Happy 10th Bday

It had been 10 years, 10 long years. Where did all the time go? From the preemie baby, who was not much bigger than a palm (ok, Daddy Lim's huge palm size) to the cute little toddler, to the current somewhat independent girl.

Lil Shauna has always been living up to the role of the 1st born; responsible (most of the time) and striving to achieve the impossibly high standards that Mummy sets for her. The little angle comforts our poor heart when the boy makes parenting seems so difficult. Haha.

Her bday fell right on a Saturday and she has requested for no classes. It was a request that has to be granted especially after the gruelling SA1. Strangely, she woke up even before Daddy Lim and I even left for the morning ride when she finally had the chance to sleep in.

The kids were well told that bday parties ceased after the age of 7. While there are no parties, we met up with precious friends. We met the Chan family for lunch at the guild house. The kids love that place, especially the playroom, even when I am sure that they have totally outgrown the room. The sumptuous lunch was followed by 2 hours of KTV. The kids had been well-trained, especially with all the car karaoke that we had been doing for the past months. The 2 hours were fully utilised with the kids' belting their favourite tunes and with DJ Mummy in the house. "Put your hands in the air"!

After yelling into the mic for 2 hours, the last part was the longkang fishing at ORTO, which is again another specific request from the bday girl.

The kids (big and small) all had fun. Lil Shauna and Zaky were very much the experts as it was their 5th or 6th time. After they filled up their little tank, they happily helped to scoop fishes for QQ's tank.

The weather wasnt too kind and we were all perspiring in the shade. Daddy Lim was activated to buy an ice cream cake from North Point. Fortunately, we all had dinners to go to and had to "fish" the kids out of the pool after over an hour of fun.

Lil Shauna and Zaky were allowed to pick and bring home 5 fishes each. They carefully chose their pick. Lil Shauna based her choices on the fish color and vitality while Zaky only focused on selecting the fittest. The remaining catches were returned to the pond.

Finally, it was time for the cake. While Lil Shauna had requested for a fruit cake, nothing was more comforting than an ice cream cake in that weather. Tadah!

Auntie H said that it looked more like my bday. Lol. Of course I had to take perfect care of the ice cream cake; I was guarding it with my life! Everyone was yearning longingly for a slice in that weather.

Happy bday baby!

The ice cream cake was so in demand. We got a 1kg cake and there was no worries of having leftovers. Zaly had 3 servings and would have come back for more if we hadnt stopped him.

We left ORTO at about 6pm with happy kids and fishes and headed to nainai's house for dinner. We didnt stay too long bcos we were all in desperate need for a good shower and also to save the fishes from suffocation. Two of Lil Shauna's fish died while we were at nainai's place.

The bday girl had a great time. Despite the fact that there was no elaborated bday party, she had a lot of fun with her friends. Zaky started asking when is his bday coming.... in another 6 months' time. Haha.

Mummy Lim

Jersey... Power!

When we joined the WWF group a few months back, they were just advertising their jersey. Seriously, I am not a jersey person but Daddy Lim was keen. He said that it would nice for us to wear the same jersey. Ok lor.

Fast forward to now and we just collected our matchy-matchy jersey last week. I swear that he looked much better in it. I thought I looked like a bah chang.

We went for Saturday's morning ride in the new jerseys. It was a straight 35km ride with no break; they were trying to train people up for Round Island (RI), where the 1st 35km is usually without break.

We survived the 35km fine even when they went faster than usual enroute to the turnaround point. Oooo... I now realised how color coordinated I am. Hehe. The jersey blue matches my blue bike. The jersey takes some getting used to though. It was a freaking humid morning and the jersey stuck to me when we stopped at thd traffic light. Zzzz.

Mummy Lim

It is Over!

SA1 is finally over!!!
I was in such good mood yday that I wanted to shop and spend $$. Lol.

The kids were busy playing soccer with their friends at the basketball court when I reached home. Sure. Clearly, they were not the only ones celebrating.

The kids asked to go JP after sweating out at the court. Sure. I even offered to bring them to Popular to buy the 265th pen that Lil Shauna needed. Zaky got a treat of Famous Amos cookies.

My mood was so good that the not very ideal results didnt quite dampen it. Yes, the kids already came home with some not very good news on their results. Well, there isnt anything that we can do about it now, right?

Just let me enjoy the "after SA1" feeling for the weekend. Let's fret about the results next week. My poor heart.

Mummy Lim

The Dreadful SA1

Last SA1, the kids were largely left on their own. Most of the revisions were left to their school and enrichment classes teachers while I concentrated on Chinese, simply going through the list of 生字.

Lil Shauna's SA1 results told me that there were more to be done. She was put back for chinese classes and from fellow mummies, I discovered the beautiful world of free exam test papers from good schools. The kids started working on these papers to prep for last year's SA2 and I think they did help.

Given the effectiveness of the test papers, of course we had to do the same this SA1. The preparation started about 3 weeks back and the intensity increased as we neared the exam week.

While Zaky's P2 papers were short and simple, Lil Shauna's papers were many pages long each. Zaky could easily chomp 2 papers in the span of 30 mins but Lil Shauna had to commit twice the time just to struggle with 1. It didnt help that her Chinese just became doubly hard. Arrggghhh. This period had been so horrible, especially the last few days. Boo!

Our last weekend was spent mugging papers, much to the kids' protest and dismay. I can only remind them of their impending freedom once the week is over. Seriously, I am looking forward to the end of SA1 as much (if not more) than they do. While they mugged the papers, I was sitting beside them. Luckily I had my Suduku book to accompany me. Then I had to mark their papers and explained the wrong answers to kids who couldnt be bothered. Zzzzz. Hit repeat mode x 2 kids. Vomit blood.... a lot of blood.

To add on the pain, Lil Shauna had not been too cooperative. I think her teacher at school has also been drilling them; she had been coming home with many completed past years' papers. She is probably so sick and tired of doing papers. Moreover, Zaky seems to be let off easier while she needed so much more effort. In her pain, it doesnt matter if it is bcos Zaky is in P2 and it is definitely an easier year. As a result, she had threw so many tantrums and shed so much tears over this period. So much that I lost count. Yes, we are talking about the usually angelic and cooperative Lil Shauna.

Today is the beginning of their written papers. Our agony will be over when Thursday ends. I have never like Thursday as much as I do now.

Mummy Lim

The Supposedly 40km Ride

On the eve of Labor Day, the WWF went for a round island (RI) ride. It started at 8pm from Pioneer cc and all the way to Changi Village for supper before back to JW, clocking a whooping 100km!

Daddy Lim and I were tempted but had to forgo for 2 reasons.

1. We have never even hit 40km before and didnt know if we could survive 100km; and
2. Even if we did survive, the ride would last late into the night and we would die the next day trying to man active kids.

The WWF kakis are really nice and took it upon themselves to help us train up our endurance. They planned for a 40km ride last Saturday, all the way to Lao Pa Sat for bfast and back. They even intended to slowly increase the distant so that we can one day join them for RI! Hehehe. I was so looking forward to the ride - my 1st 40km!

It was threatening to rain in the morning and got me quite worried. Fortunately, the sky held and we rolled all the way to LPS. The idea of bfast kept us going. Hehe.

There werent many stalls opened but it was the companion that matters.

After the break, we rolled all the way back to JW. Right when we hit Lakeside, the sky started pouring. Daddy Lim and I completed the last leg in the rain and our bikes were washed sparkly clean.

Overall, the ride was about 40ish km. However, my Fitbit chose to lose connectivity midway and I was bloody hell stuck at 39.1km!!!!!! Boohoo! No 40km record. One day, just one day... I will record my 40km. Surprisingly, the ride didnt feel any longer than the previous ones. I bet it had to do with the slower speed and the mostly flats.

Mummy Lim

Ice Skating 118: This Is No Big Deal

Coach Raymond sent the edited version of the music over whatsapp. This is getting exciting! I was right in guessing that he would start teaching Lil Shauna tha program during lesson.

Practice wasnt fantastic; she did better last week. Maybe it was bcos she wasnt wearing her magical jacket. She was already perspiring after warm up and yours truely benefitted. Yes, I am Shauna Lim. Hoho. I looked like a skater, dont I?

The last competition (2 years back), I had to help Lil Shauna record down the footwork. Now that she is older and much competent, I had asked her to memorise them herself. Well, I did help her to video it down in case she needed to recall the steps later.

While learning, she looked like a mess and not fully stroking. Coach Raymond added in some dance moves to compliment the "It's no big deal, this is not big deal" catch phase and he was so much "cuter" than Lil Shauna. Zzzzzz. The rest of the class was spent on her sit and camel spins and flip jumps.

Of course she had to go back after class to revise what was taught for the program. She claimed that she couldnt do those cute moves bcos she was shy. I wanted to vomit blood and gave her a thrashing. She was made to pose in front of the toilet full length mirror until she was "not shy" anymore. After all, all eyes will be on her on the competition day and there is no allowance for "shyness".

What was taught was only 30s of the song and she has 1 min more to go. Moreover, she has to cover the entire rink during the program, which will mean that she has to stroke harder and go faster. Good luck!

Mummy Lim

Love from Near and Far

Ah Kim must have realised my love for back pack and that was exactly what I got for my bday.

This is perfect for dress-down Friday, especially when I get so frustrated lugging my laptop. My poor shoulder.

Ah yee sent her love from afar. It was really far and the parcel took a long time to arrive... even when it was ordered a long time back from the shop in Singapore. Lol.

Finally! Delivered to the pop box.

I can totally feel the love from far away.

Now, I need another charm to balance up the other side. *evil grin*

Mummy Lim

Coney Island Adventure

We decided to visit the Coney Island on Labor Day. We read that the island opens from 7am to 7pm and wanted to do an early visit to avoid the heat.

As usual, the kids got out of bed easily when there are excitements taking place.

It looked like the perfect morning already.

We got out of the house at about 7am. The logistics was somewhat of a nightmare though. Daddy Lim had started preparing the night before, removing the kids' bike front wheel and stuffing the bikes into the boot. The 30kg hitch was also lugged out of the storeroom and fixed up the night before.

Water - checked.
Snacks - checked.
Bikes - checked.
Helmets - checked.
Kids - checked.

After the logistics nightmare, the adults' bikes were finally loaded.

Lil Shauna happily helped to model the spare car plate.

Daddy Lim was already perspiring away when we were finally ready to drive off.

Regardless of how excited we were, we remembered to fill our tummies before the adventure and stopped at one of the parents' favorite kopitiams for an authentic Sgp bfast.

Afterwhich, we finally began our long journey to the Punggol settlement. Daddy Lim was driving slower than usual for fear of losing our precious bikes. Lol. Lil Shauna had the privilege to take my usual seat.

Bcos I had to squeeze in between Zaky....

And the kids' bikes!

It took us about 30 mins to arrive at the destination. Daddy Lim sweat it out again offloading the bikes and fixing up the wheels. I was super busy too... applying sunblock and insect repellents on everybody. Important job leh.

Finally!!!! The weather was fantastic. It was cloudy and cool, just like how we prayed for.

I was told that it was gravel tracks. I think the many cyclists and hikers before us had turned it into dirt tracks.

My MTB finally went on trail!! Lol. It was easy trail with mostly flats.

We explored the different "beaches"; they were very tiny beaches. Zaky was eager to leave each time bcos there were warning for sandflies and he didnt want to be bitten.

I was surprised to realise how small the island is and we reached the end very quickly.

We proceeded on the Punggol PCN and ended up cycling longer on the PCN than the island.

The PCN was a smooth ride, along the canel in the cool weather. We stopped by for some playground break.

Then stopped again at the waterplay. The boy decided that it was Ok to get wet and ride wet. Zzzzzz.

We left when the sky threatened to pour and were caught in the rain. We stopped to take shelter when it poured and started riding in the drizzle. It was another adventure riding again in the rain - the kids' 1st experience and they had much fun. We were not exactly wet except for the boy but not by the rain.

By the time we were back to the Punggol Settlement, it was almost 11.30am and the sun was high up in the sky. We tried to lure the kids for round 2 Coney Island only to meet violent objections from the tired and hungry boy.

It was another logistic nightmare to load the bikes onto the car. Daddy Lim was pouring sweat; more sweat than the earlier ride. Lol.

While he was busy with the bikes, we had a realisation - I can buy my new roadie bike already.

Lil Shauna can now ride my bike and handle it well. Hohoho.

The way home was very peaceful bcos we had very tired kids. Even Lil Shauna fell asleep when she usually doesnt.

Overall, it was a nice little adventure but a little too short. Next stop - Pulau Ubin!

Mummy Lim

Sunday Ride after A Long Time

Daddy Lim and I have beautiful bikes. We upgraded the kids' bikes in hope that they would ride with us. They did.... when we 1st bought them their bikes. Then there are simply more exciting things for the kids to do.

After a long hitaus, it is time to bring the bikes out and get some sun. We brought the kids for a lovely Sunday morning ride.

It was the usual PCN route. We had to coax the kids to ride to the other end of the spiral bridge. They still cannot do distant. Zaky was so grouchy and only agreed to ride bcos I lured him with snacks. Lol.

We had water break and built some energy before we rode for bfast - Mac at Tradehub 21.

We did a little "trail" too.

The ride back was easy. It was only about 15.5km in total. Daddy Lim suggested to clock some distant at the Jurong Park. The kids were distracted by the playground, leaving me to clock the distant. Lol.

Total clocked - 20km. Hehe.

Mummy Lim