Lounging at Kallang Riverside...

What does a mother, on a Saturday when she doesn't have dance class because the instructor is out of town and has 2 bored children bouncing against the walls at home do?

Well it has to be something that is relatively low in budget, convenient, relaxing for the mom and fun for the kids all at the same time.

What do we do? We go to Kallang Riverside!

Its only 2 bus stops away from where we live, so the only thing we had to bring were snacks and bus fare!

Cheap? *tick* Convenient? *tick* Relaxing? *tick* and Fun? *tick* - OK. GO! At 2pm when I assessed that the sun wasn't burning hot, I yelled, go get your swimming suits! This was followed by a flurry of cheers and alot of scrambling to put their stuff together!! "Can we bring toys?! Can we? Can we?! Huh? Huh? Huh? Mommy please?!"

And so we packed and left. And I took the opportunity to try on a Bikini set today too! Whoot! I only realised the duo-toned boobs this evening when the pictures were uploaded and it was a sunny day too so all the pictures have us sweating alot. But sweating is better than burning at least!

-.-'' Looks like I need some serious suntanning soon.

The last time we went there, I ended up FRIED. Entry to that can be found HERE.

So this time, I made sure that I brought a REALLY GOOD sunblock and my umbrella. The only thing we forgot however was one of the most crucial. The Ground Mat. Which we only realised that we forgot it when we reached the riverside. Damn! I had to sit on plastic bags. Again. :( Must remember to bring the mat next time so I can lay out, lounge, watch the clouds roll by and read my books on the pokey grass!

So food was cake bread, prawn crackers, digestive cookies and water. And for entertainment... my phone fully loaded with my favourite tracks to add to the ambience of the lazy afternoon.

And it was off to play! Scoops and buckets to make little sand castles and for shell collecting.

Eirian was quite pleased enough to play in the sand and take pails of water to douse her area so she could mold the sand into various little shapes.

Lauren on the other hand, decided she wanted to go fishing and she did! She proudly caught 8 little tiny fishes and brought them home in the pail.

In the course of our explorations by the waterside, I saw a partially covered lump by the shore and went to prod it and realised that it was a fish! I saw bubbles by the side and realised that it was still alive so I shoved it back into the water.

It was alive! And it swam about happily for a moment and then...

IT SWAM BACK and plonked itself onto the dry shore. AGAIN. I thought it was weird and maybe strange coincidence. So I shoved it back into the water and it swam about again and CAME BACK and plonked itself on the shore AGAIN! WTF!

I squat down and prodded it and it let me prod it. And I picked it up and stared at it. It looked like it was alright. So I flung it deeper into the water. And...

Thats right. It swam back. KNN.....

I did that 10 times. 10 times, it swam back and flung itself onto the shore. WTF! Spastic fish or what?! Was it so depressed that it was trying to kill itself?!?

Anyone know what kind of fish this is? Or is this some kind of amphibian that is trying to get to shore and mutate and is not actually a fish but a strange giant frog mutation?

I picked it up again before I attempted one last throw into the water and took its picture. Not surprisingly, it returned so I gave up. WTF. Weird fish. It sat by the shore while I watched it from the grassline. I made one last attempt before we left to leave it PARTIALLY in the water at least to keep it hydrated and not dry out on the sand.

The Kallang Riverside is simple to locate. Its a 5 minutes walk from Kallang MRT station or you can drive and park by the roadside and enjoy the afternoon there.

Other than being a serenely quiet place, there is also the convenience of having a washroom/toilet nearby so you can wash off the sand and relieve yourself if necessary!

The sandy areas aren't too clean but its clear enough for older children like mine to watch out and be wary where they step and not stamp on bottle caps and other potentially harmful objects.

The most noise you would hear are maybe the dragon boaters practicing their rounds around the lake or perhaps on some days, wakeboarders doing their laps with the light buzzing sound of the motor boats dragging them along the river.

So thats about it for us lounging at the Kallang Riverside today. If you have kids and are looking for something to do and can appreciate some mindless lounging in a windy open space, go check out the riverside. Who knows, you might catch us there too! :)