Singapore River Safari - revisited

Its been 2 years since I filmed the last River safari "walk-through" video. This time, armed with a Gimbal, I decided to make an improved video.

Here it is:
(Best viewed in 1080p60fps)

Product: iRobot Roomba & Braava

Been putting off this purchase, reading reviews, adding the bots into shopping carts, emptying shopping carts, only to find myself doing it again after every few months.
Last faithfull 11.11 made me take the plunge. The discount Lazada.sg had made it hard to resist any further.
The bots arrived just a few days after the online purchase and we charged it up immediately after unboxing them.

Package received

The eager one helped to unbox

///

More of a nuisance rather than help. More amused by the  sticky tapes than the contents of the package

Terrorising the charging base

The roomba and braava both took about 2 hrs to fully charge. Didn't perform the initial charge as with my other Lithium battles (the roomba 860 comes with lithium batteries). And I put the bot to use immediately after it's done charging its battery.

It took the Roomba 860 about 55mins to complete the vacuuming of the entire floor - minus the balcony, where the cats are, and the kitchen. It did a very good job with multiple passes over the same areas. 

Dust & Fur collected in the bin from the initial use.

I was skeptical at first but the Roomba 860 did its job very well as advertised and I'm pleasantly surprised. No Manual intervention required and it returned back to the dock (home charging base) after it computed that it has completed the job.

The Braava 380t on the other hand, managed to get stuck 3 times. Under the curtain, in between a cabinet and a wall, and lastly, wedged inbetween the gap of the rear bumper of Eli's car and the floor.
Its not as intelligent as the Roomba, and it does not return back to its base after its done. Its cleaning capability though is pretty good.

Taken without flash

Taken with flash

As you can see, it still manages to pick up dirt where the roomba could not. These two bots work very well together - one after another.

I have 2 cats and they roam the house from 9pm - 7am. Daily cleaning with Magiclean dry mop and Magiclean wet wipe mopping on alternate days were a necessity. I can confidently say that these two bots will be able to take over this routine from now on.

I would recommend this to anyone who:

1) Have pets

2) Have kids

3) Doesn't have a helper around the house

A little addendum for those who are considering purchasing a vacuum bot and is confused especially by iRobot, like I was.

There are a few series of vacuum bots that iRobot has. They call it the Roomba and it comes in a few models. The 600, 700, 800 and 900 series.

And in each series, they have the 600, 650, 700, 770..etc.. the differences are the accessories that come with the bots. 880 will come with more accessories than the 860. and the 990 will come with more accessories than the 980. Its as simple as that.

Toy: Cra-z-art kinetic sand

Finally got our hands on a box of Cra-z-Sand! 

Eli had his first go with it when we brought him to eXplorerKid @ Downtown east. And he spent most of the time in the Kinetic sand pit than anywhere else in the playground. So I decided to get him a box ever since. 

Its going for $19.90 for a box. Its pretty expensive if you ask me.

Breakfast: Pancakes!

The Last time I tried preparing Pancakes was about a year ago. And it was disastrous.

I didn't have a proper non stick pan and i ended up with burnt pancakes and lotsa cleaning to do.

Now a year later, seeing how well and fine a boy Elijah has grown into, I guess my courage has finally regained. It's time to conquer making those Pancakes once and for all!

May I introduce you to the Arsenal!

If you've never tried preparing pancakes before, DO NOT TO FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS BEHIND THE PANCAKE MIX BOX!

And follow Elijah's brilliant dad's recipe:
1 Cup Bisquick pancake mix
slightly less than 1/2 cup of Fresh Milk
1 Egg

This will give you about 7 Pancakes the size of those shown below.

Didn't quite get the look right the first time

Second one's beginning to look better

By the time I hit the pan with the 3rd one, a Pancake Master was born

All done and ready to serve!

The Happy customer :)

Eli's first trip to Katapult @ Yishun Orto

I've been wanting to bring Eli to this Trampoline park for sometime now. Earlier this year, I was reading through the park's website on the minimum age and found that it was 3years. This morning I decided to bring Eli there and to declare that he's 3years old (he's actually 2.5 years old).
When I was there, I asked the staff over the counter what the minimum age was and I was told that there wasn't any! *Website T&C states 3years old minimum*

Socks with ribber soles are necessary to gain access into the Park. They sell them over the counter @ $2/pair (child/adult).

Made a simple video of the park. Hope you guys enjoy it:

Abbott's Similac Gain IQ Stage 3 from Malaysia

I first consulted friends of friends who have purchased and fed their littleones with formula milk powders from Malaysia. And the main consensus was not to start at an early stage. That didn't really do alot in helping me decide.

Studying the labels on the tins weren't useful as well, as who knows? The contents in the tins may differ from what was advertised on the labels. I believe most of us have thought about that.

Then comes the lure of the superbly low price (RM$139 vs SGD$75). Now that was the deal clincher for me. In a bid to lower down the household expenses, i started getting Abbott's Similac Stage 3 formula milk from Malaysia. I must admit, I was pretty hesitant at first.

We're on the 18th tin (1800g) of Stage 3 formula milk now - at the time of this post. And so far so good.

I've purchased them only from Aeon as I feel that they're a reputable source.

Here's a couple of pictures that hopefully may be helpful to you:

Top pic: SG left, MY right
Bottom pic: MY Left, SG right

SG Tin (1600g), SGD$75:
Imported and distributed by: Abbott Laboratories (S) Pte Ltd
Manufactured by: Abbott Ireland, Foothill, Co Cavan, Ireland

MY Tin (1800g), MYR$139:
Imported and distributed by: Abbott Laboratories (M) Sdn. Bhd
Manufactured by: Abbott Ireland, Foothill, Co Cavan

It looks like they were both Manufactured in the same place, Abbott Ireland (meaning formula milk powder is prepared there). However, where it is packaged - where the formula milk powder is placed into the tin, is a question mark.

Take note that the Manufacturer and import/distribution details varies between different `Stages' of Similac milk. The information found above are for Stage 3 only. July 2016 at point of comparison.

Little disclaimer: Ultimately, you will need to decide what's best for your child. I will not be held liable for any harm caused to your child, for which ever formula milk powder you decide to feed your child with.

Dragon Playground @ Toa Payoh Lorong 6

Have been wanting to bring Eli to this playground the first time we passed by (2years ago) it on the way to Toa Payoh Safra. Seeing that it was cloudy this morning, I decided to bring Eli there for his first experience with Singapore's (possibly oldest) playground.

Here it is, the only Dragon, sand, playground in Singapore in all its glory!

The dragon's body's in the background

Eli Brought Mario along

Toy: Tomica car collection

Eli's Tomica car collection has grown exponentially. We have decided to stop purchasing them after reading an article on buying too much toys for toddlers. Time to start real parenting ;D

Product: Vegetable Chopper

Bought this Veggie chopper quite sometime back. It has served me a good ~1.5years.

Thing to note, water gets trapped in the spring mechanism. And the spring will rust over time. Which wasn't visible till the chopper was damaged.

Make sure to dry the chopper after use. Otherwise, you'll experience similar rust accumulation in the unit.

Unfortunately, I rely a lot on this chopper to churn out food on the jiffy for Eli. So I ordered a replacement from Lazada. Just got it delivered to the doorstep this afternoon.

Toy: Tomica Plarail

Eli recently developed a fondness for trains & railways. I guess it's a stage for most little boys. Robinsons held a Tomica fair (20% discount) over the weekend and we decided it's time Eli explored it's train system - Plarail.