Back to Training for the Next Competition

While Lil Shauna trains hard for her competition, Zaky has also gone back to work on his. The TKD whatever association really need to buck up. Just like the last Koko Crunch competition, we are 2 weeks from the upcoming competition and all we know so far is:

No other information is available, let alone details. I dont even know when to take leave. Win already.

We had changed Zaky's normal class to sparring class for the time being, as per his Master's advice. On Sunday, it is a Competition sparring class and he gets to spar with the other kids who are also joining the upcoming competition. On Tuesday/ Thursday, he gets special attention from his master, working on his basics. We have been told multiple times that he needed to work on his turning kicks and we had been making him practice at home whenever we could.

Does it really help? I think the time is really too short. Despite the many turning kicks that we made him do, they become horrible during sparring class; no more turning kicks, just anyhow kick. Oh well, we did what we could.

He recieved his medal from his master last week. It is a greay booster for the hard work so far. He had worked hard too.

Mummy Lim

Ice Skating 157 & 158: Final SISA Ice

Lil Shauna's last ice skating lesson was a long time back - Coach Raymond was on holiday, we were on holiday and then the rink was busy. We did keep up with our weekly practices when possible. No choice lah, the competition is getting so near.

We are finally back on the ice for classes; we had back to back sisa ice on Tuesday and Wednesday. These were the last pushes and very much needed. While Lil Shauna wasnt totally absent on ice, it made a huge difference between practicing on 1/3 ice vs full ice.

Bcos it is so near to the competition, SISA ice had been so crowded. Lots were drawn beforehand to decide on practice sequence. Every skater get to practice at least once. The 2nd time will be dependent on the lot number, with those in the front of the q having a bigger chance. Lil Shauna was so anxious while waiting for her turn to practice her program with music.

Her 1st attempt was horrid; she was busy chasing after the music.

I had to sneak to her to remind her to be fast, not rushed. Fortunately, she got her 2nd chance and she was much better with the pace but couldnt do her jumps. Zzzzzzz. All our bets were on the last SISA practice on Wednesday evening.

Lil Shauna will be recycling her costume from the last competition. I like this costume bcos the shiny flakes are sew on and not stick on, so they dont drop everywhere like her last ones. The depreciation of the costumes are super high; each costume normally last her for max 2 competitions before she outgrew them and they are expensive. There are no other uses for them after the competition. We had been getting the lower end tier costumes from 淘宝 and they easily cost $80.

To make sure that she would be able comfortable enough to skate in it, she was skating in her costume on Wednesday.

SISA ice was even more crowded on Wednesday. She was 8th in the Q and only got to do her program once.

She said that her knee pain came back and at the same spot. Zzzzz... so near to the competition some more. She had her knee brace, hoping that it would help.

The program practice wasnt too bad; luckily she didnt screw up the only chance that she had. For the rest of the lesson, she was practicing the program elements over and over and over again.

That's it. Our last ice lesson before her competition. I did take the opportunity to take plenty of pictures though. Hehehe.

So pretty!

Mummy Lim

Creating Memories Phuket Day 4: Surf House and Splash Jungle

For some weird reasons that we couldnt figure out until today, Auntie S and Auntie SL had an earlier flight home at 4pm whereas we booked ourselves on a 10pm flight. We didnt realise until the 1st day, when it stuck Auntie S that our return itinerary was different.

The only program for the last day was the Splash Jungle - a water theme park that is near to the airport. The plan was to stay at Splash until it was time to head to the airport. Given the different flight time, we decided to part ways. I cannot imagine staying in the water park for the entire day.

We met for bfast the same, before Auntie S and Auntie SL made their way to Splash. We had a lot more time and headed to the beach instead. It was obviously a lot less fun when the companions were away.

Zaky was interested in taking up a surfing class at Surf House; we walked past it the night before whilst onroute to Blanga Street. Lil Shauna wasnt keen and rather just soaked in the sea. We eventually compromised that let the kids soaked until 10am, when it started to get hot.

The Surf House was about 5 mins walk from the beach. We arrived to realise that the morning class started at 9.30am to 11am. It was a longer than the usual 60 mins class and at a cheaper price of THB770. I supposed not many people can wake up early for classes after crazy nights out.

We didnt have extra time to wait and Zaky was allowed to pay the full price for the remaining class. He hoped in to join the group once payment and registration was done. There were 2 lanes and 2 students can surf at the same time.

Lil Shauna opted out of the class and was entertained with a delicious looking vanilla milk shake. The taste paled as compared to the presentation though. At least the marshmallows were good.

Finally, it was Zaky's turn. The instructor gave him some instructions to a very serious looking Zaky. Lol. He must be really anxious.

He was given instructions on how to manoeuvre the board and had his 2nd try before joining the Q again.

He was a lot more relaxed in the 2nd round and could smile and pose for me.

The next few tries, he was taught and managed to kneel on the board.

In that 50 mins, he had about 10 attempts. I thought it wasnt too bad for the price that we paid.

Lil Shauna and I headed back to the hotel 1st to pack up. She had her little indulgence too.

Lunch was instant noodles before we checked out and made our way to Splash. The hotel helped to book a car at THB800.

The transport arrived on time. It was actually a van and it was so spacious for the 4 of us. We could roll around if we wanted to. I was half wondering if the driver would pick up other passengers along the way but it was just us.

It was a long was to Splash. It was some distant after the airport, providing a good opportunity for an afternoon nap.

Our tickets were prebooked from Klook (yes, again!) at a price slightly lower than what was published on Splash website. This was the only time that I wasnt sure if it was a good choice bcos it took us some time before we managed to find a good price transport to Splash. The hotel staff was so helpful. The 2 tour stalls that we checked mentioned that they packaged the Splash tickets and transfer in a bundle. Our "tickets" were exchanged when the earlier group went to Splash and left at the counter.

We happened to meet the rest at the changing room. They were getting ready to head to the airport. It was the right decision to delay our visit; we were told that the park was small and wouldnt take too long to explore.

Splash was indeed small. We took our time to try all the slides and they were decent. We even stopped to take a 2nd lunch; the earlier instant noodles had all digested with the water play. We also spent a long time floating on the lazy river. The 3+ hours that we allocated was just nice, aided by the short/ no q.

These were the only pictures that we took while leaving the park in search of dinner.

We took a short walk to the road and there were some eating places. We had 2 hours before our check in time and thought of indulging in a massgae after dinner before making our way to the airport. Google map says that the airport is 12 mins drive away.

We skipped the massage bcos we realised that the price was so much higher than in Patong and we had to bargain. Never mind.. that was too hard work for the last hour of the trip. We did find a nice eating place for our last dinner.

Our only worry was to find a taxi to the airport. We saw that there was a hotel next to Splash and had intended to ask the hotel staff to help. However, we got help from the friendly restaurant staff instead.

They tried but couldnt get a taxi and we got worried. They suggested a tuk tuk instead after assuring that it was legit to take a tuk tuk to the airport. Viola!

The driver asked for THB400, which I was half guessing was a rip off but agreed immediately bcos it would be such an experience. Haha. I was just as excited as the kids.

The ride was a tight squeeze for our family. Plus the 2 luaggage, there was barely room for our legs.

We made do and started our journey. We must be the only crazy tourists. Lol. The ride was adventurous. The tuk tuk was traveling at 40km/hr, 50 at best when on a downslope. Now imagine how fast we went on an upslope - 1 tiny motorcycle, 1 tuk tuk structure, 5 people including the driver and 2 luggage and 2 backpacks. Hahaha. For a moment, I was worried that we had to alight to help push the tuk tuk.

Then there was the cut from extreme left to right lane to do a U-turn on a 3-lane road with many fast moving cars. Then to negotiate a long and super narrow single lane road to the airport where half the time, part of the tuk tuk was traveling on the drain grating. I was indeed hoping very hard that Phuket has very strong drain grating. Throughout the whole journey, we were the only tuk tuk in sight.

The sun set and the uncle turned on neon lights. Woohoo! He should have blasted loud techno music too leh.

The way to the airport was much further than I had imagined. It also took much longer, which was understandable given the speed that we were traveling. Zaky almost fell asleep with the wind in his face. I got smacked in the fce by an insect. Lol. We definitely arrived at the airport in style. Yo! Yo! Yo! I subsequently found out that Auntie S and SL paid THB 700 for a taxi to the airport so our tuk tuk experience was definitely worth the THB 400.

Ended up, we were not as early at the airport as I had expected. The checkin counters were opened. Thankfully, the immigration was a breeze. We had coffee and the kids were well entertained with the new movies that we downloaded at the hotel. The wait was therefore very managable.

Our flight was on time and I again had the honor to sit with our 2 kids behind Daddy Lim, who had his extra leg space seat. The kids were beat with the long day and water play and more than ready to sleep the moment we boarded the plane.

Sleep was tough for me. My neck hurts and Zaky had conveniently used my lap as his pillow. I ended up gaming and practicing my Sudoku. Fortunately, the flight was only 1.5 hours. We arrived safely back in Singapore, just with very tired kids, who didnt sleep well in the plane.

With that, we ended our beach holiday.

Mummy Lim

Creating Memories Phuket Day 3: Beach Bums

We wanted to hike in Phuket and researched on the must hike waterfalls in Phuket only to give up bcos we read that these hikes and waterfalls are leeches infested!! Eweeeeekkk... I cannot stomach the idea.

The only guided hike that we found was more focused on comfortable sightseeing with a small segment on hiking, which isnt my cup of tea. We ended up leaving day 3 free. After exploring the various tour possibilities at the roadside tour stalls, we decided to save our pockets and camped at the beach. We knew that the kids would have a fantastic time anyway.

It was still an early morning bcos we wanted to hit the beach early to avoid the sun. We had been slapping so much sunblock for the trip but that didnt stop the kids from turning really tanned.

We hit the beach directly after bfast. It was high tide but the water level was still shallow enough to be safe. The kids were in the water and sun the whole time while the adults took turns to chill in the shade.

It is amazing how the kids never get tired of the sea. The sun got too hot by 10.30am even when we had pulled them up once to slap more sunblock. I am also amazed at how many ang mos were sunbathing; many of them were lobster red and seriously sunburnt. Ouch!

We needed to take shelter from the mid day angry heat. One of the best options was a nice foot massage but much to the kids' protests. Unity is strength; peer pressure is real and they all followed with the massage or risk having to sit and wait for 1 hour.

Massage is good lah. The moment the kids tried it, all complaints vanished. Zaky even asked if we could do it again. See lah, mummy knows best!

We had lunch at the hotel cafe before the kids gathered in our room for another round of fun. Fortunately Auntie SL brought them back not long after bcos I so needed an afternoon nap. Only Lil Shauna survived; the whole world napped. Naps are always good. Zaky had a hard time trying to wake up.

Part 2 of the beach fun continued at 4.30pm when the heat was more bearable. We went to the beach only to realise that the beach was west facing and there was no shade in the setting sun. Operation "cover up" took place. Only Auntie S was so braved to face off with the sun.

While we were at the beach trying to cover as much skin as we could, we saw so many bikini clad ladies. Many of them were eye candy, including mummies! See, see... like this one and they were like everywhere! They dont do very good to my ego. Can you imagine going to the beach with a friend like that? Haha. I was motivated and made a pact with Auntie S to wear biniki too during our next overseas beach trip.

It was low tide and the dead corals were washed up making the beach less enjoyable than the morning. The kids turned to crab hunting instead; crabs were plentiful in the low tide beach.

The low tide also washed up many cleared jelly lumps tht we 1st thought were dead jelly fishes, which freaked us out bcos dead jelly fishes can still sting. I have to say that they were quite pretty.

The kids didnt want go into the waters bcos we thought we spotted jelly fishes. I saw them too, it was a lump with wiggly purple tentacles.

After googling, the cleared lumps were more likely to be some dead sea slugs and much less harmful than dead jelly fishes. The "purple jelly fishes" were the same slugs but still very much dead. They became those clear lumps after losing that purple wiggly stuff. The kids did go back into the sea after overcoming their fear. The beach was human-filled too and we didnt see/ hear screaming people running out of the waters after being stung.

They created a little pool for the many sea snails that they found.

While scooping sand and water into their pool, they actually caught a real mini jelly fish. It was actually quite cute bobbing up and down.

Again, we had to drag the kids off bcos it was dinner time and our tummy was protesting. We headed towards the direction of the famous Blanga street, intending to place our footprints.

When the fun ends, hunger strikes. It happens everytime with little people. With the lack of more interesting and decently priced eateries, we settled for BK only to realise how expensive they were as compared to Singapore. We had dinner neverthelesss bcos we brought along so much sand and sea into BK. Zaky even left part of his tooth behind. Yes, he chipped one of his molars while feasting on fries! I hope it was the bad tooth that we did a baby root canal on.

We did step foot on Bangla street! Bucket list ticked. Maybe bcos it was 7ish, there wasnt much of a crowd and the street appeared less wild as what I remembered it to be.

The last activity for our last night was again the fish spa that the kids had been bugging to do again. Where got so much dead skin??

The kids got their wish nevertheless. I hope the smoother soles aid sleep at least. Haha.

Mummy Lim