A Day of Family Fun at Westgate Summer Camp

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We are halfway through the June School Holidays and as expected, the shopping malls in Singapore are abuzz with plenty of activities to keep the kiddos entertained. And rather than the usual Meet & Greet shows, Westgate kept the kids physically active last year with its Westgate Summer Camp which allowed kids to try various games and sports, like rock-climbing, soccer shoot-out, human pool ball and bowling.

GREAT NEWS! Westgate Summer Camp returns this June School Holidays for a month of fun and adventure with The Adventure Edition! Held on 2 to 4, 16 to 18 and 23 to 26 June 2017 at The Courtyard, a range of outdoor activities in the form of an elaborate obstacle course wait the young adults.

All you have to do is to spend a minimum of $80 (or $60 for American Express® CapitaCard members) to redeem a Westgate Summer Camp ticket. Each ticket allows one child - recommended for ages 3 to 12 - to go on the 3-station mini obstacle course.

Any wonder that the monkies could not wait to go through the obstacle course the moment they set their eyes on it???

First up, the swinging platforms which the monkies cleared it rather effortlessly.

Next, they scaled up the rope structure... I had a feeling that the training they underwent at the recent Army Open House helped. Heh.

The final Tyre Hop station had them traverse from one end of the tyres to the opposite end, one after the other.

Upon completion of the obstacle course, be sure to flock to the redemption booth to collect the limited souvenir badges which the kids can pin on a sash.

And with the presence of a photo booth beside the obstacle course, the monkies could not pass up the chance to pose for a wacky photo!

But wait, the Westgate Summer Camp ticket also entitles each child to a craft session at The Courtyard too!

The craft workshops change the type of craft work weekly but while we were there, the monkies tried their hand at making their own animal bookmarks.

An experienced facilitator was present to guide the monkies and I have to say, the end products were just too cute! Definitely a craft item that would come in useful at home.

Okay, so not only does one Westgate Summer Camp ticket let a child have a go at the Obstacle Course and get all crafty at the art workshop, he or she also gets to play an arcade game to round off a day of fun!

Which the monkies obviously needed no invitation to play. LOL.

And if you are heading to Westgate this weekend (10 & 11 June), the Army Museum of Singapore is bringing a portion of its activities to the shopping mall as part of Children's Season Singapore 2017!

Kids get to try on child-sized Army uniforms, complete with props at the Be a Soldier session (Session 1: 2pm-4pm / Session 2: 7pm-9pm).

More crafts are in store for the little ones at Soldier Craft (Session 1: 10am-2pm / Session 2: 4pm-7pm) where they can take part in raft activities and learn about different roles soldiers take on – security trooper, tank commander, Explosives Ordnance Disposal Unit (EOD), and more. Get to know more about a key player in the MWDU (Military Working Dog Unit), the military working dog too!

Feeling hungry after all the activities? We certainly did! Fortunately, we can still count on Westgate’s newest cafes and restaurants to fill our growling bellies. And we did just that at Masizzim, a hip casual Korean restaurant.

Pronounced as ma-see-zim, the restaurant's signature dish is its stews... which comes with a 4-step ordering process:

1. Choose beef, pork or spicy chicken
2. Soy or Spicy from Levels 1 to 4
3. Choose noodles – Korean style udon or glass noodles
4. Choose optional add-ons such as cheese, toppoki, or extra noodles.

Since the monkies were with me, I chose the soy-based Beef Rib Stew ($18.80 for one person & $32.80 for two persons) with glass noodles. AND IT WAS SO GOOD. Or least that was what Ash and Ayd declared.

The beef was very well marinated and tender but the clincher was the soup which is made from an umami blend of soy sauce, pineapples and Korean pear.

In terms of fun dishes, the Rice Ball dish takes the cake. Yes, it is no typo - the dish is Rice BALL, not Rice Bowl.

Reason being you got to 'work' for the dish. We had the Crabmeat & Roe Rice Ball ($10.80) which required the monkies to don a glove and mix the ingredients using hands!

Once the ingredients are nicely mixed, the mmonkies then moulded the mixture into rice balls and popped them into their mouths. Playing with food has never been this fun - and legit!

Another best seller is the Potato Pancake ($12.80) which is a crispy Korean pancake fried with potato and soya marinade.

This was a hit with Ale, who had THREE servings of the pancake!

But the unanimous dish of the day at Masizzim belonged to this unassuming egg roll.

But this was no ordinary egg roll. It is the Honey Mustard Cheese Egg Roll ($9.80) which consists of fluffy rolled omelette drizzled with honey mustard sauce and oozing with melted mozzarella cheese.

Pure heaven. But you probably already knew that from Ale's expression.

And we washed everything down with Masizzim's signature drink, Grapefruit Yogurt. The kids were no fans of grapefruit, but this drink was so refreshing that I only got to savour one miserable cup in the end. Drats.

One would have thought that the monkies would be full after all the food BUT no, there is always room for desserts at the newly-opened Bojio Cafe! Famed for its very instagrammable Lava and Shibuya toasts, it certainly got the monkies' undivided attention when our toast was literally set ablaze with a blow torch!

The Charcoal Lava Toast with Mentaiko ($18.90) was a wonderful surprise mix of sweet and savoury flavours. Cutting into the crusty toast allowed the rich mentaiko sauce to seep out, drenching the toast in savoury lava. Paired with the Gula Melaka ice cream, this unique dish is good enough to be a meal on its own.

If the monkies thought that watching their toast get torched was interesting, seeing a stream of gooey cheese flow from a Swiss raclette onto a thick toast was strangely satisfying.

The Raclette Cheese Toast ($18.90) had hot and stretchy cheese dripping over the sides of the thick Shibuya toast, ensuring that the toast is encapsulated with the cheesy goodness.

The monkies didn't enjoy this dish as much as the mentaiko one though, probably because the cheese taste was a tad strong for their tastebuds. But there is always the Charcoal ice cream to save the day!

Rounding the June School Holidays activities at Westgate is the Isetan Summer Hokkaido Fair, which will be taking place from now until 19 June 2017 at the B1 Atrium.

Expect to sample a variety of Hokkaido delicacies such as Hokkaido Kukubo (assorted Matcha cakes), Shiroi Koibito cookies and ice-cream!

And a day out at Westgate will not be complete if the monkies did not visit the FREE Westgate Wonderland, Singapore’s largest thematic outdoor playground, on Level 4.

Now that is what I call maximising a day of fun during the school holidays!

For more information, visit Westgate's website. Like Westgate's Facebook page and follow its Instagram page (@westgatesg) for more updates and promotions!