Extra Practice

While Zaky was doing his basketball, Lil Shauna was sweating it out on the ice. She was in tears on Saturday bcos I pushed her so hard and she gave up practicing. Fortunately, she knew that she had no time to waste to get ready for the upcoming competition. She went back on Sunday and we were lucky that the public ice was fairly empty. She could do most of the elements (except spiral that are banned on the public ice) and the foot work and positioning. She couldn't quite remember the spiral and eagle footwork though.

When she was on public ice, my job was the videographer. Then, we would review the video together to see which are the areas that she could improve on. It was again very frustrating for the both of us; I felt that she wasn't trying hard enough and could do better while she felt that she had done her best. Bleh…

The remaining time was back at the 1/3 ice. We saw Coach Sally working with her students on the exact program and knew who some of her competitors are. I asked Lil Shauna to observe what they were doing and how to tackle the footwork for spiral and eagle that she has forgotten. It was good copycat moments that rescued us. She then went on to practice with the full elements on reduced scale but the concept was the same.

While she was at it, Teacher Raymond was peeping at her telling her that it was the wrong direction for spiral. Lil Shauna had no clue what he meant until Teacher Raymond had to come tell me that it should be outside spiral and not inside. Ahhh…. I am the tuition teacher and enlightened Lil Shauna immediately that she is spiraling and curving the wrong direction. The eagles and particularly the spirals are a lot of hard work. I made Lil Shauna kept going and going at the spirals.

The last 10 mins was back at the public ice on the positioning. She still didn't get where she is supposed to do the spiral and curve which way. At the end of the session, I had to take a picture of the rink and tell her to make use of the big circles on the rink to do her spiral. See, how useful I am as the tuition teacher.

Lil Shauna practiced really hard on the ice. She was at it for the 2 full hours. Usually, she would be squirming to escape. I really saw her work hard and was impressed by a few of the scratch spins that she has managed. They were really fast and pivoted, better than any of the scratch spins that I have seen her done so far. She said that she had no idea what she had done right. I hope she keeps at it; she has the tendency to lose her spins/ jumps.  She still had a lot of hard work to do to perfect the elements and I am expecting some midweek practice too, which I haven’t told her. Haha.

After the hard work, she went for her off ice practice. We had missed it for a while in June bcos of the holidays and Skate Japan. She was panting so hard after the long break. Well, the hard work doesn't end there. We have started stretching again at home and told her that we have to do this every day. She is adding on lunges and spirals as well as her ballet jumps especially the other direction that she is not familiar with. She needs to get those into her muscle memory off ice so that she gets them automatically in action when she is on ice.

I hope with all the hard work, she would perform well on ice during the competition. That is the magic moment where she will be alone on the ice and nobody can help her. Seriously, I don't need her to win. I just want to enjoy her magic moment with her and know that she had tried her best and shown her best after all the hard work.

Mummy Lim

Junior NBA

Zaky has a special love for basketball and Daddy Lim must have influenced him to a certain extent. It is a great thing that we have a basketball court in Centris and we have THREE basketballs at home. I don't know why we need so many but it must be a boys’ thing. On good days, Daddy Lim will play basketball with Zaky at the court and most of what Zaky knows about basketball comes from Daddy Lim.

We have tried looking for basketball classes for Zaky only to realize that they are always at the other end of Singapore. Why?!!? His school also doesn't have a basketball CCA. Zzzzzz. We didn't pursue given that Zaky is still busy with his TKD. He is already a red belt and probably needs another ½ year before he attains his junior black belt. He has told us that he would like to stop then. He doesn't have the same passion as Lil Shauna towards ice skating and had asked to do basketball instead. Maybe we would be more serious about looking for basketball classes then.

Recently, it was advertised in FB that there are free basketball classes by the Junior NBA jointly with Active SG Basketball Academy. Daddy Lim jumped at the chance and signed the little boy up. It is a 6-weekly class program and Zaky was thrilled.

On the 1st class’ morning, it was so easy to ask him to wash up, take his bfast and get dressed while he would usually slow motion through. They were supposed to report at 10am for registration and the class was at 11am.

He had wanted to don the basketball jersey that we bought in Bali, only to realise that it was a tad too big.

He eventually opted for a singlet instead and his atas basketball shoes, which he has problem tying laces. Lol.

Daddy Lim whatsapp later in the day to share that they were way too early and the registration only took 2 mins. Lol. They were given a T-shirt too. So smart. They spent the next hour waiting for the earlier session to end.

Daddy Lim said that the whole 1.5 hrs session was somewhat like a longer PE session with basketball. The kids move from station to station to practice different basics. The coach shared that the intent is to expose the kids to the sports and the 6 weeks will give them different basics. At some point, Zaky looks bored probably bcos the stuff are way too easy. Lol.

Overall, he said that the session was good and he is looking to go back this week.

Mummy Lim

Ice Skating 87

Skate Japan has just ended. We skipped it this time considering how much it would cost us. More importantly, it is summer in Japan! I only want to go Japan in the cooler months. Haha.

Teacher Raymond previously mentioned that there is another skating competition coming up in August in Jakarta but would only bring us if there are enough kids to join. Till now, there is no news.

Just then, he messaged that there is the inter school competition coming up in mid July and he wanted Lil Shauna to join if she is available! I actually saw the advertisement in FB.

Lil Shauna was hovering between excitement and fear. Lol. She laments that she didn't at least 3 months to prepare! Lol.

She would be competing in the Future Stars and have to complete the elements on 1/2 ice without music. The elements are:

- Lunges (both sides)

- Waltz jump

- Ballet jump (both sides) 

- Salchow jump

- Spiral (both sides)

- Eagle spread (both sides)

- One-foot spin

The moment she saw the elements, she exclaimed that they are stuff she had learnt when she started figure skating and eagerly agreed. 

We had lesson yday. Before class, I made Lil Shauna practice on the "easy stuff" that she had learnt in the past and realised that the lack of practice made them not so easy. She couldn't go down on her lunge on her left leg; she didn't know how to do ballet jump the other direction and spirals are always her enemy. Bleh. 

Class was very much focused on these elements. Teacher Raymond taught her the ballet jump in other direction and also corrected some of the minor movements for her jumps.

The other half was on the public ice to go through the legwork and positioning for the competition. 

We went back to the ice after class; giving her the opportunity to be familiarise the footwork and positioning. We also worked on some of the elements. Was it Ok? It was frustrating. It wasn't as easy as she had thought it would be. There was even tears bcos we were both frustrated with each other. We need more practice for sure and she only has 2 weeks left. Good luck. Haha.

Mummy Lim

End of School Week 1

Hooray! We are all alive! It was a short week but it felt just as torturous for the kids. They were lamenting and whining on Tuesday morning. It is normal, afterall, their fun-filled month-long school holidays has just "died". They didn't even realise until I broke the terrible news to me on Monday afternoon, after we came back from Batam. I totally feel them.

Other than school, the extra classes, student care have all kicked in at the same time. Obviously they needed extra grace to survive and they did with increasing difficulty with each passing day of the week.

Lil Shauna has always been easy and automatic. It gets a little more tough to wake the boy with the passing week.

Rejoice for the weekend. Long live the weekend!

Even Lil Shauna is not spared.

Ok, I staged this. I brought the kids to the movie last night. I insisted for her to wear her glasses after the movie for the shot. Haha.

Mummy Lim

MRT Pains

With the new office in Kent Ridge, I now take the MRT 2x a week. I remember how I used to dread taking the MRT bcos it was so freaking squeezy. If seated, there was somebody right in front of your knees and giving your knees undesirable rubs frequently. Arrggghhh. If standing, there was no need to worry about falling bcos there wasn't space to. I even promised myself that I would quit if I had to take the peak hour train to work everyday. Lol.

Maybe the situation had improved or the fact that I board at Joo Koon helps. The morning train isnt as crowded as I remembered it to be. Heading home may be a challenge at times but the squeeze is worth it if it gets me home asap.

I was also motivated to taking the train bcos I had to do some walking, which helps me to achieve my daily 8k steps target. I heart my fitbit. Unfortunately, the motivation died as quickly as it comes.

The Tuas extension line opened in mid June. I knew that it had opened but didn't register how it would affect me. Apparently the grey matter isnt activated until the daily dose of caffeine. In my morning stupor, I boarded a very crowded train and was wondering why the unusually high number of commuters until the broadcast informed me that I am heading to Tuas. Great.... Fortunately, solving the issue was as easy as crossing the platform. I do look stupid and very obvious to be taking the wrong direction train though.

I was counting my lucky stars to not experience the notorious train delays and breakdowns. Luck does run out and I met my fate last week. It was the usual commute from Joo Koon and I do keep my eyes open now to avoid the unnecessary journey to the further West. It was the usual empty train at Joo Koon but it started traveling very slowly coupled with intermittent stops. The announcements weren't very accurate leaving the commuters to second guess what was the real issue. After a painful 40 mins, I was only at Lakeside, 4 stops from my start point.

I made the decision to abort the journey and head back to the Tuas office. There were huge crowds on the platforms and long lines queuing to enter the station. I pride myself for the swift decision until I saw the long q at the taxi stand. Zzzzzz. I tried uber and grab but to abandon bcos of exorbitant fares. Soon, every single taxi that came by so infrequently was a booked cab. The taxi q only shortened bcos people were finding other means and dropping out of the q. The MRT situation appeared to have clear up as well. What the....

Just when I was contemplating to head home and work from home amidst the noisy kids (the infamous school holidays were still in), I got a Grab hitch. It must be the silver lining! The only pain was the forever wait bcos the driver seemed to be driving around the whole Jurong West picking up the other hitch passengers before heading for me. Sob.

Finally, at 9am, I stepped foot in the office. It usually took Daddy Lim 15 mins to send me to work and the commute that day was 2 hrs plus a lot of heartache.

I shouldn't complain that much; I only have to take the train 2x a week and have the avenue to escape back to Tuas in the event of train faults.

I am still a noob to taking train outside of Singapore West. Last week, I had to take the train to Orchard and felt like a dinosaur visiting Orchard road. Today, I am on my way to TPY and have checked the Google map a few times to make sure I am on the right way. Haha.

Mummy Lim

Squeezed in Batam: Day 3

Bcos Bali was super action packed and exhausting, Batam must be to help us catch up on sleep. We had been sleeping super well every night.

The Batam sun was up bright and early at 6am. Daddy Lim woke up and I heard him asking me something about if I wanted to go for a run. I flopped back on the bed. An hour later, I woke up to a sweaty Daddy Lim, who just came back from a run. I was super impressed! I brought my exercise gear but their gym only opened late and it was a super tiny gym.

The kids refused to wake up even when the sun was shining in their face.

They were dragged for bfast; we didn't have much time before it was time to head home.

The kids didn't have much appetite bcos it was the same old food. After bfast, we went to the beach. It was super low tide and we walked far out on the seabed. See, the motor boat was on the seabed!

We had to wear slippers bcos the seabed was filled with sea snails!

Lil Shauna was super squirmy, yelling "sea snails invasion!". Lol. There were so many of them!

Bcos of the low tide, we could waddle to the water playground. It was so much easier to climb the structure now. 

We had 1 hour before we needed to catch the bus to the ferry terminal and of course we headed to the pool!

The hotel loaned us huge floats and we had so much fun swimming and competing on the floats. I laughed so much until the other hotel guests were staring at us as if we were crazy.

The sun was crazily scorching and we had to leave the pool. I think I got sunburnt!

We had just enough time to shower and packed up and ordered chicken wings to full the hungry tummies. 

The hotel shuttle picked us up at 11.20am for our 12noon ferry. I was worried that we would miss the ferry but the hotel assured that it was the only bus and we would be fine. He was right!

The Batam trip was alright. I heart the beach but the hotel is seriously ulu and one of the lousier Batam hotel if you ask me. Would we go back? Maybe if we are so dying for a beach holiday over another long weekend.

Mummy Lim

Squeezed in Batam: Day 2

The sun was out early in the morning. We had a good sleep. Given that it was Hari Raya and we didn't know if the malls would be opened, we opted to stay in the hotel.

We had bfast and the bfast was kind of lousy. The spread was exactly the same as the day before. The crowd was huge and they were running out of food at first, then running out of cups and bowls. Zzzzzz.

After bfast, we hit the pool, followed by the hotel's mini private beach. The beach was also the reason why we chose this hotel.

They have a new water playground!

It didn't look tough but it was super tough according to Daddy Lim. Zaky was grumpy and refused to enter the sea so Daddy Lim went ahead with Lil Shauna. The platform was super slippery. At one point, I saw Daddy Lim slipped into the water and I was laughing at him only to realise later that he took huge gulps of water bcos the fall was sudden and it was so deep. He came back and vomited his bfast. Poor thing.

Lil Shauna bugged for banana boating. We didn't have the chance to do water sports in Bali and actually did banana boating in Batam. It cost us INR180k per pax for 30 mins but I was sure that the ride was shorter than that. It was fun, none of us dropped into the water. I am sure they went easy on us bcos we had a kid. The sea was quite polluted though. Sad.

Zaky warmed up subsequently and waded in the sea with Lil Shauna. Lil Shauna pestered to do the water playground again and we finally had a go again but only upon loaning of life vests from the sea sports owner.

It was tons of fun and very exhausting. We dropped into the sea quite a few times. Thank goodness for the life vests! I even bummed Lil Shauna into the sea once, literally bummed. Lol. We had to work together to get from one structure to another. The floats were very sharp and we sustained quite a few cuts but all worth the fun.

After soaking in the sea, we hopped back to soak in the pool to wash off the salt and sand. It was already afternoon by the time we were back in the room. We ordered room service for lunch.

Zaky was bugging to try motorcycling again.

We fully utilised the 30 mins this time bcos the scardy cat went so slowly. I think I can walk faster than him. Lol. When he took a rest, I hijacked his ride and went a couple of rounds on the mini bike. It was liberating. I must look really silly on the mini bike but I felt so cool. Lol.

The sun was merciless. While waiting, we hid in the shade.

We just had to hide in the aircon lounge after that.

We spent the late afternoon in the comfort of our room. The little boy took a nap. We woke him up for dinner in the evening only to realise that they only had expensive BBQ dinner by the pool. We weren't so hungry and opted for room service plus more instant noodles and snacks. We did take a walk at the beach before going back bcos the boy was so whiny. Oh, the pesky mosquitoes helped too. They were buzzing past our ears threateningly.

After the exhausting play at the beach and all the soaking in the pool, night time was again early. 

Mummy Lim

Squeezed in Batam Day 1

I didn't blog about it but Daddy Lim took a life changing decision some months back and switched job. Now, his leave is so very precious. In exchange for the short term pain, he now have his weekends and public holidays back when they used to be non-existent.

Given so, he asked if we were doing "anything" over the long weekend. Of course I wouldn't let such opportunities slipped by. The next moment, I told him that we would be heading to Batam. Muahahaha.

Many Singaporeans must be heading to Batam too; the popular hotels were sold out and we eventually opted for the Batam View Resort. We visited the ulu hotel once with my brother's family. The ferry tickets were running out too and we got the 8am ferry.

It was an early day. Lil Shauna was hyperactive; she woke up at 5am and came over every 15 mins to ask us to wake up. Zzzzzz. We left the house at 6.30am. I was a little worried about the crowd at the ferry terminal and then missing the ferry. It was a mad rush to get the boarding passes and soon we were boarding.

The ferry took about 45 mins to arrive at the Nongsapura ferry terminal. We were happy snacking.

My new cap from Hard Rock Bali. 

The hotel provided free shuttle to the hotel. The ride was about 15 mins and we passed by the premium Montigo. One day, we will stay there. Lol. 

It was of course way too early to check in. We visited the activity center and I asked Zaky if he wanted to try riding a motorbike. Hohoho. 

It cost us IDR180k for 30 mins. The ride took place in the open field beside the hotel. 

Zaky took a while to figure out the relationship between the throttle and speed. When he first started, he went full blast and gave the uncle in charged a heart attack. The uncle was running after him and fortunately, Zaky released the throttle in time and didn't went off the slope. I don't know what was beyond the slope. 

Thereafter, it was smoother.

We didn't use all the 30 mins bcos Zaky decided that he was pro after a short while and went faster plus making sharp turns. At one point, we saw him going really fast, straight into the abandon stage structure. It was too late for us to do anything. He did release the throttle but didn't stop in time and crashed into the structure. Luckily, he wasn't too fast when he crashed but he did fly off slightly and had a bad fright. That was the end of his 1st real motorcyle experience. 

Other than the interesting experience, we had bfast at the hotel only restaurant and visited the game room. It was only 10am. We decided to check the counter in case we could check in early. We were told that a room was available for early check in but we had to pay SGD10. It sounded weird but since it wasn't much, we opted to pay. We wonder if the money really went to the hotel.

I was feeling rich and booked the executive suite that comes with a living room and a bedroom.

We lazed in the room until 1pm. The kids were happily watching TV. The parents attemped too but we were dozing off in front of the TV. Haha. We booked a cab to Batam City Mall at 1pm. It cost us INR200 one way.

The ride was 40 mins long and it was the kids' turn to knock out.

What did we do at the mall? Arcade, food, hoverboard and then more arcade.

The kids would have lived in the arcade if they had endless money. We screwed up our meal time and didn't have proper dinner. We arranged for the same driver to send us back at 7pm. 

Back in the hotel, we snacked and had instant noodles. Lil Shauna found that yummy peanuts that Auntie S introduced us in Bali. 

Despite the naps, we were all dead tired and went to bed early. Yawn.

Mummy Lim

CCA

If there is anything that I want to complain about the kids’ school, it is the lack of interesting CCAs. Lil Shauna was actually “talent scout” by the music teacher to join the choir when she was in end of P1. She declined bcos she thinks that it is so boring to be in the choir. I totally echoed that. Lol. I would love and encourage the kids to be in something physical. Unfortunately, the school has such limited sports CCAs; they do not even have a basketball club.

As per many primary schools in Singapore, the kids are to sign up for CCA when they are in P2. We managed to opt out on the account that Lil Shauna is in ice skating. It is “compulsory” for the P3s. We ran though the list of CCAs available and found them to be so boring. We were further constrained when she can only join CCAs that take place on days that she goes to the student care bcos we didn't want additional ferrying arrangement.

The application took place in the early part of this year and was through the school’s online system. There were 3 choices and she must fill in all 3, with a choice in the limited list of sports; one in cultural/ musical-related and one in clubs. Lil Shauna had really wanted to join the badminton club. She was eventually placed under the Girls’ Bridgette (GB), her 3rd choice; one that she put in so that we can click on the submit button. She said that the badminton club was too popular. I would imagine that too if the school only has that limited list of sports CCAs.

She did join the GB’s activities for a couple of times and was even given the uniform for free! Has it always been for free? I remembered that I was pleading with my mum to be allowed to join GB when I was in primary school but was sadly denied bcos she said that she didn't want to pay extras for the uniforms.

Anyway, after a few weeks, Lil Shauna came back and said that she really wanted to get out of GB. She basically didn't enjoy the activities and was pleading with me to write a letter to help her resign from GB. I thought CCAs are compulsory for the P3s? Lil Shauna said that the soccer team was recruiting girls and she would really love to switch.

So, she did switch. The soccer club must be an “off” club bcos she attended less than 3 practices before the school closed for exams and then the holidays. Lol. She had been bugging to buy soccer shoes and shin guards bcos the rest of the team were in proper soccer gear except her. I had insisted for her to stay on at least for 4 practices before the mummy sponsorship comes into play; I didn't want to spend money on the gears only to have her give up on the CCA soon after. Daddy Lim is for sure a lot kinder when it comes to spending $$ on his little girl. Chey.

The father-daughter duo had been doing soccer boots and gear shopping. The best part? Lil Shauna doesn't want any cheap soccer boots; she chose only Nike or Adidas boots bcos that is what all her team has. Of course fashion sense comes into play as well. I eventually found out that there are only 2 girls on the soccer team – her and another P6 girl. All the more there is no way for me to splurge on a branded pair of soccer boots.    

Last weekend, Daddy Lim brought us to Queensway shopping center in search of the princess’ soccer boots. I told Lil Shauna that her budget was max $70. She was still very much lured by her Nike and Adidas that are so expensive! She eventually settled for a pair of Puma bcos she knows Puma too and they have pink. Lol.

Well, at least it was a happy ending for all of us; Lil Shauna with the new boots and me on our pocket. Let’s see if the new boots will propel her to be the next soccer star. Haha.

Mummy Lim

Blog Mission

We started our blog in April 2008, meant to document the Lim Family’s journey. I didn't know that I would still be updating the blog after 9 years. It is a very private blog with only a handful of guests but the intention has always been an online diary for me and to update family and close friends on our lives. I have not strayed from my purpose.

Daddy Lim used to blog but hasnt done so for years. When he used to blog, he had been advocating the use of labels to sort the posts. I didn't bcos I found it extra work. Little did I expect myself to be so diligent in blogging. After 9 years, I have over 2.2k of posts! Blogspot search engine is lousy and finding old posts on my blog is a nightmare. I have to remember the year and month to locate the post; it is mind bogging to try to remember when Zaky started his TDK, which hotel we stayed in, how much we paid for Lil Shauna’s bicycle; etc.

I finally started the mission to look through all the posts and label them properly. Yes, all 2.2k of them. I spent the last week 9early morning, lunch, late nights); it was an exceptionally painful experience but I finally labelled those that should be labelled. Woohoo! I feel like I deserved a holiday in celebration. Haha.

While doing so, I got reminded of the kids’ younger days and the funny things that they said or did. Happy memories.

I am happy.

Mummy Lim