“Executive” Family Treat

We were booked for a weekend stay at the Fairmont Singapore and this time, we were given Executive treatment…hehe. Yes, my MIL has extended her Raffles Inc. membership and with the package, she is entitled to a FREE night stay at the hotel Executive floor and had kindly offered the room for us to use.

Since the last time we had already tried out the executive room in Swissotel Stamford. This time she booked for us the Executive Room at the Fairmont Singapore.

On Saturday after Anders’s tuition class, we fetched him and went straight to the hotel and checked into the room. We were given Room 2330 which was on the same floor as the Executive Lounge.

We had a Harbour View room and we can see the new Marina Bay Sands building from our room balcony.

As usual, the children 1st and foremost request is always – Swimming Pool 1st. So immediately we changed and went to the pool for water fun. The poolside was crowded with families with children. I believed many families were also enjoying the staycation fun.

After swimming and playing around for about ½ hour, we went back to the room to change and rest. As we were on Executive Floor, we had the privilege to use the lounge. Cocktails were served from 5 to 8 pm. So I went to the lounge and took a nice cup of drink and had some finger snacks. At the same time, the receptionist also allowed me to bring back some snacks to the room for the children. The lounge does not allow admission to children below 12 years of age so they allow parents to bring food to the room.

When I brought back the snacks to the room, both Anthea and Anders were delighted and had a good time enjoying their tea break in the comfort of our room.

My parents in law brought my eldest niece to the hotel room in the evening to meet with us before the family dinner. My niece had a fun time playing with Anthea and Anders in the room while my in-laws went for the cocktails at the Executive Lounge.

After their cocktails, we walked over to Asia Grand Restaurant @ Odeon Towers for our usual weekend family dinner. My youngest brother in law and Sister in law are now in great anticipation on the arrival of their newborn this week. So our family tree will likely be expanded this week…hehe. : )

We went back to the hotel room after dinner for rest & relaxation with the families. We had tea/fruits and nuts as dessert and the children continued their play on the beds.

At around 9.30pm, the families went home and we rested for the night.

The next morning, we had our buffet breakfast at the Alligator Pear, it was by the poolside. This was our 1st time having breakfast by the poolside and it was a nice experienced for us.

We went back to our room and have a good rest after a sumptuous breakfast. Then around 11am, we went to the swimming pool again.

We swam for a good ½ hour before going back to the room to shower and change. We simply chilled and relaxed in the room till our checked out time at 2pm.

Then it was home sweet home for us. Another great staycation for us and we truly enjoyed the Executive Experienced.

Bonus Staycation at Shangri La Hotel

Thanks to my 3rd SIL – Cherry, the aces family had another wonderful weekends hotel stay at the Shangri La. Cherry is a Golden Circle member and the points that she accumulated earned her some complimentary stay at the Shangri La groups of hotels. We had the choice of Rasa Sentosa, Shangri La & Traders hotel. Since we had just stayed in Rasa Sentosa, our next choice is definitely Shangri La. We had stayed there once and we enjoyed the rooms and facilities very much.

On Saturday, Cherry went with us to the hotel and did the check in for us. She booked 2 connecting rooms for us. After that she went to meet with her friend for shopping spree.

After checked in, the very 1st request from anthea and Anders was “hit the pool”. I agreed with one of my ex-colleague – she said actually for our children, a hotel with good swimming pool is sufficient to entertain them, no need to travel oversea…haha.

Unfortunately for us, Shangri la hotel’s pool was under renovation. However they allowed guest to use the pool at the service apartment. Well, like I said, for my children – as long as I provide them with a swimming pool, they will be happy guests.

So we walked over to the service apartment for our swim. The children had as much fun as usual.

Then we went back to our room to change and took a quick rest. At the same time, my in-laws came over with my little niece and she had fun checking out the room facilities too.

In the evening we had dinner at Tanglin mall. As we walked back from the mall to the hotel, I took the opportunity to take some Christmas shoots for the children.

Then it was rest & relaxes in the hotel rooms.

In the morning, we had a sumptuous buffet breakfast at The Line. Complimentary breakfasts were included in the FREE room. I always enjoyed the spread at the Line. Their selections were so wide and we were spoiled for choices…hehe.

After breakfast, we rested a while in the room before heading to the pool AGAIN…yes, their favorite pastime. Then as we were going back to our room after the morning swim, the hotel staff informed us that their pool is OPEN and we were able to swim. Immediately we went to the pool and had a quick dip. That’s really satisfied the children’s needs.

Then we went back to the room to bath & changed. Adrian bought back Subway sandwiches for lunch. We simply dined in at the comfort of the room.

We checked out around 3pm as the hotel had accord late check out for the 2 rooms till 4pm.
Then it was home sweet home. This staycation holiday had proved that in SG, we still can enjoy ourselves to our heart content.

We are now looking forward to our chalet stay at Aranda Country club.

三天两夜圣淘沙游/ 颁奖典礼

The title reminded me of my good old days working at the travel agent planning for inbound tourists to Sentosa : P The weather had been very kind to us for the last 3 days and I cannot be more thankful for it.

Friday, 20 November

In the morning, I attended Anthea’s school prize giving ceremony cum concert. The mood was generally happy and most of the children were happy to go on stage to collect their prizes. I was happy to see most of her tuition classmates were there and most of them were also 1st, 2nd & 3rd of their respective classes. Wow…the tuition teacher must be very happy to see all her students did so well…: )

After the ceremony, we had a quick snack at the canteen as Anthea said she was hungry. Then we went home to get ready for our resort stay in Sentosa.

In the afternoon, my eldest brother came and picks us up and we headed to Tiong Bahru Hawker for our lunch before proceeding to Sentosa for our check in. the new market was big and had many food stalls, we tried different varieties of the food and they were not bad.

Then my brother drove us all the way into Rasa Sentosa resort for our check in. We were allocated room 510 and it was seaview deluxe room as booked. The room size was comfortable. We had a twin sharing bed joined together and beside it was a sofa bed. So it was very comfortable for our family of 2 adult and 2 children. I had booked the resort Staycation package deal for the 2 nights stay and it came with daily breakfast for 2 adults / 2 children.

While we were checking in, I had a called from Cindy and she was asking if we had any plan for the day. She took ½ day leave to be with Angus and she had no planned of where to go. So I invited them to join us at the hotel and she agreed. The children were very happy to see Angus again and they immediately went to the poolside for their water fun.

The swimming pool has 3 children slides and the pool height was just nice for all of them. They had great fun at the pool and I saw that Anders was getting braver with the slide. He even tried different style of sliding into the pool.

Then they requested to go by the beachfront to play with sand. We went along with them. While the children played with sand, we had a good chat on our children examination results.

Around 5pm, we went back to the hotel room to change and they left for home as they had some prior dinner appointment.

For us, after bathing and changing, we took the hotel shutter bus to Vivo City to meet Adrian for dinner. He came after his event @ Marina Barrage and met us for dinner. We ate at Earl Swenson in Vivo City. As usual, Anthea & Anders enjoyed the salad bar buffet. After dinner, we headed to Toy R Us to buy her present from my PIL. Because of her good result, my FIL had told her to go and chose herself a present. Finally she chooses the Scooter for her gift. : )

Then we bought some donuts for our late night supper and drove back to the hotel. Parking at the hotel is complimentary and based on 1st come 1st served basis.

We had a very relaxed evening in the hotel room and the children enjoyed the games too.

Saturday, 21 November

We woke up to a bright and sunny beautiful morning. We went for our buffet breakfast and the spread was very sumptuous.

After a good breakfast, we started our itinerary for the day…hehe. Our 1st stop was the Sentosa 4D Magix and we watched the Pirates show. The show was very interesting and the 4D effect was very entertaining too. Anders was a bit scared of the pirates and dare not put on his glass. : P

After the show, we went for the Sentosa Luge & Sky ride. As we were at the hilltop, so we started with the luge ride 1st. Anthea shared a cart with Adrian and Anders shared one with me. The ride downhill was very exciting and Anders kept saying he had great fun and asked if we can go another round..haha. Then we took the sky ride back to the hilltop.

There was a new Megazip Adventure Park and we decided to check it out since we had a Free ticket from the hotel package. But we were there too early; the park opens at 2pm, so we had no choice but to give it a miss.

As it was almost lunch time, we decided to pack lunch back to the hotel room. Anthea and Anders had requested to go to the pool, so I took them for a dip before lunch. Adrian took the opportunity to do his studies in preparation for his test on Monday.

The children had great fun at the pool slide again.

After about an hour of water fun, we went back to the hotel to bath and change and then had our lunch in the room. Yes, we packed Subway sandwiches and a pizza for lunch. Then the children had their power nap. Around 4.30pm, they woke up & Anthea went to the resort Toot’s club and did a face painting session at the club. This is like a kid’s club and parents can sign in their children into the club and the parents can do their own stuff around the resort.

In the evening, we were booked for Song of the Sea show at 7.40pm. We reached the show place around 6.30pm and saw a long queue for the show. We made query with the show usher and was told there was a FULL HOUSE Situation for the show and since the seating is based on 1st come 1st served basis, we decided to go in and chopped the seats 1st.

While waiting for the show, the children had some light snack as we planned to take dinner after the show. The show started exactly at 7.40pm and we were all mesmerized by the show. The show featured pyrotechnics, water jets, brilliant lasers, captivating music and other dramatic effects. It was a fantastic show and Adrian commented that he was surprised and impressed we were capable of such spectacular show on Sentosa Island.

(these are the special laser graphic that was caught off the waterjet..i am happy that my new camerca can capture these...)

The children also like the special effect and kept talking about Oscar the fish and the beautiful Princess, even after the show.

Then we headed to Sake Sushi for our dinner and took the beach tram back to our hotel and rested after an eventful day.

Sunday, 22 November

We woke up to another bright and sunny beautiful morning. We proceeded to our buffet breakfast and this morning the café was crowded with tourists. We saw many families with children, so presumed that they were also holidaying in Sentosa : )

After a good hearty breakfast, we went back to our room to rest our stomach. Then we went to the pool again. Adrian joined us at the pool and since he was there watching the children, I took a quick swim at the adult poolside and it was great.

The children simply enjoyed the pool slides and had great fun going up & down.

Around 12 noon, we checked out of the hotel and since I had bought the Merlion Tower tickets in advanced, we did a quick tour of the tower. The tower was quite ok but nothing much for the children, luckily I only bought 2 tickets and Anders went up with me. Anthea was too tired to walk the Merlion Tower and stayed with Adrian at the car park. : )

We decided to have a quick lunch at Kou Fu at Palawan beach before leaving the island for home sweet home. The place was crowded with tourist and families who came over for day trip.

Overall, the 3 days 2 nights Sentosa discovery has been a very fruitful trip for the family. The children enjoyed the hotel and its facilities and of course, the buffet breakfast...haha.

Next year, when the Resort World is operational ready, we will plan for a family trip there again, to explore the new Universal Studio.

FiReworks Special!

Once again, thanks to my PIL’s, we had an amazing weekend hotel stay at Swissotel the Stamford.

My MIL had continued her hotel membership program with the Swissotel groups. And for the package deal, she gets to enjoy free stay and this time she booked 2 rooms again. One room is on the executive floor – 57th floor for us to see the parade and fireworks.

The other room that we had is on the 22nd floor which I stayed with Anthea and Anders. The room was very comfortable and we also had a good view of the parade ground.

On Saturday as my MIL was still working around noon time, so I brought the children to the hotel 1st for lunch while waiting for my in-laws to arrive at the hotel for the check in.

We had lunch at Subway in Raffles City. Anthea and myself ate subway sandwiches while Anders had Burger King Kid’s meal.

Around 2 pm, my in-laws arrived and we checked in to the 2 rooms. The original room given to us on the 22nd floor was a bit noisy due to the aircon motor and we managed to change to another quieter room with a view… : )

As usual, after check in, the 1st thing the children request was Pool time and so we changed and headed for the pool. We had about ½ hour water play and swimming. We headed back to the room for our bath and the children afternoon nap.

When they woke up around 5 in the evening, both of them wanted to go to the swimming pool AGAIN..haha. So I told them we had to make it quick because we will miss the NDP show if we were too late.

At the pool, we saw the Parachutist “flying” down from the skyline and it was quite a view from the pool.

Then we quickly went back to change and watch the NDP from our room balcony. We saw the helicopters that was flying the Singapore flag and also the helicopters display and as usual Anders enjoyed it. He was totally captivated by the display.

Then we went over to my In-laws room for our in-room dining. My in laws had packed dinner from the food court back to room. We decided to have a nice and relaxing meal in the room while waiting for the firework.

From her 57th floor executive room, we had a whole view of the parade area. At one point, I saw the marching continent marching towards along Esplanade, turn around at the Bridge. Then marched along City Hall and turn back to the parade area. I heard on radio news that the whole route is about 3.2 KM. this is the 1st time the march pass happened in the city and neared to the public and credit must go to this year organizing committee. I think it was a great idea.

At around 8.25pm, we can see all the participants gathering at the platform for the finale. This was the cue for Firework and yeah, it started and we had a very good view of the firework display from our room balcony. It was really “High class” enjoyment – 高级享受。。嘻嘻！！

When the fireworks ended and the parade finished. We went down to Market Place for dessert. Both Anthea and Anders had a great time with their Ice-cream, while I enjoyed a nice piece of chocolate cake with my in-laws.

After dinner, we called it a night. In the room, the children were still enjoying themselves with the TV program and the room cozy beds.

When they finally slept, I had the TV to myself and I enjoyed a few good movies on HBO.

We woke up the next morning around 9am and my MIL called me and told me that I could bring the children to the Executive Lounge for breakfast. Originally we were told the lounge is for adults only but she said she saw families with children having breakfast there. So we went ahead to the lounge on the 60th floor and had a wondering breakfast.

The buffet spread was good. Anthea and Anders enjoyed all the different dishes and the juices. I had a good meal too, enjoying a good cuppa too. : )

We met up in my In-laws room after breakfast and rested a while before heading to the swimming pool for our morning exercise.

After a good morning swim, we went back to change and pack for our check out.

Around 12 pm, we did the checkout of the rooms and then had a simple lunch at Out of The Pan.

Then it was Home Sweet Home. The children had their power nap.

In the evening, we went to my parent’s place for dinner. Yes, my 老爸和老妈are back from their one month plus stay in 海南岛。 From the trip, they brought back the famous 文昌鸡 and my dad cooked his usual specialty of 海南鸡饭. We had a very enjoyable meal at my parents place.

After the good meal, we went home to rest and get ready for another exciting LONG WEEKEND ahead… : P