Rainforest Kidzworld

Would you believe it... today is Faith's first visit to the zoo.

Yep! First time. Ever.

Well... there's lots of reasons for it, but the single most deterrent is due to my phobia of snakes. My memory of snakes and zoo were that there were always a few of them on display at common zones within the zoo, not just the enclosure that they are kept in.

In my younger school days, visits to the zoo were dreaded and I spent my entire time at the zoo looking left, right, front and back, in fear of chancing upon any sighting of snakes; pictures or those in the flesh.

Its hard to explain this phobia and people who do not have phobias will never fully comprehend the level of fear. Its irrational, unexplainable and I had never had any frightening experiences with them to be so deeply petrified of them.

But after checking and double-checking with Jaz and a few other friends that these days, the snakes and their keepers don't lurk anywhere except in their enclosures and during show times, I decided to brave going to the zoo with Faith.

Becos, what has been so irresistible to me and that I think would be loads of fun for Faith was the Rainforest Kidzworld with the water play area. With the searing heat that has been zinging its wave right down on our little island, its no wonder that its a haven for most parents with kids. A rather expensive one at that if one's not a Friends Of the Zoo member - S$18 for an adult ticket. Anyways, it was my own entry fee that I had to pay cos Faith goes in free for under 3 years old.

We met at 10 am at the zoo entrance. Thankfully, Jaz had told me to bring along a stroller, swim wear for Faith and a change of clothes for myself. It was a lot of stuff to bring so Louis had to give up the car for our day of outing :)

Needless to say, the heat was sweltering at usual and the walk to the Rainforest Kidzworld took about 10 mins, with intermittent stops to look and point out animals like the zebra, ostrich, flamingos along the way.

It could have been worse if I had to carry Faith all the way without a stroller. It had been 1 year since we last used the stroller - we stopped using it around the time that Faith started to walk independently. Thankfully, the little girl sat in her stroller and did not fuss at all. She kept calling out for Lecia as we walked just to check that her little friend was still with her on the walk there.

The long and short of it was that we had a blast at the Kidzworld. It wasn't too crowded when we reached there. The crowd really started coming in with bigger, rowdier and older kids around 11-ish am.

Faith was initially hesitant about the water play area and getting herself drenched. Lecia was the total opposite. She was like the proverbial bird set free from the cage. She jumped right into the play area, darted in, out and around the different play zones and essentially went all around with lots of exuberance and glee.

Meanwhile, Faith was slowly warming up, and trying at times to frantically call out for Lecia, who was zapping all around the place. I should have bought my swimming costume and wore it under a shorts or something. Jaz and I were totally drenched, following the kids around. Frankly, we were all for getting wet. It was a great respite from the oppressive heat.

The most exciting part of the water play area was the huge water can that was hanging atop a structure. It would be filled with water and at certain intervals, there would be a bell whistle to alert the kids that the water can was about to brim over with water and send it splashing down below. At which point, all the kids would run to the middle and wait excitedly for the water to come rushing down.

We initially started with the 2 girls sitting on the outermost perimeter. With each time, we would sit a little closer to the action and as Jaz warned, the splatter of water from that huge can was rather impactful and hard. Faith was a little dazed after that particular hard drenching that we stuck to sitting out at the perimeters for the rest of the time.

Lecia? Well.. that girl is such a tyke and a little dynamo. She giggled and laughed through it all, got up after each drenching and ran off in whatever directions.

We played for about 45 minutes and took a break to eat some muffins, biscuits, cheese dippers and fruits. By the time we headed back to the play area after our little picnic, the water play area had gotten more crowded. We played for another half an hour before we had to haul the protesting kids for a shower and lunch.

We agreed to drive to Causeway Point for lunch and had Japanese. Faith had her usual of chawanmushi, some of my handroll (which I ordered so that she could have the nori that wraps the handroll) and shared some items of my bento. The kids also shared a kids meal of fish and chips.

We headed home around 3 pm and Faith fell asleep in the car, all tuckered out from the day's activity. It was an early night for both of us as I was equally tired. Louis came into the room at 10 pm to find the two of us deep in sleep :)

It was the most fun that we both had for such a long time. I hope we have the chance to visit a few more times with Lecia before the next school term and I start my part-time stint.