Ice Skating 121: Music Please!

With the program fully learnt, the next step is the accompanying music. For almost the entire lesson, Coach Raymond was following Lil Shauna with the speaker.

The key is to remember specific move with specific part of the music. Lil Shauna said that she was too fast. Of course she was bcos she was on 1/3 ice. Haha. 

Coach Raymond went through 2/3 of her program with music. The rest of the lesson was spent on practicing her sit spin. 

We didnt spend extra time practicing. There wasnt much help bcos it was 1/3 ice and wouldnt improve her program.

Lil Shauna has a lot more to work on. While she can remember all her steps, she is seriously lacking that rythme in her dance steps; she is 木头人. Zzzzzzz. How come she never inherit my dancing genes? Must have inherited Daddy Lim's. Lol.

Mummy Lim

Dinner and Dance: Japan Night

I had to miss the Company D&D bcos Popo was going on a cruise with my brother's family. Then, a few days before the event, I decided to go and "show face". I had less than a week to decide what to wear. Daddy Lim was also given the challenge to manage the kids singlehandedly. I was quite worried.

After some quick discussions with my young colleagues, we have decided to go Japanese Goth. Nice, bcos it is mainly black and I have plenty of black. Muahahaha. I could put something together in a couple of days and didnt have to spend too much. Total spent: $3.90 choker and $4.90 hair accessory. Yay!

The D&D was held at the Intercontinental Hotel. I took a Grab Hitch and had to apologise to the driver bcos I was in my crazy outfit. D&D lah. Look at the big crazy flower. Muahahaha.

I was definitely not the only one who put up an effort.

With my young colleagues - Goth style..

My HR colleagues.

The best dressed.

While I was enjoying myself, Daddy Lim brought the kids cycling in town against the beautiful landscape! I was very impressed that he managed both kids and came back with 2. Hehe. The kids had a wonderful time.

He parked at ECP and I decided to leave early to join them. I found a cab and it was 10.30pm. I asked the taxi uncle to send me to ECP B1 carpark and he gave me funny looks. Lol. He asked me if there were specific landmark and had thought that I was heading to some KTV pub in ECP bcos of my "funky" outfit. Yes, the flower was still in my hair. Haha.

I met up with them safely and ended the long day with MacD supper. Daddy Lim specifically asked me to take down the flower in my hair. Hahahaha.

Mummy Lim

Ice Skating 120: 1st Ever SISA Ice

Bcos her competition will be on full ice, we needed to train on full ice. As such, we had our 1st ever SISA ice lesson since Lil Shauna started skating 4 years back. We have never attempted that bcos the lesson is usually full hour and the girl barely has stamina for her weekly half hourly class, let alone full hour. The class is also slightly more expensive.

We felt a little lost with our 1st SISA ice time and followed the crowd. The lesson was spent piecing the program together since she has only skated and practiced on 1/3 ice so far. It wasnt too bad; she remembered the program! The program that Coach Raymond had put together is probably considered fairly easy given that she is borderlinely squeezing into this level.

She was in her skirt bcos her pants was in the wash and it was getting a little tight. Lol. While she enjoys wearing her pants, I love her in her little skirt. So cute and pretty!

Coach Raymond also made slight changes to some of the dance steps and added some hands movement. While there was no music, she managed to practice the program on full ice a few times. The rest of the time was spent on refining her spins.

Some of her peers were also practicing her program and they were so good. Not only were they very energetic, I would give them full scores on their expression. I was glad that Lil Shauna peeked at them during lesson bcos that is the kind of standard that she needed to achieve.

We took the mrt home after class at 8.30pm and she was drained.

More torturing to come!

Mummy Lim

The Last Grading Test.... or Maybe Not?

After 6 months of hard work (and a squeezed in extra lesson), it was finally D day.

The last grading test, the tester was extra strict and taking longer than usual, resulting in a long wait. The extra waiting time should mean more practice, which was a good thing. But the boy threw a huge tantrum bcos his uniform was too small and the guards, particularly the groin one, were uncomfortable. There were tears and whinning and I was worried that he would refuse to proceed with the grading test. Luckily it all turned out well and he passed the grading test.

This time round, it was much better. His new uniform is so much bigger and comfortable. We also sneaked off the dreadful groin guard. Zaky specifically told us not to turn up too early in case he cried again. What.....

When we arrived 30 mins before the grading test, the red belts were already entering the exam hall and his black tip mates were practising. He quickly changed and joined them.

Practice started soon after.

Bcos this grading test flow was so smooth, he was soon asked to standby to enter the grading hall. Then, it was a long wait for us. He was in the grading hall for a long, long time.

Finally!

He said that he didnt know if he had done well enough to pass the grading test. I hope so!

Some months back, Zaky said that he would stop if he attained his junior black belt and would take one more attempt if he fails. Now, he said the opposite and would like to continue if he passes and stops if otherwise. Haha. Let's see how it all turns out in 2 weeks' time.

Mummy Lim

The Fish that Committed Suicide

It had been more than a week since we brought the fishes home and they looked like they are surviving well under the kids' care. The kids had been feeding and fish and even taking charge of water changing. I am impressed, particularly with Zaky who usually orchestrated the water changing.

We have 6 fishes left after 1 week. Then on Sunday morning, I saw only 5. I had thought that one must have died in the night and Popo was so nice to remove the dead fish to make it less traumatised for the kids.

While I was getting around with my stuff, I suddenly realised that it wasnt Popo who removed the fish....

This is the crime scene. Can you see the dead fish?

The fish has apparently committed suicide.

It probably jumped out of the tank and suffered a slow and painful death. We didnt dare to leave the lid off after that. Poor fish.

Mummy Lim

My "1st" 40km

Woohoo! I have finally clocked 40km on my Fitbit!

We did 40km with the WWF 2 weeks back too but my Fitbit is well known to "eat" and clock shorter than the actual distant. Additionally, I lost connectivity for a good 2km and ended up with 39.11km registered on my Fitbit. The others' Strava showed a good 40km but I was so near yet so far. Boo. I tried cycling the Centris carpark but gave up bcos it was too warm and stuffy.

This trip, Daddy Lim clocked 44km on his Strava. My Fitbit doesnt have a start-stop function and I have to manually pause the Fitbit in order tp get a more accurate average speed. I think I missed starting the Fitbit after one of the traffic lights and lost about 3km. Heart pain.

When we arrived back at MacD for bfast with the WWF, I was 100m short of the big 4-0. One of the cyclists was very kind and offered to cycle just that 100m with me. I was too hungry. Hohoho. Moreover, I was sure that MacD was more than 100m from home.

I was careful to ensure that my Fitbit was connected to my phone when riding home. I was checking constantly; I need that 100m. Lol.

Tadah! My 1st official 40km!

Mummy Lim

Ice Skating 119: Program All Done and Footwork Workshop

We didnt have class last week bcos it was the Princess' bday. We did go back on the ice on Sunday to practice the program. With all the practice on and off ice, she has memorised it quite well. That is 1/3 of the program done. Yeah!

We had expected Coach Raymond to teach her the remaining program and we were right. Soon after class started, she signalled me to video her so that she can revise later.

For 2 days in a roll, my role had been reduced to a videographer - 1 day to film Zaky and the next on Lil Shauna. Two years ago, I had to help Lil Shauna to record the program on paper and helped her to memorise and practice. Now, her footwork is so advanced and complicated (in my perspective) that I got confused merely by videoing. No joke! I was hoping that she knows and remembers what were taught bcos I have simply no idea what was going on. What I can see is the amount of practice that she would need bcos she looked like her blades were rusty while on the ice. Haha.

At the end of the class, Lil Shauna said that Coach Raymond has finished teaching her the entire program and she remembers it. Heng ah. Lol. She willingly went back to the ice after resurfacing to recall the steps.

Bcos the program was taught on 1/3 ice but her exact competition is on full ice, she could only revise the steps based on the space available. We left after 2 rounds, when she was satisfied that she could remember the steps.

Coach Raymond saw us after class and asked if we could do an additional SISA ice lesson. SISA ice time takes place during the rink closed hours, so that the entire ice will be reserved for figure skaters. We have already booked 2 lessons and Coach Raymond reckoned that we needed 1 more (at least) after seeing her progress on Saturday. Hahaha. I think so too. Her 1st SISA ice lesson on coming Wednesday evening will be used to do the program in full and on full ice. How exciting! She will have to push much harder and skate much faster to be able to cover full ice.

That was not the end of ice skating for the day. I have signed her up for her 1st ice skating workshop that was organised by her ice skating club. The only irritating thing was that the workshop started at 10.45pm!

We had a full day's activity and Lil Shauna sneaked a nap at 8pm. She had to be dragged out of bed at 10pm and we made our way to the rink. She was half asleep in the car. Poor thing.

We saw many familiar faces at the workshop and she got to skate with her friends for warmup.

Like the name suggested, the workshop was on footwork. The Coach was impressive.

Again, I was busy taking videos. The intention was to show Lil Shauna how the Caoch and some of her peers were constantly holding up their arms and what a world of difference that made in presentation. Through the videos, it was also obvious how little she had been pushing and stroking and her constantly looking down.

The workshop finally ended at 11.45pm.

I was so tired and desperate to get home. I am hoping that she would put what she learnt to good use!

Mummy Lim

恶补

Zaky's will be having his grading test on Sunday. If he passed that, he will be recieving his junior black belt!

To be eligible for the test, he had to take at least 20 lessons, which meant 6 months of weekly class. It will mean another 6 months' wait if he fails this one. With a few days before the grading test, we had asked Zaky if he was ready, he said that he wasnt!! What??? Much as we would want to practice with him at home, we have no idea if what he was doing was correct.

The solution? A last minute extra class.

It had been a long time since I have seen him in his TKD class as it clashes with jiejie's off ice. My job of the day was the videographer. I video what he did in class so that he could revise at home if need be. Actually, he wasnt too bad!

Mummy Lim

The Little Fishes

Our fishes didnt last very long in the previous longkang fishing trips. There were even occasions that we "fed" them.... I mean put them directly into the Centris koi pond after the trip. At least the kois were happy to have companion... the kois kept them very safe in the tummies. Haha.

This trip, we didnt intend to keep the fishes too but Zaky pleaded to do so for just 1 day. Ok lor. We did that on one of the previous occasion too and the fishes died after a fee days. 

Zaky gave the fishes human bread that very night and the water soon turned all murky. It was damned gross and I just had to change the water. We left a tankful of tap water overnight to let the cholrine evaporate.

On Saturday morning, Zaky was helpful and did most of the water changing. He even told me about the need to transfer some of the "old" water to the new tank and getting the fishes used to the new water (temperature?) for 30 mins before completing the transfer. I think Daddy Lim taught him that. 

The fishes appeared to adapt well to the new water, which turned murky too bcos of the bread food. Zzzzz.

Bcos it was too tedious to be leaving tankful of water out every night and changing water every day, we did a small investment and bought some anti-cholrine solution (or whatever it is called) and proper fish food from the pet shop. Daddy Lim and Zaky even took the initiative to change the water on Sunday. The water is now so much clearer even after feeds. Hehehe. 

So far, the fishes looked really healthy.  We are left with 7 since day 2 and all 7 are still looking alive on day 4. Please stay alive for a while more bcos we still have a lot of fish food and solution.

So here... the kids' official pets. Surprisingly, Zaky had been a lot more enthusiatic than Jiejie since we got the fishes. So is Daddy Lim... he wanted so much to feed the fishes this morning and relunctantly agreed when I asked him to let the kids do it instead. Zaky did and then Daddy Lim insisted that it wasnt enough and fed more. Zzzzz. Hahaha. 

Mummy Lim

Happy Bday Part 2 and Happy Mothers' Day

After all the fun on Saturday, we had a round 2 on Sunday bcos it was also Mothers' Day.

We had Korean food at this korean restuarant at Sunset Way. I had been craving for Bugolgi and finally satisfied my craving. The food was great and so were the endless side dishes but my waistline wasnt after the meal. Hoho.

We still had bday cake after dinner. Round 2 bday celebration.

The kids then ran around the playground to burn some calories.

So that they could make some space in their tummies for ice cream. Seriously, they managed to eat ice cream after all the eating.

Happy Mothers' Day!

Mummy Lim