Ice Skating 204: Learning New Stuff

Lil Shauna didn't lose much of her jumps and spins over the CB. Heng ah. 

While revising on the learnt stuff, Coach Raymond also started teaching her new stuff. On the 1st lesson, he started on her double salchow. Lil Shauna was told that it is a salchow combined with an axel jump, sound easy right? Hohoho. She is still falling left, right, center and so much so that whenever she attempts her double salchow now, she gets ready to fall than to land. It will be a long time. 

On her 2nd lesson, Coach Raymond started on her backward sit spin. She flops on the ice every time she attempts, just like what she did when she started on her sit spin. Deja Vu. She is still working on her camel and broken leg spin. Coach Raymond said that she is getting there for her camel spin, she is able to hold at the correct angle and just needed to enter strongly and spin faster. Again sound easy hor. 

Last lesson was still on her double salchow jump? Got it? Bo leh. 

 

It is getting harder and harder to get into the rink. The Rink is still restricting 50 skaters per session and has implemented a new system with a register for people to put their names for future session. We arrived at 12pm on Saturday for the 12.45pm session only to be told that the session had been fully booked! Why like that? Let's hope things go back to normalcy soon. 

Mummy Lim

Fishy Friends Story

We got new fishy friends about 2 weeks back from QianHu. One of Lil Shauna's guppies died the next day. The rest looked strong. Heng ah.

It took us a while to figure out how much to feed the fishes. Then we realise that they feed better when we crushed up the fish pellets. The general rule is to ensure that the food is finished within like 3 mins and to scope up excess food. They survived all right, until we changed the water a week later.

We changed the water like how we usually did with Oreo. We transferred the fishes to a plastic bag, cleaned up the tank, changed the water and then submerged the plastic bag (with the fishes) into the tank for 30 mins to allow the fishes to acclimate to the water temperature before putting them back into the clean water.

The next day, we found Zaky's fishes all dead. Lil Shauna's molly and most of her guppies survived all right. I read up and learnt that the fishes' poo, leftover food, etc. changed the chemical compound of the water and we are not supposed to change the entire tank of water at one go. The recommendation is like 10 to 20% each time and 50% every few weeks. Like that how?

Daddy Lim and Zaky found this dropper from the fish shop.

Instead of changing the entire tank of water, we attempted to suck up all the fish poo. There is hell alot of poo!

This morning, I took on the poo sucking duties and spent a good 15 mins sitting by the tank, before topping up new water.

The water looked slightly cleaner but still murky. Can lah, can lah. I tried my best.

It had been a few days since the "water change" and the fishes have all survived. Yay!

Mummy Lim

A Different School Holiday

Once upon a time, I would take every school holiday opportunity to go for an overseas holiday. The covid-19 disrupted the norm and we have been in Singapore for the past 7 months.

It is no different this school holidays; we are so stuck. To add on the woes, the school had been very enthusiastic in prepping Lil Shauna for PSLE with tons of homework.  We tried and managed to find a day to take leave together and bring the kids out. We thought of a staycation but it is seriously not worth the $$, even when I am feeling so desperate.

Ended up, we decided to bring the kids to Sentosa. I forgot the last time that I go to Sentosa for attractions other than USS and the beach. In my opinion, Sentosa is simply for tourists and overpriced.

I wanted to be at the beach as early as 7am. Imagine the sea breeze and the warm rising sun. Ya, imagine only bcos it was already 8am when we leave the house.

We stopped by Seah Im for bfast before finally heading for Tanjong Beach. There had been reports of sightings of box jellyfish at the beach and the kids were asked to stay on the shore even though I brought the swimming gear.

The beach is good, even when there isn't much to do. The kids ended up self entertaining and tried to fish. Interestingly, they caught a mini squid. No joke.

As well as 3 mini fishes and a few hermit crabs.

Their fishing gear? The frisbee. Haha.

We were on our own for the rest of the afternoon. Just when we were deciding the next activity, it started drizzling, helping us to decide that lunch was next.

The kids decided on the Mega Climb. It was a long wait, even when we took a slow stroll to the venue.

We were 30 mins before the opening at 1pm. Then, there was another 30 mins wait for the crews to do final set-up and testing. Even the caterpillar was faster.

Finally onto the buggy to a bumpy ride up slope.

Only the kids attempted the mega climb.

The scariest seems tot be this leap of faith, where they have to jump across to the other side of the plank, only to have the kids tell me that it was easy. Chey.

Daddy Lim was more excited about this huge cikada that he saw.

They finished the course in about an hour, right before the drizzle started again. Fortunately it was a passing shower.

With that, the kids were ready to go home. Enough fun already. We ended off our Sentosa trip with coffee and cake.

Now that the kids are older, they no longer tell me that it is their best day ever leh. Never mind, I am the best mummy ever. Pat myself on my back. Hohoho.

Mummy Lim

Before and After

FB regularly pushes out memory pictures and this one was too cute.

Zaky was probably about 2 YO in this picture, he couldn't even do the✌️sign properly at that point and had a super cute version.

Daddy Lim said that he still has this cycling jersey. It was a little thin though. I had to plead with the not so little guy to re-enact the same pose in the same Jersey.

He has obviously grown so much. I barely could find similarities between the 2 pictures. Aiya, not cute anymore. Where did that little cute guy go to?

I think we should try to preserve the same Jersey and take another picture 8 years down the road. Hopefully, he can still fit into the Jersey by then? Hahaha.

Mummy Lim

Another Round Island Conquered

My 1st ever RI was in June 2019. I was so mega proud of myself. Bucket list ticked off. In my mind, RI is done-ed, no need anymore RI le. Then I went on to do another RI in July 2019. Daddy Lim must have bluffed me into it. Lol.

This RI business is addictive. Before the CB, we completed another 2 RIs. Ya, no prize de and I have no idea why I did it. I remembered that I cursed and sweared after each one. Lol. Daddy Lim even said that he wanted to try to do one RI per month. Siao ah?

Then he came down with pneumothorax and the CB came and we all took a break from cycling. It took him a while to train up his lungs. Even today, he said that he can feel the difference in his lungs' capacity.

The WWF regular rides are finally back and so are the usual cycling kakis. Without further delay, the 1st RI was planned on the eve of Polling Day. The PH was too precious to be missed.

The sky wasn't very cooperative though. It was raining so hard in the morning and the leaking didn't stop until afternoon.

This time, we were joined by Auntie SL and her friend, who lugged their bikes and drove all the way down from faraway Punggol. I did offer to meet them at Punggol but they so desired to see that complete round island captured on Strava. Come, come, Singapore very small. Hehe.

Weather check at 5pm - ticked. Auntie SL and her friend started their long drive down to JW and it suddenly started to drizzle at 6.30pm, not a light drizzle but huge, big rain drops like of drizzle. Why like that? Fortunately, the gang was game enough to ride on despite the drizzle. It was still drizzling slightly when we rode off and we had to be more careful with the slippery roads.

The 1st casualty took place not long after - dark night + port hole = flat tire.

While the men were working hard to change the tube, we did what we do best. Haha.

Finally we rolled on.

The ride was enjoyable despite the drizzle and the wet roads. We all agreed that it would be a relax and chill RI but I don't see us going any slower than usual. Lol. Cyclists are all liars. I do worry for Daddy Lim's poor lungs and constantly checked that his lungs are breathing ok. Auntie SL and her friend are both strong riders and there was no need to worry for them.

It all went well and we stopped for supper at CV. Confirmed well-deserved. We intended to have supper no. 2 at the WCP MacD only to realise that it wasn't operating 24 hours. Heng for the nasi lemak at CV or we would have people fainting from hunger. Lol.

We made it back alright and we were home at about 2ish. Poor Auntie SL and her friend had to drive back to Punggol. Nice round island map.

RI is seriously physically tiring. Daddy Lim and I were awoken early next morning by Popo's phone. By afternoon, we were really wasted. I took an hour+ nap; Zaky said that Daddy Lim slept for 3 hours! Even then, I was tired.

We were supposed to ride on Saturday morning with the regular WWFs and I was secretly happy when it rained at 5am. The ride was off. Hohoho. We did ride on Sunday morning and I was still tired.

See lah, RI is detrimental to health. Wait, there is again a long weekend coming up! Let's do RI! Hahaha.

Mummy Lim

Ice Skating 202: Picking it Up

I seriously lost track as classes were disrupted before the CB. We have classes booked with JCube and SISA that didn't take place and we went into CB.

Lil Shauna is finally resuming her lessons after spending the last weekend familiarizing herself on ice. She looked like she remembered most of her jumps and spins. Heng ah.

Coach spent half of her lesson on footwork. One word: Rusty. Haha.

Now that she is able to land most of her axel jumps, Coach has moved her to a double salchow jump. The result?

She worked hard, she really did. We were back on the ice on Sunday and she was on ice practicing the full 2 hours. She was trying to nail her double salchow jump and while she managed to land on the correct foot, she fell EVERY time. Some of the falls were so dramatic and looked so painful that I have to ask her to stop. So scary.

Coach said that she shouldnt anyhow swing her leg, which resulted in the uncontrollable jump but to lift her leg up to jump. Sound so easy hor?

Mummy Lim

New Fishy Friends

It was meant to be an afternoon at the beach but it was drizzling on and off; it was too much risk to head to the beach. Bcos we had spent too many weekends mushrooming at home, we decided to bring the kids to do something fun and we headed to QianHu instead. That basically means new fishy friends. Mummy is so nice; I must be crazy. Haha.

Our last fish - Oreo, from our last QianHu longkang fishing expenditure is still alive. It had been more than 4 months! Good job. It even survived some of the new friends that we tried to introduce to it.

We again found Oreo some new friends. The kids were each given $8 budget for whatever fish that they wanted to buy. They were happily shopping but were considerate enough to look for fishes small enough to not overcrowd our little tank and those that are not going to be aggressive towards Oreo.

Lil Shauna eventually got 5 mini guppies and another molly while Zaky got 6 duno what schooling fishes. Daddy Lim chose a new plant. I wanted to get one of those sucker fish bcos they are like super hardy fish in my perspective only to realise that those are expensive. Never mind. Hoho. They survived the car journey home very well, even better than Lil Shauna who got car sick on the way home.

We took time to ensure Oreo gets accustomed to the new water and also took the chance to wash the tank thoroughly. It had a layer of algae on the tank's surface... Eeeeeeewwwwkkk...

Oreo looks like it is adjusting to his new friends. This morning, I checked and all of them are still alive. Then I realised that we forgot to feed them last night. Oopsy. Now, the challenge is now to figure out how much to feed the fishes.

Let's hope they all live well and good.

Mummy Lim

My New Garmin Watch

It had been over 2 weeks since I had my Garmin Vivoactive Element 3. Do I like it? I love the kitty, kitty cloud face. So cute!

I am not sure if the GPS tracks running accurately but it should be about there since I used about the same time to run similar distance on my Fitbit.

It irks me to see this screen though.

Like that means got GPS or no GPS? The screen doesn't change for a long time but still tracks the distance and map.

The watch doesn't track treadmill accurately though. On my 1st treadmill run, it gave me extra distance and allowed me to calibrate the actual distance. Then it started giving me shorter distances for all subsequent runs, like 200+m short for very 1km that I actually run and the calibrate option disappeared. Why like that? I read up and there was an article that suggested that I am off form on treadmill as compared to actual running. Really?

I tried tracking my cycling and it is surprisingly accurate, unlike Strava that usually eats my speed. I opted for the auto pause option and the watch started vibrating every time it pauses and starts. I am quite sure it is killing the battery. Other than that, the cycling didn't count towards my steps, unlike Fitbit. I clocked 50+km this morning and that only amounted to 600+ steps. I had to slowly clock my 10k steps. Sob.

Speaking of the battery, that my major issuew with the watch. It is reviewed that the battery life is about 6 days without GPS and like 10 hours with GPS. I have followed some videos to turn off unnecessary features and the battery life is barely 2 days. I am like charging it so very often. The only saving grace is that it charges really quickly.

The Garmin Connect app comes with many more functionalities as compared with the Fitbit app and it is so colorful. Though I do not use may of the functions, looking at the colorful screen makes me happy. Haha.

Overall, I am enjoying the watch. Good buy!

Mummy Lim

Demanding for the Tooth Fairy

We all this Tooth Fairy thing like the way we know Mr Santa. The kids all had their fair share of Tooth Fairy's gift for their 1st tooth lost and never really again or they will have Poor Parents instead.

Zaky is 10 and about the right time for him to drop his molars and what's left. I seriously didn't remember myself dropping my molars. I also don't remember Lil Shauna doing so. I mean, molars are so huge! I can't imagine yanking them from the gum. So when Zaky started telling us that his molar was shaky, I was in disbelief.

Suddenly, his molars are all shaky. Within the last few weeks, he dropped like 3 teeth, out of which, 2 were molars. It wasn't as bad as I imagined, it was shaky, shaky and after a while, they came loose. They were smaller than I thought too. But I have no part in helping with the removal. The idea is still gross. Haha.

When he dropped the last tooth a few days back, he suddenly insisted that the Tooth Fairy must pay him a visit and gift him in exchange for his tooth. Huh? Tooth who? I have long forgotten about the Tooth Fairy.

Zaky didn't back down and kept insisting the whole evening that the Tooth Fairy must come. He had the tooth in a bag and hid it under his pillow before he went to bed.

Did the Tooth Fairy come? Of course lah, the Tooth Fairy must come in exchange for my peacefulness the next day leh.

The next morning and we have a very chirpy Zaky who bounced off and bed and got changed into his uniform promptly, just to come tell me that the Tooth Fairy came. Wah, this Tooth Fairy is very useful!

Zaky said that he has another shaky tooth. Again?!?!

Mummy Lim

Finally Back on Ice and Lousy USS

The Rink is finally opened on 3 Jul! We can't wait to get back on ice. Coach Raymond asked if we would like to take a lesson on Saturday. Errr... Never mind, we better make sure Lil Shauna is able to stand properly and skate on ice 1st.

Due to the Covid-19, the Rink has limited each session to only 50 skaters. Coach Raymond has reminded us to be early should we decide to visit for ice practice.

It was a mad rush and we were at the rink at 10.30am, only to be told that the session is maxed out, probably bcos the LTS students counted towards the quota. We also learnt that students taking one to one lesson are allowed into the rink only 30 mins before their lesson. As such, we had to adjourn to Yakun and Lil Shauna had her 2nd bfast. Hoho.

We headed back to the Rink at 11ish and had another drink at the cafe outside the Rink until we saw a Q forming. This time, we got in alright. Lil Shauna only has about an hour before she needed to rush off for her Maths class. No spectators were allowed in the rink.

Fortunately, Lil Shauna still remembered how to skate. Hahaha. She had been whining the whole morning about how anxious she was. Lol. She took some time to warm up but found most of her spins and jumps.

I could only watch her from outside the rink.

It had only been like 3 months but how come she has suddenly become a teenager?!? She looked so grown up right?

She had her fallen moments too. Plenty..

She still remembers how to do axel!!! Yippee!

Not only is the Rink opened, so is USS. Our season passes had been automatically extended to September. The kids were so excited to visit the park after months of absence.

We didn't find dates to go with but that didn't damper the kids' spirit. The weather was fantastic as well.

We were hoping that the park wouldn't be too crowded. We were not sure if the entire Singapore would decide to come to USS on the same day.

The Park wasn't crowded (grinning secretly); there wasn't the usual crowd on the walkway. I was secretly happy until I saw that the Q for the Elmo ride was 20 mins!!? That is so strange.

It was then that we realised that USS has put on this virtual ticketing system for their popular rides as a crowd control measure. Their definition of popular rides extend to all the rides that our kids are interested to take. It probably works like the fast pass for DisneyLand where tickets were given out in advance and the park goers come back for the rides at the allocated time slot.

By the time we were in the park (about 5pm and the park opened at 2pm), we were told at Transformer, Human and Cylon that the tickets had all been given out. What? We suspected that this applied at every ride with this ticketing system bcos we saw others being turned away.

We asked one of the staff if there is a way to be able to take the ride, she advised us to wait (no guarantee) or to purchase an express pass. Why like that?

As a result of the ticketing system, the other unpopular rides now became popular. No wonder the Q at Elmo was 20 mins despite the thin crowd. Zzzzzzz.

We decided to leave the park instead since the kids were not interested in the "unpopular" rides. I felt so bad for the kids such that they got a treat at Candelicious instead. Hoho. We happened to be stopped for a survey at the exit and I took no chance to tell them how lousy the experience was.

This afternoon, Lil Shauna went back to the Rink. The crowd is definitely thinner than y'day and Lil Shauna got in alright when we arrived at 12pm.

All these measures are making life so much more troublesome. Let's hope we conquer the virus soon. Did I just see the number of cases increasing? Boo.

Mummy Lim

My Life is Organised Again

I worked from home the last few days of March to help Daddy Lim settled back home after his surgery. Then the Company decided that we would work from home in alternate teams and I continued to work from home. Then the Government announced the Circuit Breaker and I didn't get a chance to properly prepare before the long stint of home working. If there is anything that I missed, it is my beloved calendar diary.

I know, times have changed and technology has advanced but I still keep my habit of keeping a hardcopy calendar diary. It had been easily 20 years. I usually used it to keep track of my social engagements. Haha, I sounded like I have a super busy social life. Ok lah, I just like to write in different color pens and stick stickers in it. It makes me happy!

The Government has started to relax the regulations but I continued to work from home and I don't think the arrangement will end soon. I really miss my calendar. Then, I happened to know that a colleague is heading back to the office and I jumped at the opportunity.

It has been like forever since I last wear proper clothes.

I know right, the pouch very chio right? Hehe. I have to wear a cap bcos I have so many grey hair and I am trying to tahan and only dye when I finally need to go back to the office to 见人.

Finally!

Daddy Lim earned himself a nice lunch.

I started populating the missing months and the calendar was so empty for the last few months. What happened to life? So sad.

At least my life is organised now. Hahaha.

Mummy Lim