Weekend rambles at Wämöparken

Weekends are precious family bonding days.

On weekend mornings, we like to take Angel out, be it whirling down the slides at the playground, taking a hike through the woods, soaking in the heated indoor pool, or simply sauntering in the parks. One of our favourite hangouts is Wämöparken, a nice little park which is merely a five minutes drive from our home.

My little girl is always raring to go and gets overly enthusiastic whenever we tell her that we are going 'gai gai' (meaning to go out). Nowadays, she even chooses which shirt she wants to put on, which shoes to wear and which hat to don. Well, even if it looks like a ultimate mismatch, I still like to let her have a say. Most of the time.

This is the gate at the entrance to Wämöparken, which opened in 1910 and had just celebrated its 100th anniversary last year. The park has a history as a military training area and a meeting place for the labour movement during its emergence in the late 1800s. Nowadays, it serves as an ideal place for family outings with its mini zoo and playground, or as a conference venue with its meeting rooms and coffee houses. Well, obviously I fall in the former category since my sole occupation is a mum now and boring business meetings are bygones.

The park, with its abundance of greenery, lake and blossoms, provides a sense of tranquility. On some weekends, there is even a flea market set up where the locals would be selling second hand merchandise. From clothes, books, ornaments to household goods, there is a variety of good quality and inexpensive items you can get here.

That said, our favourite activity in Wämöparken is not lazing on the grass and having a picnic, nor is it rummaging around for cheap goods. What we love to do best is to visit the mini zoo and feed the animals with bread, fruits or whatever scraps we have left at home.

Well, which kid doesn't love animals? At least, I do, jw does and Angel definitely adores them.

So, introducing our friends at Wämöparken.


1) The pigs that go oink oink

There was an addition of 12 cute little piglets this year, much to our delight. It just means that we have more pigs to feed and to watch! By the way, you would be surprised that even pigs could be fussy in their diet, sometimes they take a sniff at our bread but ignored it thereafter and moved on to the more delicious looking fruits and vegetables given by their caretaker. Yeah, good life they have here.


2) The roosters that go cock-a-doodle-doo and hens that go pok-pok

It's sometimes a little scary to see Angel feeding the roosters and hens because she would stick her fingers inside the cage and it seems like the animals could use their pointed beaks to peck at her anytime. Still, this has not happened yet and so we are not going to deprive our little girl of feeding these little creatures just because of our worry which may be uncalled for. I'm just thinking of cutting the bread into long 10cm strips next time or teaching Angel to use a tweezer.


3) The bunnies that go sniff sniff

We used to have rabbits back at home in Singapore and so it's great to be able to come up close with these long-eared, cute little animals. Despite living outdoors, they still looked rather well-groomed and their fur was soft to touch. Just like the pigs, I think they lead quite a good life too because there are always food leftovers in their cages. They can even be selective about which brand of carrot they want to eat because they get so many of them.


4) The goats that go meh meh

The goats have very distinctive features and some of them really look a little humanlike. There's one goat in particular whom we call him as the 大长老 because he has the biggest rams and longest fur. It's also evident that he's the most respected (and somewhat feared) goat around because whenever he comes storming in, the others would make space for him or even scurry away. So he pretty much gets to eat whatever he pleases.

Other than the mini zoo, there's also a playground at the park which is a hit with the kids. Angel especially loves the huge, round swing which we sometimes have to queue up for just to let her have her share of fun on it. One of the greatest joys of being a mum is when you see that beaming smile on your child's lovely face and feel the warmth in your heart.

A fun activity we invented for Angel to play in Wämöparken is what I call the "Match the colour" game. There is a giant chess set and a giant 飞机棋 (flight game) set located near the gate. Angel was intrigued by the colourful pieces since the first time she set her eyes on it. However, instead of throwing the dice and moving the pieces accordingly (which is virtually impossible for a 20-month kid unless he/she is a genius), she likes to carry the pieces around and place them all over the board. 

So, we would ask her to put the pieces on the matching colours of red, blue, yellow and green squares respectively. A rule was that she could only place one piece on one square at a time so we made sure that she had to move around the board to find some empty squares. Well, she really has loads of fun each time she plays it.

Come to think of it, it's also a pretty good exercise for her biceps because let's just say these wooden pieces aren't as light as a feather and my ambitious little girl likes to carry one in each hand. Who knows, she might be the next Tan Howe Liang and bring home an Olympic medal to Singapore in weightlifting next time.

Till our next family outing!