Year-end Family Staycation at Village Hotel Changi

Looking back...

The only new year resolution I made last year was to buy more "experiences" for the family instead of material possessions and looking back at the whole 12 months of 2014, I am proud to say that I have fulfilled my resolution with flying colours. This year, we ticked off 3 places out of the country from our travel bucket list and we provided our children many "first-time" experiences that I am sure they will treasure forever as their precious childhood memories.

The family completely relies on me when it comes to planning our travels, little adventures and staycations. This year, I was solely responsible in our travel to Malacca, Phuket and Krabi, the many little adventures in the sunny (and rainy Nov to Dec) island of Singapore and 2 staycations. Our first staycation was at Hard Rock Hotel, Singapore which was my gift to the workaholic hubby last Father's Day.

We had our second staycation at Village Hotel Changi, formerly known as Changi Village Hotel. I booked it sometime in July but had it rescheduled to the last weekend of 2014 due to our busyness when we started a tiny business in July. I am not gonna bore you with details on how we turned into money-making machines for 4 crazy months so let's skip that part.

Fast forward...

The night before our staycation...

K: Mom, I am so excited! Can I pack my own things? I looooooove going on a holiday!!!

MomMe: Sure baby girl! Go ahead.

G: We go to old house, Mama? (referring to the hotel we stayed at in Phuket, when we were there he called it our new house)

MomMe: No baby. We are going to a "new house".

So the next morning, we took a short taxi ride from home after breakfast and....

Tadaaaaaaaa! Welcome to our new home! LOL. Village Hotel Changi is located right in the heart of Changi Village. It is probably the only modern looking building in the area but fret not as the hotel literally and figuratively "offers a breath of fresh air from the other urban hotels in Singapore." Yes, that was what they said in their website but I swear it's true!

Before I tour you around the hotel, let me show you our room first...

Quite simple but every basic thing both parents and kids needed in a hotel was there except for toothbrush and toothpaste, which you can request free of charge. They probably just forgot to replenish it during housekeeping.

We managed to check in right away around 11am and the kids G did some traditional jumping on the hotel bed even before I was able to take a decent photo of the hotel room in mint condition.

The bathroom view from our room. It's clean enough not to make you cringe, although there are very visible crack lines in the (I suspect, cheap) bathroom sink.

As usual, we did some mandatory family photo opp inside our room which was at level 3 before going up to the infinity pool at Level 8.

Year end staycation.

A photo posted by CherrySC (@sweetmemoirs) on Dec 12, 2014 at 8:31pm PST

Can you spot a wedding venue (and busybody K) at the far end of the infinity pool?

Here's a closer look! I'd say the infinity pool is a perfect venue for a small and intimate wedding ceremony. It symbolizes love to infinity and beyond! Haha!

There aren't too many guests at the infinity pool so it sort of looked like we have it all to ourselves.

The infinity pool provides a stunning panoramic views of the scenic Changi Coast Line and the island of Pulau Ubin. Too bad I forgot to take a panoramic shot with my phone, because I was too busy capturing priceless moments of the kids with the hubby.

At around 2pm, we took a shower and went down to Saltwater Cafe to have our lunch slash high tea buffet.

Around 4pm, we went for a walk at Changi Beach Park to burn some excessive calories brought by all the holiday feasting since Christmas Day.

We end up checking out the new playground at the park and...

G flew a kite for the first time in the very same place K flew a kite for the first time too when she was 6 years old. Ahhhh, we love creating priceless childhood memories for our kids. Initially, the hubby bought just one kite from one of the provision stores at Changi Village but he went back to buy another one because K also wanted to fly a kite by herself.

Can you spot me, K and her kite? K was soooo happy she was able to fly her kite as high as the trees.

Happy kids = Happy parents.

After kite flying, we went back to our "new house" and before heading for dinner, the kids took a dip in the infinity pool again. This time around, I handed over the camera to the husband and joined the kids. We stayed in the pool until 8pm and went to the neighborhood hawker centre to eat dinner after showering.

Last breakfast buffet of the year. Pigging out is freakin' awesome yet freakin' scary at the same time. 🐷

A photo posted by CherrySC (@sweetmemoirs) on Dec 12, 2014 at 5:30pm PST

The next morning, we had buffet breakfast at Saltwater Cafe again. Yes, we basically pigged out to the max. Lol.

Sleep. Eat. Swim. Repeat.

A photo posted by CherrySC (@sweetmemoirs) on Dec 12, 2014 at 6:48pm PST

After breakfast, the kids tried the other hotel pool which is just outside the Saltwater Cafe (level 1).

The pool was deep for G so the husband had to accompany them while I documented their swimming session and...

❤️ from me to you. 💋

A photo posted by CherrySC (@sweetmemoirs) on Dec 12, 2014 at 7:20pm PST

did some camwhoring. Haha!

Eventually, they got bored at the see-through swimming pool downstairs so we went up to the infinity pool again and stayed there until it was about time to check out in the hotel.

Annnnnnnd, no vacation/staycation is complete without a bathtub moment! Haha!

We checked out around 2pm, left our things in the hotel while we went for kite flying and and brief playtime at the sand playground again. Went back to the hotel around 4pm to get our things back and took a taxi ride to our home-sweet-home.

Thanks and praises be to God for another well-spent and relaxing staycation and precious memories!