My 1st 80km

It is a blessing to find the WWF. We started with them in February 2018. It had been a year! And we had been joining them regularly in their leisure Saturday morning rides. Those rides had been such big joy and a great motivation to get the heart pumping.

Looking at my blog history, I saw that they were the ones who organized our 1st 50km, 60km and finally the 70km ride when we expressed our desire to go further and longer. I am looking forward to the day that I get to finally do a round island (RI) ride, which is about 120km.

The chance is coming. There is a NTU bike rally taking place on 9th March and there are 2 categories, a bigger RI at 178km and a smaller RI at 117km. Together with some of the WWFians, we signed up for the 117km ride. Just then, we found out that Zaky's TKD sparring competition will be falling on the same day but time is unknown yet. It was agreed that I would do a small part of the ride if possible, leaving Daddy Lim to persevere the remaining with the WWF group. Secretly, I didnt mind. Haha. It is not the distance really, but that the ride starts at 7am??!!!??? So majority of the ride will be under the scorching sun from 10am to 2pm. It is one of those times that I didnt mind if it rains and probably be better off drenched. Such dilemma.

The usual Saturday rides had been stepping up to prep us for the bike rally. A few weeks ago, we conquered Mandai and rode to Seletar airport and back. That was a 50ish km ride. Last Saturday, we rode 80km to ECP and back! That is the longest ride that I had done so far. Woohoo!

To avoid Mr Sun, we started at 5am. Seriously, I rather lack a little sleep than be under the sun for extended time. Daddy Lim was up at 4.30am and I had 10 more mins of eye shut; the benefit of having the meeting point just opposite Centris.

We will be riding via the Keppel viaduct to barrage, then the PCN to ECP and the service road all the way to the end of ECP. Woohoo! We started at about 5.05am after a short briefing. We had some bread for bfast, which we usually dont, given the long distant.

The ride started off nicely and it was the usual scenery until Keppel viaduct. I have never been up this viaduct on bicycle.

I was lucky to be the 1st few and a chance to draft behind the leader who helped to block off much of the head wind. I was trying to be as small as possible to minimise wind resistance. It was a fantanstic experience. Hehe.

We had a short break at the barrage before continuing to ECP. The service road was a pain, a very long several kms pain. The service road was too far from the beach to enjoy the scenery and it just goes on and on and on. For awhile, I started wondering if I was lost, making sure I at least have one of the WWF cyclists in my sight but I think he was equally lost. Lol. Fortunately we found the rest of pack soon.

On the way home, we stopped for a much needed bfast at MacD. Daddy Lim insisted that we shouldnt be too full as it hampered cycling back and we shared a miserable bfast roll. I hungry leh.

The way back was indeed painful. The sun was out and I was starting to melt. We took another short break at the barrage before a continuous 25km ride home. At that point, I was really relying on will power. I was counting down for the last 10km. By the time we arrived at JE, all will power, leg power or whatever power were non-existence. I really just want to go home. The heat was just adding on to my misery and I was suddenly super glad that I wouldnt be participating in the full bike rally. It is the sun; 2 hours of riding in the sun is bad, imagine 6.

We arrived home jelly legs at 10.30am. It was 5.5 hours since we started and 3.5 hrs riding time. I think I left my legs at the barrage. We both took a much needed nap and I continued to catch cat naps during the day, in the car etc. I is weak. For the rest of the day, I just wanted to do things with minimal movement and thinking.

Lunch was well-deserved. I figured out that I had burnt enough to give myself a little reward.

Thankfully, the kids asked to go to a picnic in the late afternoon. We laid the mat on the grass in Jurong Park, the kids self-entertained and I very much played dead.

On Sunday morning, I no longer wanted to do anything with the bicycle. Zaky bugged to go riding and Daddy Lim actually entertained him. This is what they call recovery ride huh?

Though tired, I was happy to stick to the treadmill instead.

With that, we marked our 1st 80km. I am looking forward to a RI... one day... when I forget about ths 80km pain. Haha.

Mummy Lim

Ice Skating 155: The Ice gets Busy

With the need to practice her program, the 1/3 ice classes on Saturday morning feels restrictive, especially when it is always so crowded plus so many small people skating around blindly. Lil Shauna had been looking forward to her full ice lessons. Not only does she get to practice with the music and even if not, there is a lot more space and no little blind skaters.

Now that the competition is right around the corner, the ice gets really crowded and every skater wants to practice their program with the music. There is a Q system and it becomes stricter with the crowd. The skaters had to submit their CD. This will also be used for the actual competition. Coach Raymond nicely prepped this for us.

Bcos of the crowd, Lil Shauna only got to practice her program with music 2x. The 1st was a mess, it was so obvious; she was too focused on chasing the music than doing what she needed too properly. The 2nd time was fortunately a lot better. The rest of the time was spent on practicing and improving her program elements.

She had worked hard, red-faced and panting and all. There is still a lot of room for improvement. For one, she needed to stroke a lot more harder. I even recorded what looked like her competitor and showed her how much harder that girl was stroking. Hohoho. Yes, I am mummy spy.

We have 4 more full ice lesson to go and no 1/3 ie lesson for March bcos Coach Raymond or us or the rink is busy.

Mummy Lim

Mummy the Videographer

Secretly, I quite like Zaky's current TKD and sparring classes timing bcos I get to see him in action. Lil Shauna's ice skating schedule had been hectic for years and Daddy Lim had been the one sending Zaky for his TKD and sparring classes. The down side is to spend more of our precious weekend waiting for kids to attend classes.

Zaky's sparring competition is to take place on 9 Mar, which means tht he has 2 more sparring practices to go. While he has definitely improved as compared to his 1st contact sparring class, he has been fairly stagnant for the last few lessons. I used to video Lil Shauna during her practices to point out the good and the bad and suddenly struck me that I could have done the same for the boy. So I did; I became the videographer, standing glued to the glass door while the son kicked somebody or got kicked. Haha.

There were wins and losses. As a spectator, I saw the many opportunities that he could have scored; the videos will come in handy to point those out to him.

Sparring is seriously hard work, especially when he had a full hour of TKD lesson before that. It was obvious as the sparring training progresses; his kicks were lesser and lower. Haha.

Zaky had indeed worked hard; his uniform was soaking wet at the end of the classes. I didnt know he can perspire so much. He had worked hard on his diet too, cutting out the ice creams and down on chocolates and snacking. The intention wasnt really a real diet but controlled snacking. He is afterall still a growing child. As such, his weight didnt come crashing down but reduced so slightly day by day. I am very impressed and we look set to hit the sub-35kg in 2 weeks' time. I am hoping the bigger hope that he would learn to cut down his snacking as a result. Yeah!

My diet is working well too. I love the salads from cold storage at West Coast Plaza; it didnt look, feel or taste like a salad at all.

Will he win the competition? Maybe and probably not. I should start using the remaining 2 weeks to psycho and educating him that competition is not all about winning but gaining experience. Haha. This is afterall his 1st ever real competition in his life and a good training for the other upcoming inter-school competition in April, which Zaky had also asked to sign up. He had been wavering in signing up the April competition bcos training is so hard work. Haha. Oh, that one is sub-36kg, we have some leeway but I am going to use that as my excuse to ask him to continue to watch his snacking. Hohoho. Dont worry, Zaky has a lot of spares to lose.

Mummy Lim

Ice Skating 154: Training, Training for Competition

Lil Shauna had 3 lessons including a SISA ice since CNY but I didnt blog much about it bcos she is doing the same stuff - getting ready for the competition.

SISA ice was crowded and she got to practice with music 2 times. I thought that her last practice was better; she looked much tired than the last session too. Both times, she couldnt nail her back spin and affected her scratch spin straight after. We so needed to work on her spins. Of course, she needed to try to push harder, I think my grandmother can stroke harder. Haha.

Yday's lesson was very much on spins too and then on her flip and loop jump combi. It is strange how she can do the jump during program but struggled during practice.

We got back on the ice this afternoon to work on the spins, particularly the back to scratch spins. Many times, I think that Lil Shauna is just doing and not thinking. Ended up, she just kept making the same mistake over and over and over again without getting it right. I urged her to do more thinking this time, paying attention to what went wrong and to focus on correcting the mistake. I thought that it helped and she managed a very nice spin combi.

The rink will be closed for a couple of Saturdays for other events, the Coach Raymond will be away for the 1st 2 weeks of March, then we will be away. Hohoho. We dont have much time left for practice. Fighting!

Mummy Lim

The Quest to Lose Weight

We have the fat genes; we are fat. Zzzzzzz.

The Lim family has embarked on a quest to lose weight and we are taking this very seriously. We have plenty of reasons to lose weight. Let's start with Daddy Lim.

Many months back, Daddy Lim decided that he wanted to lose some weight. He skipped lunch in exchange for some extra mins of eye shut during lunch break and consciously cut down on dinner. While it doesnt sound like a drastic move to me as I usually skip lunches for years, he dropped 10kg! HOW COME THE SAME NEVER HAPPEN TO ME?

Of course he basked in the compliments that he received from the weight and tummy loss and he looked so much healthier.....for a while. Then, holidays and festive seasons come and go. Weight is a sneaky guy; with each holiday and festive season, it crept a little back.. quietly.. slowly.. but surely. Many moons later, Daddy Lim has gotten 8 of the 10 kgs back and hello tummy. Hahaha.

I had been battling with my weight since I cant remember when. Many years back, with huge amount of determination, I managed to lose 4kg of pregnancy weight after I weaned Zaky. That also marked the start of my skipping lunch. Along the years, skipping lunches during weekdays had become a way of life but I found other bad habits like huge dinners in compensation and feasting during weekends - I would "diet" for 5 days and the weight loss comes piling back during weekend. Why like that?!!? Along with the drop in will power to eat properly and metabolism rate, the 4kgs had been finding ways and means to come back and they are definitely winning the battle. Sob. I need to lose weight... since a long time back.

Zaky used to be a scrawny boy. I have to surface this picture again. Lol.

Popo would fret over his lack of food intake. This worry, is definitely a thing of the past. This boy has bulked up so much, too much in my opinion. He is now all meat everywhere and is a strong contender to Daddy Lim for the "biggest tummy in the family" title. He is very active and I can only blame his diet; he has a sweet tooth like me.

While he is not obese, I wouldnt want to wait until that happens to take action. I had been nagging and nagging for the boy to control his diet but he is so in denial. Just last Sunday, after his TKD class, we were told that the upcoming sparring competition is not only categorised by age but also by weight. At the school, he weighs borderline at 35.5kg. He could either try to lose weight to go for the sub 35kg and get advantage for his size or go for the heavier category, cutting off at 39kg, which then puts him at a disadvantage. We had one day to decide and no changes allowed once decided. Zzzz.

The weighing in will take place before the competition with his uniform, which is a good freaking 0.5kg. Failing to hit sub 35kg will render him disqualified, wasting the months of hard work. After discussion with the boy, he has decided to join the diet to lose some weight and signed up for the sub 35kg category. Finally! As it is, the only person who didnt need to lose weight in the family is Lil Shauna - lucky her.

Diet for Daddy Lim comes in the form of lighter lunch and dinner. I had to gather the long lost will power to resist snacking during work hours and had been having some fanciful salads for dinner, along with home cooked soup. My salads are well decorated with raisins, tuna, ham, seeds and what not. Not boring at all.

Zaky just had to watch his snacking, removing the chocolates, ice cream, cookies, soft drinks. He had been doing really well, replacing sinful snacks with milo and meji plain crackers or yoghurt at times. We arent monsters and still give him a small piece of chocolate as reward infrequently.

It had been 5 days since the quest took off and we had been discipline. Even Zaky is doing great, resisting temptations. We are seeing results, slowly but surely. The test will come in the form of the weekend, where all hell breaks loose and all diet plans go haywire. Sob.

Mummy Lim

Wise Words from Zaky

Spotting Mistakes

The kids were recalling how well they had done for Maths last SA2. 

LS to Z: Did you lose all the marks to careless mistakes? You know you have to check and check again to spot the careless mistakes?

Z: I am super bad at spotting careless mistakes; I cannot see them. But I am super good at spotting the vegetables in the food. 

Hahahaha. Exactly, he can spot the single pea or corn that I missed taking out from his fried rice. T.T

Rash Guard

Bcos we were so burnt from Sunway Lagoon, Daddy Lim bought rash guard in prep of the upcoming Phuket trip in March. 

ML to DL: I think you have to lose some weight to wear the rash guard.

DL: This is already the largest size that they have. 

Z: Ya Pappy, the rash guard will make you look very fat.

Hahahaha. Spot on again.

Mummy Lim

CNY to KL Day 4: Home Sweet Home

We only had 1 agenda for the day - to go home. That was so important bcos it is no joke getting stuck at the custom. We woke up, had what we got from 7-11 the night before for bfast and were soon out of the house simply bcos we hoped to beat the jam.

初一 was also a PH in Malaysia and we were a little worried to see heavy traffic heading south with us. It didnt make sense that so many Malaysians were going to Singapore; for what lah? Fortunately, the traffic thinned after many hours of drive and as we approached home sweet home. The kids were cooperative, watching the 2nd movie that we had downloaded for them in their phone.

Fingers crossed and toes crossed.

Woohoo! The custom to Singapore was uber smooth but not on the other side of the road.

It was loads of unpacking once we were home and the fun didnt end there. Dinner was planned at my brother's place.

We finally got to 捞 the yusheng that we missed during reunion dinner bcos there wasnt tummy space left. Unfortunately, it was no longer fresh. 捞个意思 lah.

The kids insisted on sleeping over despite being overly tired. Zaky particularly was half dead when Daddy Lim and I were leaving at 10pm. He insisted to sleepover and I was told that he fell asleep by 10.30pm. He literally went to sleep over. Zzzzzz. Only the girls were surviving when I checked at 11.30pm.

With that, our CNY KL holidays had come to an end and we finally got to sleep in our big and comfy bed; I so needed that. Hohoho.

This holiday had been a slower than usual pace. The most tired person had to be Daddy Lim who did so much driving in and even went up to Genting Highlands 2x! Missing Chiling waterfall was a waste but otherwise, the holiday was fine and definitely a good break from every day's life.

Our airbnb experience wasnt too bad. Both airbnb accommodations were decent. The only things that I dislike about airbnb are the chances of bad towels and beds. I should make a mental note to bring our own towels the next time we are staying in an airbnb. In the 1st airbnb, the host gave us felt blankets and I absolutely hate that. In the other airbnb, the host provided towels that were not absorbent. Zzzzzzz. If it wasnt bcos the price of the airbnb was a fraction of the hotel due to the festive season, I would have opted for hotels.

Happy CNY! Huat ah!

Mummy Lim

CNY to KL Day 3: Sunway Lagoon

We had good memories of Sunway Lagoon. We took many exciting water rides and I dont remember having to Q much for the rides. That was probably why we were looking forward to it.

Bfast was again instant noodles bcos we were to lazy to cook otherwise. Then it was lazing around until 10am when the park opened. Nobody complained bcos they were all zombified on their phones.

It was a bright and sunny day, I wondered if that was supposed to be good. The tickets were bought online again on Klook, there was a 3 adults for the price of 2 promo and we had to grab that. We werent the only one and there was a long q to exchange for the wrist tags. Luckily, new counters opened up and I was directed to the new counter and didnt have to do much queuing. Bingo. 

Soon, we were in the park.

There were normal roller coaster and similar rides too. Lil Shauna really wanted to take the roller coaster and 360 viking only to realise that Zaky fell short of the 140cm criteria. The 140cm scale varied from ride to ride; he was a little bit short for the roller coaster but a lot shorter for the viking. We tried our luck but was turned away. 

Daddy Lim ended up going for the teacup ride with the kids bcos I hate the teacup. Haha.

Lil Shauna muttered that it was "so boring" before tagging along unwillingly for the ride. Lol. 

Staying on risked possible tantrum from the girl bcos Zaky cant take all the thrilling rides and we quickly moved on to the water theme park. These were the final pictures before the phones and bags were kept in the lockers. 

Sunway Lagoon was a lot more crowded than our last visit. The visitors looked mostly locals too; they also no need to work meh? As a result, there were Qs everywhere. Zzzzzzz.

The 1st ride that we targeted was the Vuvuzela, which looked like the most exciting ride in the park. The Q was bloody long and we were in the Q for about 30mins. We saw people with express pass taking the ride a couple of times while our Q stayed stationary. I was almost tempted to go buy express passes but my pocket shouted louder. Lol.

The Vuvuzela was definitely the best ride in the park. Woohoo!

Zaky loves the Flow surfer too. It has a min 140cm height restriction too but this time, he passed it. See, alibaba de.

We definitely took less rides than our last visit bcos there were long Qs everywhere. The sun was also working very hard and I was burning. My shoulders were burning and hot to touch; the kids commented that they looked very dark. I was probably on the verge of getting a sun burnt. That was probably why I very much welcomed the sudden afternoon downpour. My shoulders needed the rain so much to cool down. There were thunders and lightning at times but none of the rides were closed. Strangely...

We finally left the park at 4pm. The last "ride" was the wave pool. We happened to be in time for the waves. They had huge waves like Phuket beaches and the kids totally loved it. I was so worried about the kids drowning and held tightly to Zaky's hands while insisting that Daddy Lim does the same with Lil Shauna. I was totally dismissed by them. Chey.

We headed back to the airbnb for showers bcos I forgot about Daddy Lim and Zaky's change of clothes when I had packed them nicely in a seaparate bag. Then, it was back to the mall for dinner as well as more escape room. Daddy Lim was hoping for shopping and that was a fat hope bcos the kids were tired and many of the shops were closed for CNY.

We tried a different room and it was of similar difficulty as the previous room. We had great fun.

Before we headed back, we got triangle rice and bread and sausages from 7-11 for bfast the next day. Oooo.. it feels so Japan. Haha.

Mummy Lim

CNY to KL Day 2: Genting Highland

I woke up earlier than everybody so that I could have some peace to myself and my coffee. It was my turn to take scenic pictures at the balcony.

It was very foggy as it rained the night before. So quiet, cooling and nice.

We got Chef Zaky in the house again. Lil Shauna had other things to complain about yet again and couldnt cook. Lol.

Bfast was bread with eggs, hotdogs and canned tuna plus some strawberries. Ok, only Daddy Lim was chomping on the strawberries bcos he said that they were really sour despite looking all red and good. That stopped Lil Shauna and I from trying. We throwing at least half away.

We packed up after bfast, checked out and were ready to move on to the next destination - Genting Highland indoor theme park. We saw an advertisement on Skytropolis at the Premium Outlet and found on the website that the preview unlimited rides passes were at RM60 each. Right before we moved off, we managed to book 2 passes for the kids; the adults could get single ride ticket at RM15 each if needed. Same day booking was not available on Genting Highland website but luckily was on Klook's. Woohoo!

The kids were decked out in their loot from the premium outlet. They were great steals - Zaky's Adidas sneakers were RM138 and Lil Shauna's Adidas slacks were RM110. Now you know why they were so cooperative at the outlet - bcos they were shopping for themselves under their parents' sponsorships.

The original plan was to take the Awana skyway to Genting. However, the mistake driving up to Genting the evening before fully prepped us for the drive up. I even spotted the multi-story carpark to park the car the night before and made a mental note on where to park.

The drive up took about 20 mins. The last part of the journey after we had arrived at Genting was very dangerous and adventurous as it was very foggy and visibility was like 1m. Daddy Lim had to drive very, very slowly and I was holding my breathe as if that would help. We were really glad that we knew where to park but it was still challenging to find the carpark in that much fog.

We did arrive safely at the carpark. The inside of the carpark had much better visibility with the lightings as compared to the outside. Phew. I sweat for Daddy Lim.

The last time we were in Genting were many years back. Zaky was a toddler then. We stopped coming to Genting after the outdoor theme park was closed for renovation and the renovation took so many freaking years. Without the outdoor theme park and with most of the indoor theme park also closed for renovation subsequently, there wasnt much for the kids, explaining why Genting was struck off our holiday list.

Genting is so much different now. We only explored the First World hotel area, where the indoor theme park used to be and now taken over by Skytropolis. So much light and sound; feels like we are in the casino.

There was a long q for the tickets onsite. There was a separate short line for collection of the wrist tags for online booking. Woohoo! That's us! Yeah to online booking!

The kids got the wrist tags very quickly. We arrived nicely at 10am, right when the park opened and the Qs for the rides were decent. Soon, the kids were running off to their 1st ride - the Disco!

I was quite sure that I took this ride before with Lil Shauna in one of the theme parks that we had visited. Nobody else had any recollections. Zzzz.

The 2nd one - some whirly 360 degrees ride.

The kids looked like they could touch the ceiling. Lil Shauna said that the ride gave her dizzy head. I could tell with all the swirling and twirling. Zaky tolaerated the upside down rides very well even without mummy. Sob, my babies are all grown up!

The 3rd ride - the Spin Chairs.

This is the other one that goes upside down while spinning horizontally. The kids loved this the most.

The 4th one was the drop, similar to the one that they took in HKG Ocean Park but a much smaller scale. The kids said that it was not exciting. It looked like a big kiddy froggy jump ride.

At that point, I started wandering and found candy floss. I also wanted to get into the theme park mood leh. Hehe. I sort of regretted not getting a pass for myself; the rides looked exciting. This is also a new experience for us - kids going to theme park without us.

Everybody loves candy floss. Hohoho.

We stopped shortly for snacks and some exploration.

And we found affordable ziplining acrossed Skytropolis at RM76 for the 4 of us. No pictures bcos the phones were in the locker. The instant while standing at the edge of the ledge freaked me out and I so regretted my choice. Lol. Fortunately, it got better when we sat on the harness and felt the tension and secureness of the harness. I ziplined alongside Zaky and it lasted only like 15 secs max. Lol.

Then it was lunch at Din Tai Feng with our beloved xiao long bao that didnt make it to the pictures bcos they were attacked the moment they were served. Poor thing.

The Qs to the rides had started to build up by then. The kids had zero interest in the non-thrilling rides. I told Daddy Lim that I have theme park trained the kids very well. Haha.

The kids went for a repeated ride while giving Daddy Lim some time to snooze. Lunch always knocked him out and we needed him to be alert to drive us down Genting. The kids opted for the Spin Chairs and were in the Q for a good some time.

Daddy Lim was in happy land when they were done and I rushed them off for another ride to give him more eye shut. The kids quietly took a picture with the napping Daddy Lim, who totally had no idea that it happened but to the amusement of the auntie who was seated beside him. Lol.

Another q, but shorter bcos the ride looked seriously scary and wasnt as popular as the others.

Daddy Lim was finally up when we were done. The preview pass was definitely worth the price despite not all the rides were operational but 80% of the rides were up. The kids wanted to try the other 2 thrilling rides - Viking and roller coaster that were still closed. I suspect the price would increase (as well as the Qs) when the theme park is fully opened.

With that, we wrapped up our Genting Highland trip and headed to Sunway Lagoon. The fog had cleared by then and it was a nice drive down the mountain.

We stayed in another airbnb - Indah Villa, near Sunway Lagoon bcos the hotel was way too expensive with the festive season. It was a decent little apartment with 2 bedrooms but freaking hot! The 1st thing that we looked for was the aircon remote controller. Lol.

The host had old school TV games that entertained the boys for a while.

Soon after settling down, we headed to the Sunway Pyramid shopping mall for dinner as well as the escape room.

We paid RM156 for 4 to do an easy escape room and managed to solve it in 45 mins. Hehehe. The kids had great fun and had been training on the escape room apps in our phones. It was good experience to do escape room with the kids. Zaky particularly did give up easily and kept asking if we should ask for hints when stuck.

The rest of the evening was again spent on our gadgets bcos again we didnt figure out how to operate the cable TV. Haha.

Mummy Lim