Royal Caribbean 3rd Time Day 2

Despite the late night, my alarm sounded at 6am for the morning exercise. I got to share the big squishy bed with Zaky. Daddy Lim was up too bcos of backache from the sofa bed and decided to join me on the deck. Q

Hello Friday!

While I like to take pictures with the "days", Zaky attempts to take with all the animal pictures in the lift. 

We joined in the fun. 

I did my usual kickboxing Hiit. Daddy Lim was doing some... I don't know what actually... he walked and jogged a couple of rounds and then claimed that he was stretching. There were a few pushup and situp too.

 

The morning workout was followed by a hearty bfast before the morning activities. We went for napkin folding. The boys were happily playing 2 player silly games before class. 

These were what we learnt. 

After the napkin artistry, it was the Christmas origami. People are very tired.

They did wake up for the class. 

The end product is a Christmas Star and it is so complicated. 

By late day 1, I realised that I have forgotten 2 things - the adaptor and also toothpaste! We managed to loan the adaptor from the customer service and had to buy this $10 toothpaste!

Trust me, it feels really weird to brush teeth without toothpaste. While this toothpaste didn't taste as good as colgate, it is so much better than nothing at all. 

At the same time that we went to the Customer Service to loan the adaptor, I was struggling to book the boogie boarding for Day 3. The CS officer helped us instead and we managed to book 3 night sessions for Zaky on Day 3. Yay!

What we didn't miss/ forget is the Harry Potter Trival quiz. Though our 2nd try and having read the books 2x (oh yes!), we still didn't get all the answers right. We need to read the books a 3rd time and also come for another cruise. Hohoho. 

Daddy Lim took his much needed nap while Zaky and I headed for boogie boarding. I managed to book for myself 2 sessions too. I was hesitant to try bcos the last round, I whacked myself after washed out and it wasn't a pleasant experience. 

Tried I did. The 1st time, I was washed out and it wasn't too bad. The 2nd time, I was rolling around in the water after washed out and was stretching out my hands blindly in hope of stopping myself from banging against the foam board. Fortunately, I stopped short before the board but it still wasn't fun flipping around in the water. The 3rd and 4th tries were much better and I even managed to kneel hands free on the 4th try. Hohoho. I kept hearing the staff telling me to relax. How to relax lah? I happily moved to the side and ended my round when I got bored. Hoho. Zaky had a great time too. Some of the attempts turned our really well and one of them, the staff was boogie boarding beside him. 

Of course the sessions left us super tired. That called for a long nap before we finally left the cabin for dinner. 

As usual, we didn't remember pictures until desserts time. Lol.

We returned to the room to find a friend. 

We left the cabon a while later for a final game show and the John Taylor magic show at 10.15pm. Water from India.

Yes, it was a late show and thus the reason why we needed that afternoon nap. Though catching it a 2nd time, we were still very much fascinated by the show. 

With that, we called it a day. Despite the 2 hours nap that Zaky and I took, we still fell asleep like little piggies. Oink. 

Mummy Lim

Royal Caribbean 3rd Time Day 1

I know right. Royal Caribbean should give us a loyal customer award or something. Hoho. Yes, it is the same ship. Yes, it is more or less the same activities. But I am such a sucker for holidays and we wouldn't want to risk travel bcos Zaky is not vaccinated. So tadah! Here we are again. What is different is that I have exchanged Lil Shauna for Daddy Lim. I am very looking forward to our 1st complete family holiday after such a long time but the teenager is just not interested in another (same) cruise. Zaky is fine. He is in fact very thrilled to be the "only kid" on a family holiday. It is what it is and thus, we are on another cruise holiday, with or without Lil Shauna. 

I was trying to clear my leave and took an entire day's leave. We started the holiday right with a trip to the skatepark, completed with MacD bfast. 

By the time we were home, it was last minute packing and we were soon on our way to Raffles City for the ART test. Off we go without the teenager. 

Our boarding was at 2.30pm. The earliest should be at 1pm. Only 2.30pm onwards timings were available by the time we made our booking. Royal Caribbean has recently switched to just ART testing on actual day of sailing. In March, it was PCR the weekend before sailing at Raffles City. In September, it was PCR the previous weekend at Raffles City and ART on day of sailing at the ferry terminal. This time, the ART was at Raffles City and to travel to the ferry terminal upon negative results. 

Auntie T went on the same cruise in early December and it was the 1st one with the new arrangement to do ART on actual day in Raffles City before sailing. She said that it was a big mess, a huge crowd, little information and control. I bet Royal would have learnt their lesson and improved their control by the time we sail but took no chance and turn up about 2 hours before boarding time. They did learn and didn't allow us entry until 1.15pm. We went for a little snack, turning back at about 1pm and were soon granted entry, probably the crowd was thin. 

The testing was efficient. We were out by 1.20pm and had to linger around for results, that were supposed to be released in the next 45 mins max. We got ours in 20 mins and soon on the way to the ferry terminal. 

We arrived at 2pm and despite scheduled boarding at 2.30pm, we were allowed to proceed with the check-in. Yay! Daddy Lim's 1st holiday in a long while. 

I is cruise expert. The moment we boarded, I warned the boys not to disturb me bcos I needed to book the bumper car and the show. I got that alright. Yay! Then to the Seaplex to book the fringe activities. There are foosball, pickleball, xbox and table tennis. Each family is allowed 2 activities, booking of 20 mins each. The last round, there wasn't such restrictions. We booked a session on day 1 and the other on day 4. 

Our pretty room!

It looked exactly like the previous 2 cruises. Daddy Lim is very excited. Hoho. 

Hello Thursday!

Though still full from the earlier snacks, it didn't stop us from having snack at Windjammer. Hoho. Rolling home. There are new restrictions to Zaky's favourite boogie boarding. Other than the 1st day on a 1st come 1st serve basis, the other day sessions require reservation from app. Auntie T had passed us precious tips, which required close monitoring of the app at specific times. 

I had mistakenly thought that the boogie boarding start at 3.30pm only to see long q at the station and realised that it started at 3pm. Oopsy. We got Zaky to Q and Daddy Lim had the honor to accompany him for the 1st session. 

What was I doing? Taking pictures. 

And also running around like ah sum, walking to the room to pick up Zaky's shoes, take the pool towel, take drinks, etc. That was when I realised how long the cruise ship is; very good for clocking steps. 

It was a long Q for boogie boarding. Zaky did get his chance after queuing for almost 1 hour. He was very pleased with himself but overshot our 1st seaplex activity. I had to Q to change the appointment and ended up chit chatting with a fellow cruiser. She was asking if it was our 1st cruise and I felt a little embarrassed to tell her that we had been so frequent on the cruise. Haha. 

We had a long break before the bumper car at 7.45pm. Zaky took a nap and Daddy Lim didn't bcos his tummy was growling. Hoho. We had another snack while Zaky was in lala land and went back to wake him Zaky just in time for bumper car. 

Our one and only precious session. The bumper car ended exactly at 8pm and just nice to book the boogie boarding on Day 2. Booking for Lil Shauna's ice skating session has given me good training and I was standing by, refreshing the app over and over again and managed to snag 2 sessions for Day 2 afternoon. Hoho. I am good. 

Dinner was lined up next. We only remembered to take picture of the dessert. Yummy. 

The app says that dinner is at 8.15pm and we thought that we had to follow the timing until we asked and were told that dinner starts as early as 5.30pm and the last serving is at 8.30p. Chey. Bcos we went for dinner late and avoided the crowd, dinner was much faster than usual. 

We headed for a game event after dinner at 9.30pm and won ourselves some prizes!

Hmmm...the quality not very good but Zaky was very pleased. 

We ended the night with a movie, "A Quiet Place 2" and I wondered why we chose to watch such a stressful movie at the end of the day on a holiday. 

Sleep was absolutely easy, even for Zaky who had a long nap. Good night!

Mummy Lim

2 Days of Aunties

When the relaxed restrictions kick in, we took immediate action to plan for the next meetup. Bcos of work and the 2 pax rule, I had missed a couple of the exciting gatherings. 

The plan was very simple - eat, shop, chit chat and repeat. We met at 10am for brunch at Wild Honey. My job was to follow blindly and the aunties made the decision over what to eat, where to go. Easy, I like it when I didn't have to use too much of my brain on off days. Haha. 

Look at the yummy food! The servings were huge and we ordered 2 mains to share, topping up with scores. Oooooo... 

Completed with coffee. I had this mocha wild honey thing that was way too sweet but didn't stop me from polishing it off.

We hold true to our objective to eat, shop, chit chat and repeat and we did that very well.

The 3 musketeers and 美图-ed. Lol. 

I found it amazing how we could have endless conversations for 7 hours, parting ways only at 5pm. I did find my soul enriched and realised how much I miss catching up with these girls. 

While I was out creating precious memories, so did the kids. Popo nicely brought them out. Cousins united.

The kids have plans on Saturday too. The girls are now old enough to arrange for outings and gatherings on their own. Things get messy when the mummies were somewhat informed and participated in separate planning. 

The plan was to send both Lil Shauna and Zaky to Auntie J's place. Daddy Lim had a full day's work and I was secretly pleased to do nothing at home. My happiness was short-lived bcos Zaky and I found out on Friday evening that Lil Shauna is NOT going to Auntie J's house bcos of Youth. Zzzzzz. On Auntie Pei's side, C was also fickle minded about going or not going. Double Zzzzz. The aunties come to realise that we should either leave the girls totally to plan on their own or get involved from the start. The 不三不四 planning doesn't work. 

Ended up, it was a long grab ride to send Zaky to Auntie J's house. Thankfully, Auntie SL was staying somewhat nearby and was willing to "收留" the 2 of us after we dropped the boys. Auntie H had a couple of hours to burn too and we had another catch up session. 

The kids had fun at Auntie J's house. So did we. Hoho. 

I 

I am once again amazed that we still have so much to talk after talked for 7 hours the day before. The topics were free flowing and there is always something to discuss and talked about. My soul is once again enriched. 

Daddy Lim nicely came to pick us at 9pm. It is a good weekend. 

Mummy Lim

Silly Nana

Ever since we moved to LV, we have been making good use of the ancient scoot that we bought about 8 years ago. Lil Shauna and I use it to commute to the MRT station. It is a life saver for me on warm mornings; I perspire like mad simply by walking to the MRT station. Zaky uses it to commute to his Science tuition classes. 

On Tuesday morning, I was going to the office and was hoping to snatch the scoot. It was not parked at the usual spot outside our house and assumed that Lil Shauna had taken it, having left the house earlier than I did for her CCA in school. This was until Daddy Lim said that Lil Shauna didn't take the scoot; he had sent her to the MRT station. Zzzzz... Lil Shauna must have used the scoot earlier (few days) and left it at the MRT bicycle parking bay. She had done that several times. 

I tried looking for the scoot at the bicycle parking bay on my return trip. I even video-call Lil Shauna to ask her usual parking spot bcos it is a huge parking bay. She was with her friends giggling away; I wondered what's so funny. We didn't see the scoot at her usual parking spot and she claimed that she hasn't taken the scoot, that it is not her. Hmmmm...

This triggered a CSI. We were trying to ascertain the last person who had used the scoot. Zaky used it for the Science tuition on Thursday evening but Daddy Lim picked him and the scoot up. They had only remembered to bring the scoot home (from the car) on Friday or did they left it in the carpark? Lil Shauna swears that she didn't use the scoot after Friday but Popo remembered her mentioning scooting to the MRT on Saturday to attend her youth group meeting. Was it left and forgotten in the carpark? Was it stolen when we left it outside our house? Or Lil Shauna had indeed taken the scoot and forgotten about it? Hmmmm... with Popo's testament, she is the most sus, then why didn't we spot the scoot at the parking bay? Am I that blind?

This morning, I decided to check the parking bay again with my eyes open before heading to the office. What did I see? Zzzzz...

Our old trusted scoot leaning lonelily on the bicycle rack. Who left it there? The one who swears that she didn't take it. Zzzzzzz. 

What's even more funny is the way that it has been "locked".

Lil Shauna has "locked" it by the neck of the scoot and I can remove the scoot by slipping the handle through the lock without opening the lock. T.T 三条线. Zzzzzzzzz.

Apparently, she had been locking the scoot this way for the longest time. I wonder if nobody bothers to steal such an old scoot or we have very honest people in Singapore. 

On a different note, Cookie has been just as silly, kicking out all his sand bath sand from his "toilet". This was what I saw yday. 

Silly hamster. Hohoho.

Mummy Lim

Cycling w/o Daddy Lim

I missed cycling for 2 weeks bcos of rain and Zaky. Daddy Lim now work either on Saturday or Sunday and I have to fight with Zaky for Daddy Lim's weekend morning off bcos he too wanted Daddy Lim to bring him to the Kallang skatepark. I am so waiting for the skatepark opposite our house to be completed. We can walk over anytime then and Daddy Lim's weekend morning off would be mine. Hoho. 

Bcos I am so sick of the gym/ hiit/ jog routine, I was so looking forward to a ride, even if it is without Daddy Lim. He happened to be off last Saturday morning and coincides with the restarting of WWF group ride due to the relaxed restrictions but he was too tired and wanted to sleep in. Never mind, I go myself. 

Of course I did and was glad to wake up to clear sky. It was a ride to Marina Barrage, a route that I was familiar with and thoroughly enjoyed being on the bike again. 

Despite having the cycling craving satisfied, I was still yearning to ride on Sunday morning. Unfortunately, no usual cycling khakis were available and I half thought I would end up with a solo ride. I ended up joining another cycling group on their newbie rides. Hehe. Their usual rides are too fast and this newbie ride was a small group and a comfortable pace, aka one that I can catch up with. This time, we ended up at Kallang. 

Yay! I so missed riding!

Mummy Lim