, although it allows them to take a re-test six months later. For Just Education, it conducts these tests for students whose results in school are below its criteria.

I guess this is the program that Ms Serene Tan (above) tried to enroll her son into. A headstart. Nice. But why do you need to test a little kid?

No pricing for their courses too.

Similar to the Learning Lab, they do not show any of their teacher's past credentials nor list their teachers name.

Creative Horizons

Their webpage looks to be the most trendy and appeals to the masses. They even have a Facebook plug in showing on the main page.

From Creative Horizons:

Thinking English (Kindergarten)

Course Description

Is your young learner able to read but unable to show more complex comprehension?
Is your young learner very vocal but unwilling to express ideas grammatically & clearly?
Our Thinking English Programme will address these concerns further and enhance language and thinking skills.

Young learners will learn better comprehension and analysis as we guide them towards understanding, interpreting and predicting stories they hear and read.

Higher level skills work will see young learners practise analysis as they categorise words and concepts and make logical inferences.

In synthesis, young learners modify old stories into new ones or even generate and create new ideas.

Young learners present their opinions as they exhibit early signs of independent judgement in evaluation.

To ensure we engage all young learners, the lessons recognise their different learning abilities and explore mult-intelligences:
linguistic

visual/spatial

kinesthetic

musical

logical

interpersonal

intrapersonal

CONTENT AREAS:
Vocabulary development - understanding new words within context, using new words in meaningful ways, learning how to acquire new vocabulary

Reading and comprehending - words, phonics through guided reading, responding to questions, comparing information, making predictions

English language convention - understanding English Language usage, common structures for sentences, questions, answers

Understanding stories - characters, themes, plots, setting, making connections to life experiences, retelling familiar stories, asking and answering questions about stories

Writing strategies - writing words and brief sentences, writing legibly using both uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet, attending to proper spacing of letters and words

Listening and speaking - short poems, rhymes, songs, oral presentations, descriptions, relating an experience in a logical sequence, sharing information and ideas, speaking clearly in complete sentences

Course Frequency
10 weeks per term, 4 terms per year

Course Fee
$400 (inclusive of GST)

Nice. They have price indicated and they also have a list of teachers for their schools and their credentials.

Just Education

This looks to be the biggest group. They have way more branches than the ones mentioned earlier and they boasts a total tutor strength of 300 island wide.

A professional looking page with the right touches.

It seems like they have two courses made for preschool kids - "Power to Lead" and "JPU 2-Power of Execution" but I can't seem to navigate to a page that shows the details on the courses.

Similar to the Learning Lab and Learning Point, they do not show any of their teacher's past credentials nor list their teachers name. One might get worried with major tuition center groups. It is business after all. How do they select 300 good tutors and ensure consistency in standards?

There is also no indicative price for their courses.

To end off, will you send your preschooler to enrichment classes?

For us, we still do not know. Jayden is just barely 16 months of age and at this point, I just want him to enjoy a carefree childhood. But who knows about the future?

Little Steps with Daddy NiVleK

noreply@blogger.com (Kelvin Ang) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:16:00 +0000

It is with great pleasure and a great start to 2012 that Daddy NiVleK is being handpicked by Little Steps as one of the few Top Mum and Dad Blogs of 2012.

Do head on to the other blogs. We have six of our Singapore friends also here on the list. As usual, Daddy Bloggers are the minority! But we are proud to have 2 out of 3 daddy bloggers in the list that resides in Singapore!
Here's the list of Daddy and Mummy blogs that Little Steps has chosen (I copied the entire list from Wifely Steps who has listed them down. Thank you!)

RAWTHENTIC FOODS: Hong Kong, China SAR
GLAMOMAMAS: The Philippines; Regional
BABY LOVES TO TRAVEL: Dubai, UAE and Global
LITTLE NOMADS: Australia (Daddy Blogger!)
BBBABYBUNDLES: Hong Kong, China SAR
A MATTER OF TASTE: Bangkok, Thailand
OUR EVERYDAY THINGS: Singapore
THE SAVVY MUMMY: Singapore
MUMMY IN A STRANGE LAND: Hong Kong, China SAR
MOTHERINC.ORG: Singapore
MAMAPUMPKIN: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
CHILDHOOD 101: Australia
PLANNING WITH KIDS: Melbourne, Australia
THE ROCK MOM: Hong Kong, China SAR
WIFELY STEPS: Philippines
EDUNLOADED: Singapore (Daddy Blogger!)
THE J BABIES: Singapore
NUTRITIOUS N' DELICIOUS: Hong Kong, China SAR
DADDY NIVLEK: Singapore (Daddy blogger!)

Mum calls Police over 7cm of hair cut off by school

noreply@blogger.com (Kelvin Ang) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 08:03:00 +0000

Yups. That is the way the topic of article should be written instead of "Mum upset over school haircut for son"

Actually, I think this is even better - "Mum, General Manager, calls Police over 7cm of haircut by school"

REALLY?

Yeah. Read this article.

You know what? In the past, at the secondary school that I was in, a boys school, we do have this kind of problems too. Boys of my era love to keep long hair. Long fringes to be exact. And so, whenever the school term reopens. The teachers are armed with scissors ready to snipe of any offending hair that passes the eyebrow. And yes, this kinda of news is "old news" There were also many articles written on this everywhere with parents complaining and most were ignored. It is ridiculous.

I recall one incident at my alma mater where the incident was blown out of proportions with lots of reporters coming over to get interviews. Apparently, one of the students hair was being cut off by the teacher and he later went on to shave off his entire hair, claiming that the school made a mess and called in the reporters. Woah. And the best thing? I think he got away creating all this nonsense. Why? We heard that his dad sits on the board of directors of the school. Well, take this with a pinch of salt. But it was the talk of the century when this happened.

BUT for this latest news?

(Source: Asiaone)

The mum, a general manager called the POLICE because the school cut her son's hair. I am really really interested to know which company she works for. What was she thinking when she called the police for a bad haircut? I would have expect that a general manager have more common sense. So the next time her hairdresser does her hair wrongly or colors it in a different shade than the color template, will she call the police? I am worried, for her employees.

Best part? He was traumatized over a 7cm hair cut of from his head. He can't even go to school and his asthma acted up. Does his hair has nerve endings? Or is he a celebrity student that require looks to be perfect? This is yet another case of over protective parents. He will soon get his entire crop of hair shaven off in a few years time. I think they need a counselor stand by when he gets his hair cut.

This is sounds plain hilarious to me. It is funny enough to be used as a excuse but for it to be written as a article, it is downright embarrassing in my opinion.

And interestingly, there is another article in stomp, where the stomper agrees with what the parent did and suggested that the school should issue a formal apology!! WOAH.

What do you think of this incident? Put yourself as a parent in these shoes, would you have done the same?

Jurong Central Park

noreply@blogger.com (Kelvin Ang) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 10:42:00 +0000

Well, since our trip to the Changi Broadwalk kinda did not happen, I decided to head to the nearby park instead. Where else but Jurong Central Park! It is not a very huge park but nonetheless still enough space for Jayden to walk and exert his never ending energy. When we arrived there, we were greeted by all this.

Kite flying. It is really pretty nice and memorizing just to watch the kites go flying around. Truth be told, I have never ever flew a kite before. My parents didn't bring me to do it and I am pretty determined that I need to make sure Jayden has memories of us bringing him kite flying. And as I watched the kites go by, I saw this contradicting sign.

No kite flying allowed in this park! What? But no one else seems to care. Note that the sign also prohibits the playing of remote control aircraft which are quite abundant once the night falls.

And off we go setting Jayden to his first trip to a park. And he seems to be pretty happy about it! Pointing and shouting while he walks.

And not forgetting to give me a cheeky face while he is at it.

The T shirt reads "Not Large but in charge" Quite true for the little guy here.

You see? Ask him take photo with me also so unhappy. LOL

And of course, he did kinda stumble and fall but it is all good. No one grows up without falling. We just need to minimize the risks that is around and make sure that he dun fall on sharp objects.

To make things better, this little boy is quite tough. He did fall and we noticed some very minor red marks but he did not cry. He simply sweep off the dirt from his hands and stood up again.

And for now, I am already thinking of which place to bring him for the next weekend. Hmmmm.....