Christmas @ Jewel Changi Airport

We visited the new Jewel Changi Airport a few months ago after our church's anniversary celebration. Back then, we managed to only enter the Mirror Maze and explore the Canopy Park. The children were very disappointed that we did not have the time and money to go for the Sky Nets (Bouncing) and the Changi Experience Studio. So I promised them that we would go back on Christmas Day.

CANOPY PARK

@Discovery Slides

@Foggy Bowls

@ Topiary Walk

MIRROR MAZE

Eventually, the day arrived for us to revisit the place. This time round, my mum-in-law joined us. We all woke up bright and early to take a 7-seater cab down to Jewel and had a lovely breakfast at Toastbox. Then, we went for a nice stroll at the HSBC Rain Vortex. We actually spotted a beautiful rainbow!

Since the Sky Nets (Bouncing) tickets include admission to the Canopy Park too, we went back there again. I was particularly intrigued to see something new: the snow walk. Sadly, the queue was terribly long so I stood in line while the kids ran off elsewhere to play. They managed to join me in the nick of time to enter the short strip of artificial snow. It was a quite a novel experience for the young ones.  

Getting the kids to leave for food was like pulling teeth. We ended up taking a really long time before we could get our seats at Putien with their Michelin-approved menu. I was absolutely famished by then because I have not had the habit of eating breakfast ever since I became a mother and lunch was so delayed. However, the wait was definitely worth it! The dishes were truly mouth-watering, especially the crispy oysters. Yumz! A pity we had to wolf down the meal in order to make it to our booked time-slot for the Changi Experience Studio. 

We had amazing fun in this virtual reality world. The children once again didn't want to leave so I had to go downstairs by myself to buy their favourite Boost Juice tea break. Might as well. Despite the enormous size of the building, it was swarmed with people. Due to the immense crowd, we were late for the allocated Sky Nets (Bouncing) hour. 

We won against the other team. Woohoo!

It was so tough for me to enter the place with the kids as the accompanying adult. With my hot flashes being triggered almost constantly, I was sweating like a pig. Handling Joram was a total nightmare. He was terrified when others bounced near him and cried several times. I had to comfort him and literally do a lot of hand-holding for him. Yet, he was so eager to play with his siblings so I took on the role of refereeing for safety as well. The kids also wanted me to take pictures and videos of them. What a tall order for me to do so in such a violently unstable environment! Sigh... That 45 min was pure torture for me. I'm just glad that they enjoyed themselves.

Joram going down the slide...

We exited the compound to eat some simple snacks as our dinner. Soon after, we entered the Shiseido Forest Valley to catch the Christmas light and sound show. Joshua actually lost our most expensive receipt which was supposed to be used to redeem admission tickets. It was through the kindness of strangers and the grace of God which led to all 7 of us being able to go inside in the end. 

My eldest was so good at a game in the Changi Experience Studio that he won a 15% gift shop voucher. So as not to waste it, my mum-in-law used it to buy a tiny vial of the specially-designed Changi Scent as a souvenir. Attaboy!

My children simply could not resist shopping at the Pokemon Center. You can easily tell their age groups by the presents they chose. The older two got themselves books while the younger two decided on purchasing the unique pokeballs. Due to that, we had enough receipts for the younger three to participate in the Enchanted Forest quest at Frozen Wonderland. Thankfully, my eldest had outgrown such things or we would be hard-pressed to find a way to get one more ticket for him. Thus, we made our way to Terminal 3 via the Skytrain, something which Joram had been bugging me to do ALL DAY. *shakes head*

Their prizes at the end of the quest

The difficulty level of organizing this trip to Jewel Airport was way off the charts. It was incredibly challenging for me to cater to both the senior and the juniors. Making our way anywhere through the throngs of people was madness and took forever, especially between levels, with my mum-in-law on a wheelchair. I can only thank God for sustaining me while I pulled off the mission impossible! I sure hope that my family appreciates the herculean effort it took for me to plan a pleasant outing for them. *sweat*

As with the previous Christmases, our family found a way to give back to the community. In the year 2013, our CG organised an evangelistic Christmas party for our non-believing friends and family. Back then, all the children participated in putting up a skit telling of the true Christmas story of the birth of our Lord Jesus. This year, once again, we were involved in a smaller-scale outreach effort in church by conducting ice-breaker games, performing the very same skit (bilingual this time round) and leading Christmas carols. Our children did very well considering that they only had one rehearsal before the actual day. We pray that God will use our "five loaves and two fishes" to bless the hearts of those who came. 

The angel telling Mary that she would give birth to God's Son