The Magic Island

Brought Asher to catch PLAYtime's The Magic Island at the Esplandae Theatres after school.  I thought that it was a good production in that the storyline was kept simple, the characters sufficiently engaging, and it was obvious the children enjoyed the programme.  Plus, the tickets aren't that expensive at $15.

The Recital Hall was set up with a platform in the middle (the island), four marked out areas for parents and children to sit, four more 'islands' in the outer perimeter, and a platform in front which, I suppose, was a hill. 

Basically the story is about a little girl who visits her big sister, and during her week-long visit tries to make friends with the animals she meets.  She eventually makes friends with Baby Monkey, Baby Tiger and Sally the vegetarian singing Snake.  It brings the children through a series of adventures such as a journey to Coconut Island, to Starfish Island, and learning how to swim. 

Asher was engaged throughout the performance, and I had to catch him back several times when he wanted to wander onto the stage, or didn't want to come back to my lap after an interactive portion where the children actually were allowed to go on stage :)  He particularly like Baby Tiger, and after the performance we walked around Esplanade looking for Baby Tiger to say hello.  I think he had fun, at least, he nodded his head when I asked him after if he did :)

Will definitely try to go for their other performances next time.

As usual, when we're at the Esplanade, we headed to the bayside to see the Merlion and watch the boats go by.  That day there were canoes, and even better, two eagles soaring above.  They even swooped down a couple of times to catch fish!  What a treat to watch.

Trying to be an eagle

 

We ended the outing with dinner at Ichiban Boshi.  The food there is always decent for the price, and I really like some of their sushi items.  I ordered an unagi-tofu-tempura set to share with Asher, and a side order of cha soba.  The set was hearty and I was happy with the variety of dishes it came with.  Besides the three mentioned above, it also came with miso soup, some pickles, chawanmushi, a bowl of rice and oranges.  The portion of unagi was generous and they gave an entire slab of tofu!  Asher eventually only wanted to munch some of my tempura, but walloped the soba, a mound of rice, the entire bowl of chawanmushi and the oranges.  Didn't realise he would like chawanmushi so much! 

Overall, a good outing :)