Ice Skating 24

We left the house later than usual and it was about 10.15am when we arrived at the ticketing counter to see a snaking q. As usual, the q moved so slowly. The rink has implemented online ticketing as well as self-ticketing machines at the entrance. I think most of the patrons are university students looking at using the free entry promo. I am not sure why the other people stayed in the q instead of opting for self service.

I got my ticket using the self ticketing machine but had to q to exchange for Lil Shauna's ticket using the student pass that I have bought earlier. The q barely moved. In the end, I cut q, telling the counter staff that Lil Shauna has private lessons taking place soon. The staff didn't check much and we entered the rink. Yeah!

We didn't have class last week bcos Lil Shauna wanted to attend her class mate's bday party. We couldn't find time to practice too and I thought that Lil Shauna would take a long time to warm up. She proved me so wrong.

She was in good form and took extra efforts to look up and hold her arms up. I was impressed. Towards the 2nd hour, she was tired and couldn't master the new hockey stop and some ballet pose that she learnt the last lesson. Interestingly, she perform better for her spin.

Maybe bcos she was too tired or anxious to perform during class. Her bad habits came back when Teacher Raymond Zzzzzz.

There are 5 Saturdays in October and I signed her up for classes every Saturday. Did you see the big hole in my pocket? I also reminded the princess about her expensive her hobby is and told her to work hard. Haha.

Mummy Lim

Old School

Lil Shauna received a party pack from her Chinese enrichment center bcos Children Day is drawing near. In the pack, I saw this.

How old school is that? It is a mini pack and the crackers are 2 big pieces instead.

I am feeling all nostalgic already and can't wait to sink my teeth, wondering if it still tastes the same.

Unfortunately, expectations aren't good.  The crackers have gone soft. I can't tell if they taste the same as before. Chey.

Mummy Lim

Haze!

While we were in Bali 3 weeks back, we had clear sky, clean and fresh air! We were shocked when we were told by the cab driver that the PSI went above 100 while on the way home from the airport. It was just so strange to come home to haze. Singapore leh, green city leh.

I personally didn't like to wear mask. The idea of feeling restricted while breathing didn't appeal to me. We didn't buy masks for ourselves or the kids last few years when the haze hit and so we didn't get any this year as well.

Today, the haze hit 300! I started wondering if I should have gotten masks for the kids. Do we have to go source for masks now? While we know that these are almost useless towards the haze, they do made me feel psychologically a bit better. Lol.

We actually bought these for Korea. The kids are so cute with the masks!

Mummy Lim

Schedule Book 2016

The year is coming to an end. One of the things that I had been dying to buy is the Schedule Book for 2016. Let me see, how long has it been? I started the habit of using a schedule book probably since uni days, so 15 years?! I love schedule books and kept all my schedule books since I 1st started them. 

I would keep records of my appointments and see those becoming children classes as the years passed. Family , SHSS girls and now the kids’ bday are in the schedule book too. They also contain some important thoughts that reflect my feeling then. Of course, important information, gathering organizers, passport information, etc. As technology advances and everything can be stored in a hand-held gadget, I still treasure my precious schedule book.

For the past weeks, I had been sourcing for my new schedule book. I was quite irked last weekend when I couldn't find 1. Finally, I found my precious on Sunday. It really made my day.

This morning, I “transferred” all the important dates and information to the new schedule book and saw the old ones that I kept in my office. My heart feels all warm. Hehe.

Then, I realized how many bloody logins and passwords that I have. I know, it is not safe to have logins and passwords written down but who can remember the so many logins and passwords if they aren’t recorded somewhere?! Lol. 

Yeah, all ready to use my new schedule book next month. Happy!

Birthday Parties!

We had arranged not to have ice skating class on Saturday bcos Lil Shauna received a bday party invite from her classmate. One day, she came home from school with an invite and said that she would love to attend the party and so we went. Lil Isaac attended the party too. It was held at Kids’ Amaze, Jurong Safra. Actually, the kids have more or less outgrown indoor playground. During the party, there were times that they were bored but companionship made all the difference. They appeared to enjoy running around with friends. Even Lil Isaac had a great time climbing and sliding with jiejie’s friends.

We were at the bday party for about 2.5 hrs. Then Popo helped to send Lil Shauna to her phonics class and I sent Lil Isaac to his TWD class. After the lesson, Daddy Lim picked us up and we headed to a second bday party – ER is 5! Two parties in a day! Lil Isaac was beat after his TWD class and willingly napped while on the way to the second party.

The party was held at Kids’ Explorer, AMK. Yes, another indoor playground. We arrived at 5ish and the party wasn't to start until 7pm but the kids were allowed to start playing and played for like forever. The party room was also made available to us before 7pm. 

Not too long after we arrived, Lil Shauna came and complained to me that the play structure is too short and she had to bend while navigating her way. Haha! Now she knows how painful it was for us when they made us go into such play structure when they were little. 

The kids did complain of boredom now and then. They subsequently improvised and played among themselves instead and had a blast! 

We left at about 9pm, all totally exhausted. 

On the way home, Lil Shauna exclaimed that it was just too great to have 2 parties in a day! On Sunday morning, the kids were still in bed at 8ish. Yes, 2 bday parties were indeed fun but also super tiring. Lol.

Lil Isaac is also turning 5 in October! We will be having a mini celebration with the same crowd in the Trampoline Park. Venue – booked, goody bag – bought. Our turn to host a party.

Mummy Lim 

Sick AGAIN??!!

Lil Isaac was down with fever about 4 weeks back. The fever stayed with him for a week! He missed quite some school and classes. When he almost recovered, he missed the virus to Lil Shauna. She also took about a week to fully recover but was able to still go to school and enrichment classes.

When we were in Bali, I was worried that the kids would fall sick given that they were constantly baked in the sun. They were good when we were back and even enjoyed the PH and weekend.

Yday, Lil Isaac was still good in the morning. We went to church and he went to his TWD makeup class. He was as serious as usual, putting in 200% to kick and punch. We then headed to IMM bcos Daddy Lim's phone died on him and he needed a new phone NOW! The little boy started complaining that he was tired. We struggled through the wait and he barely ate much dinner, wasting the super cute kiddy set that I ordered for him. I finally surrendered to his whining and let him nap. We woke him shortly, tempting him with ice cream. He was lethargic and asked to be carried.

It was no joke carrying a 19kg boy. We asked him to walk and he started crying, complaining that his leg hurt. It was then that we realised that he felt warm. Back home, he measured 38.5 degrees.  What happened?

He missed school today. He is cheerful now though still feeling warm. I am quite sure that his temperature will creep back up in the night.

Popo is upset that he is sick and missed school bcos it messed up her routine. I hope he recovers really quickly.  Most importantly, I pray that it is nothing serious or anything that he caught in Bali. Get well soon, little boy.

Mummy Lim

Yellow Tip

Lil Isaac went for his Taekwondo class on Saturday. It was 2 weeks since his grading test. I asked him to ask his master if he had passed the test. Just minutes into the class, he ran to where I was standing (separated by a glass door) and excitedly told me that he had passed his grading test!

Bcos it was changing belt, parents were allowed into the center to take pictures. While waiting for his turn, he excitedly told me to remember to take pictures. Lol. So vain.

Finally his turn!

Master David even made the kids posed for picture opportunities.

The little boy was super proud. He now gets to learn new moves. Steady lah. The next grading test will be on 8 Nov. Master Kim said that the kids should be ready and wouldn't have any issue if they continue to come for their classes. I am waiting for Lil Isaac to don his black belt one day. He is super serious during class and puts in a lot of effort to kick and punch. Don't play play.

Mummy Lim

Ice Skating 23

We had ice skating class yday morning. This week, we had wanted to focus on making Lil Shauna looked up, arms up and push harder. Wait a minute... haven't we struggled with these all the time? Sigh, even Lil Shauna realised that. Well, at least she is aware.

It does make a difference when we practice weekly. She warmed up really quickly and went on to do her usual 3-turn and Mohawk drill that she is already super familiar with. As she practiced, I chant the usual "heads up, don't look down, hands up, where is your hand, push harder". She did so when I repeated those magic words but lost it when I kept quiet. Aiyo.

We spent quite some time on the spin. She just couldn't get it right bcos she couldn't stand straight and is always leaning to one side. After almost 15 mins, we gave up and practice something else.

Teacher Raymond caught me before her class and said that there is another competition coming up in Dec! It will be in Thailand this time! Mummy is super excited but the little girl is hesitant bcos she thinks that she is not good enough, too shy and didn't want to lose. I am trying to get her into the right perspective that competition is to gain exposure and not about winning or losing. She is still considering. If she nods her head, it will probably just be Lil Shauna and me going bcos Daddy Lim can't take leave.

I told Teacher Raymond too that we were unsuccessful in correcting her spin. He affirmed that it is really on Lil Shauna's part and nothing much that we can help. Let's just work on more practice.

Lil Shauna learned a new what-looks-like-ballet posture as well as a new hop. Her posture looks very non ballet and so is her ungraceful hop. Lol. Looks like we have some serious work on top of the things that we need to improve/ correct. I shall Google on the spin as well as the new moves.

At the end of the class, Teacher Raymond said that Lil Shauna can compete in the Gamma level. I Google (best friend already lah) and saw that it consists of the 3-turn, Mohawk as well as hockey stop. Hockey stop is new but I don't think the little girl can't manage. She is pretty fluid in her 3-turn and Mohawk already. She just needs to use more strength and have more precise movement.

Let's see how things go. We missed 2 competitions that Teacher Raymond suggested so far. Maybe there would be more coming up.

Mummy Lim

Almost 5

Lil Isaac is turning 5 in October. He had been waiting for his bday for a long time bcos he is dying to receive bday presents. Haha.

Now that we are back from our holidays, it is time to start planning for his bday party. Jiejie had a party at the rink when she turned 7, so Lil Isaac wanted some form of celebration too. I hope this would be the last one. I must restraint myself when it is Lil Shauna's bday in May next year. Haha.

Yday, we sent him for his Chinese enrichment class in JP and I decided to get him his bday present in advance. We have a Xbox 360 kinnect at home, bought a few years back. He doesn't really enjoy kinnect games. I got him a controller and a game - Jurassic World. He was overjoyed.

Daddy Lim sent us home and Lil Shauna for her Chinese makeup class. We attempted the game but Mummy seriously isn't cut for such games. We didn't get far after an hour and gave up. I told him to wait for Daddy Lim.  The little boy tried but was way too tired having woke up before 7am in the morning. Well, there would be plenty of chances.

This afternoon, he told us that mummy had already bought him his bday present but reminded Daddy Lim and Lil Shauna that they haven't. Lol.

Almost 5! Come to think of it, they are growing up too fast! Be healthy and strong my little boy.

Mummy Lim

Bali Day 6, Turtle Island and Sea Sports

We had bfast and the kids were sent to the kids' club while I did some last minute packing. We were going home. The kids made accessory and experienced crab catching at the beach before we took them out at 11am.

Daddy Lim and I waited for them at the beach. He can really sleep anywhere while on a beach holiday.

Finally the kids came.

I followed the kids on their crab catching experience while Daddy Lim continued to nap on the beach chair. The kids didn't catch the crabs, they merely try to spot the crabs and cheered the staff on when the staff were catching the crabs. They caught about 5 mini crabs in all. It looked so easy. The crabs were released back to the beach before they headed back to the hotel. Poor crabs must be traumatised.

We checked out of the hotel after we picked the kids from the kids' club. We had a quick sandwich lunch before the driver picked us from the lobby to the site for the sea sports. We opted to go to the turtle island as well as the banana boat and tubing. We were quoted USD115 by the 1st travel agent the day before. We booked eventually with the second agent who initially quoted us USD85. We bargained it down to USD65 eventually. We had no idea what was the right price but USD65 for our family and for 3 activities didn't feel too bad.

The car ride took about 30 mins. We opted for the turtle island 1st as we didn't want to bake in the afternoon sun. We had to take a boat to the island. The boat only carried the 4 of us. There were so many other boats going to and back from the turtle island.

The boat was parked very far out to the shore and that was bcos the water was really shallow. See the boat driver manually towing the boat to nearer shore.

We had to walk in the sea for quite some distant before reaching the shore. But the water was really shallow and was ok for all except for Lil Isaac with really short legs. Lol

When we finally reached the shore, there was more walking. The beach had plenty of crabs and some slimy worms. Lil Isaac freaked out. Lol.

We arrived at turtle island, which is effectively a building. We paid some $$ for entry. What greeted us were some big tanks with some turtles in them. The guide then picked up a medium size turtle for us to take pictures with. The turtle was either too lazy or too used to this. It just stayed motionless.

Seeing that we had kids, the guide showed us some baby turtles kept in a styrofoam box. Then fished out a "toddler" turtle for the kids to take picture with. Looked at how happy Lil Shauna was. Lil Isaac was wary. The turtle kept trying to struggle free. Poor turtle.

Next, we were brought to a shaded shelter where big turtles were kept. Most of them were motionless. The biggest and oldest is 70 yo! Lil Shauna had fun feeding the turtles with what looked like seaweed. Lil Isaac basically hide at the entrance.

With that, we came to the end of the turtle tour. Amazingly, that place also kept many other exotic animals. Each time, Lil Isaac kept a safe distant. Haha. They had big bats too! Poor bats were passed to the tourists for pictures and shook awake so that it would spread its wings.

The staff then tried to sell us a picture of the kids with the turtle for about S$15. Seeing that we were reluctant to buy, they lowered the price to S$10. To encourage sales, the staff said that the proceeds would help the animals and not the staff. Looking at how the animals were handled, I very much doubt so. The kids had a good time but I think we would give this place a miss the next time.

We made our way back onto the wet beach and then waddled our way in the below knee seawater to the boat.

Next, we tried the banana boat! The sea was quite calm, so a staff sat right in front to help to balance the boat as well to bounce up and down to create extra effects. Lol. The kids loved their 1st banana boat experience. We tried tubing next. It is a big float but like a wafer. We sat in one of the "holes" and the float was pulled by the speed boat, similar to the banana boat. However, there was less risk of falling off the float and the speed boat therefore went so much faster. At one point, it dragged us in circles and so much fun! The kids after all the adventure.

We arrived back at the hotel at 3.30pm. The hotel had this thing called the hospitality lounge. It has a big room with TV and free coffee and tea and shower facilities, meant for guests like us who had some time to burn after checking out and before our flight. It is a lovely concept and we were so thankful for it. We freshened up and just in time for a taxi to the airport.

The flight was on time and the kids were manageable on the flight. Lil Isaac fell asleep at 8pm and didn't wake up when we got off the plane or when we stopped for dinner.

He basically slept on and on as when moved from point to point. Our impromptu stroller bcos the boy is 19kg! My back!

Even our power girl fell asleep in the taxi. Finally, we were home and the kids were in lala land shortly after shower. The end of our lovely beach holiday.

I would give it a thumbs-up. We would be looking at more beach holidays henceforth. Daddy Lim is grinning. Hehe. Unfortunately for him, the kids (and me) preferred the activities filled beach resort as compared to the do nothing but just nuah villa. Haha.

Mummy Lim

Bali Day 5, Kids' Club

We had no agenda for day 5. The main reason why we opted for the Bali Dynasty Resort was bcos it is a kids' friendly hotel with a great children pool and fantastic kids' club. Day 5 was kids' club day.

We had bfast and sent the kids to the kids' club. Lil Shauna was apprehensive at 1st bcos she is so shy. Lil Isaac was great so long as jiejie was with him. The hotel is super popular with Australians and all the kids at the kids' club were non-Asian except for a girl - Kate. She is probably a little older than Lil Shauna and an Euraisan. Lil Shauna said that she is from don't know what island. Lol.

The 1st activity was towel origami. Parents and caregivers were not allowed in the club for kids 4 and older. This was great news to us. So Daddy Lim and I took a walk at the beach and revised that the beach was actually littered with dead coral.

We returned to the hotel to do nothing - Daddy Lim's favorite activity. We saw the kids left for the 2nd activity - duck feeding.

There were like 4 ducks but so many kids and bread. The fishes helped.

Lil Isaac too. I hoped the bread was fresh or at least edible.

Next was swimming, the kids swam for about an hour.

Lunch followed. We paid about S$6.5 each for them to make pizza for lunch. The kids definitely looked like they had plenty of fun.

While they had lunch, Daddy Lim and I left the hotel in search of activity for the last day. Our flight was at 7 pm, we almost had a full day before our flight. We managed to book a trip to the turtle island and some sea sports that would take about 3.5hrs. Yeah!

The kids were back in the kids' club for art and craft when we went back to check on them. In the afternoon, they got to experience the trapeze for free! A 75 mins lesson cost USD35 per pax. They started off with some warm up exercise before getting the brief experience to swing!

Thereafter, the kids were back in the pool for a pillow fight competition. Lil Shauna won the 1st round but chickened out for the 2nd round bcos she didn't want to fight against somebody bigger. Lil Isaac chickened out totally bcos he didn't want to fall into the water. He was actually super excited before he realised what exactly the competition was all about. Lol.

We picked them up after the competition.  We swam a little more before we showered and headed to the beach.  The kids had more fun walking the beach and chasing the waves.

We had a simple dinner, headed back to the hotel for some TV before settling into lala land. The kids were beat after all the activities.

Mummy Lim