Ryan's Golf Tournament

Ryan has been attending the US Kids Golf Program at Tropicana Golf Club and has recently completed Level 2 of the instruction program. Last Sunday, he had his first chance to play some real golf as the organisers (RSH/Golf House) put together a tournament known as the Golf House Junior Shootout Series. Check out http://www.golfhouseacademy.com/

To be honest, I didn't know it was a tournament as I asked his instructor James about whether he would have a chance to play on a course as part of his lessons in Level 2, which he said yes. So, I actually thought it was a playing lesson!

When I arrived in the morning (7 am) at Bukit Jelutong, tons of parents and kids already hitting balls at the driving range. We were told that it would start around 7:45 so we went down to the driving range and let Ryan hit some balls.

After an initial briefing (and compulsory group photo), we were off. It was actually great as they converted the Bukit Jelutong Pitch & Putt course (all par 3s) into a mini course suited for kids (with par 3s and par 4s). The tee boxes were a bit confusing though and the layout of the course was a bit hard to follow at first. There were actually 2 levels to play off - Blue Level 1 Tees and Gold Level 2 Tees. Ryan played off level 1 as it was his first time and also because of the yardages (no way he could make regulation from the Gold Tees with Par 3 up to 100+ yards - his BEST, PERFECT shot with his 3 wood would be about 60 yards).

Here's Ryan after his first Tee-off! Great shot and no such things as 1st tee nerves (I guess he was really anxious to get on with it since he was the last to tee-off)

He really enjoyed himself throughout the day and spent a lot of time running around the course (more like a playground).

On the 2nd hole, there was a big water hazard, ie. lake, in front of the green and he had to tee-off to the right and approach from the side. Good tee-off, but then on his 2nd shot, he was aiming across the water. I pulled him back towards the fairway as it was clearly too far to go. The joker however, turned back left after his practice swing and let fly a solid 6-iron into the water. After that, he told me, "I wanted to cross!". hahaha.... Going for the glamour shots from a young age!! :)

Here he is with his approach after having to pitch out from the slope of the water hazard.

Got it on to about 5 feet. BUT he couldn't hole it out after 4 putts up and down the hill... so got a maximum score of 10!

Overall he played well from tee to green, however, his putting distance control was pretty bad. But it was ok since it was his first time on a real course. The other key thing was his alignment as he has a tendency to aim right of the target (by quite a bit). Kept having to remind him "where are you aiming?" and pulling him back here and there.

He completed the day with a score of 66 (bogeyed the last hole for his best score of the day), which was good enough to get 3rd place in his category (Boys 6 yrs and under). His category was actually the largest and most competitive group with 12 boys. The winner shot 58.

Here's the little champion receiving his prize :)

We'll definitely be going again, of course being nice to win, but more because there are very few chances for kids to have a game and learn on a real course. When was the last time our clubs let kids (or even beginners) play?

(Note: Krystal kept pressuring me to post this on our blog...)

Thistle Port Dickson

We were at Thistle Port Dickson over the 7-9 August weekend, which also coincided with the S'pore National Day weekend. In addition to the many Singaporeans at the resort, there were also many groups of people from various organisations, who had their team building event that weekend. In two words, the resort was JAM PACKED!

Nonetheless, the boys had their fair share of digging in the sand and swimming.

Just arrived - at the entrance


Off to some digging


Ryan with his shovel


And after digging....Jaden jumped into the pool

On the second day, papa had a whole day of meeting, so I had to take care of the 2 monkeys. I brought them to the beach for more digging after breakfast.

Jaden loves running bare footed on the sand but Ryan insists to wear his sandals.


Ryan, calling the waves to come so that he can play 'chase'.

Wrote Jaden's name on the sand.

The boys got tired of the sand and we went to the Kidz Club. Lots and lots of balls there!

The room was beautifully painted too :)

And filled with all the 'fun' toys

Ryan, the sociable boy made friends with an uncle and they were playing catch


And how could they resist the trains and tracks


Difficult to get a proper pix of this boy nowadays :(

And more swimming after that :)

Jaden dreaming during his breakfast, on the third day.

Fire Station

Jaden had a 'lawatan sambil belajar' at the Sri Hartamas Fire Station end of last month. His school organised the trip with another school and there were so many grandparents and parents who accompanied their kids to the station. Jaden was lucky to have his grandmother with him, however, the trip turned out to be like a 'pasar malam', with kiasu grandparents and parents around, that my MIL was quite pissed with the poor organisation.

My MIL was one of the first to arrive at the station (9.15 am) and the staff showed her to the TV room to keep Jaden occupied while waiting for people to arrive. When she came out of the room, she noticed all seats were taken up and parents/kids were scrambling to get a place near the center where the demonstration of uniforms, talk, etc was held. Jaden only managed a place at the side :(



OOOOhhhh....the fire engine is huge!





Lucky Jaden managed to make 2 rounds in the fire engine around the station compound. I was surprised that he sat on Uncle Fireman's lap!

Jaden simply loved the trip! We read Barney's Fire Station Visit and Sesame Street's fire engine books to prepare Jaden for the visit, and he could tell us various parts of the uniform. Truly an eye opener experience for him :)

Kiddo learning Mandarin

And how does the mama teach the boy to do homework leh?

....by using the Electronic Dictionary loh....

I have forgotten most of the chinese characters I learned in tuition class when I was a little girl, but thank goodness, I still remember some basics, like the 4 sounds and some strokes. But I can't recognise most of the characters now and since Ryan is learning the 100 basic characters (and beyond), I guess it's time for me to invest in an electronic dictionary.

Easy...when I do not know the character, I just scribble the character on the screen and the dictionary will find the character for me plus the meaning in English. Also, I can choose to hear the pronunciation of the character. I have yet to explore the many functionalities of the gadget which also provides Malay translation, idioms, synonyms, penjodoh bilangan, etc. etc....

At least, with this, I can teach my little guy to do homework now :)

Ryan's Concert and Tembok Bali

Miss me? haha...joking. Too many things on my plate that I've got no time to blog at all.

So many things have happened/passed since my last posting - Ryan's Term 2 JMC concert, been to Kuching (work trip), Bali (2nd honeymoon trip), Bentong (durian trip); Jaden finally started a new school and Ryan's 5th Birthday party!

Piano Concert
JMC Book 2 concert - Rythm and stepping. The class has dwindled to 3 boys now. Well, better teacher-student attention....


A piece 'Party in the Sky' that he played on keyboard. Notice that he can play with both hands now. And at the end of the concert, Ryan was named the 'Best Performer' in his class. Probably the Principal gave face 'cos there was a huge turnout from our family with Papa, Mama, Mah-mah, didi and TaiYee attended the concert.

Bali

Tembok Bali Spa Village Resort

Botanical Garden

Monkey forest

Volcano mountain - Mt Agung

Day 1
We were in Bali for 4 days from 11 July to 14 July amidst the H1N1 scare. The holiday was pre-booked way before the H1N1 started in Mexico, so have to go loh even though scared :p The promotion by YTL was a steal at RM998 for the first night, and subsequent nights at RM399 per night. All meals were included (fine dining style), 1 hr spa, sunset cruise, welcome cake and they'll provide materials for activities as well e.g. we did the lontar drawing and it was free.

Well, I've never been pampered so much before. Upon arrival at Bali airport, we were greeted by the resort driver, who happily drove 2.5 hrs to our destination, on top of stopping wherever we wanted to - to take scenic pictures. The car was also equipped with a dvd player and tv to ensure that we were not bored throughout the journey.

The best thing was when we reached the resort, we were not quickly ushered to the reception for check-in but the staff welcomed us with a cool watermelon drink and a floral foot bath. They also massaged our shoulders to ease our tiredness. After that, they took us on a quick tour around the resort (which is not big at all with 31 rooms only and 2 suites). Btw, children are not allowed at the resort, not sure of the age group though.

We had our scrumptous dinner cooked up by Chef Danny from Ipoh and later, went star-gazing in the swimming pool. We were laughing our heads off when they pushed the bed to the middle of the pool and we wondered who came up with this brilliant idea! When we returned to our room, we were again surprised to find a warm floral bath prepared by the staff. How romantic :)

----to be continued

Jakarta

I was away in Jakarta for 6-days last week due to work commitment. We stayed at Hotel Atlet Century Park, which was opposite the badminton stadium where Lee Chong Wei won the Indonesia Open final the night before, beating Taufik Hidayat in straight sets. Since Indonesians are a patriotic lot (unlike Malaysians), we kept our mouth shut and did not mention that we were from Malaysia, in case they decided to pick a fight. On a side note, I mistakenly told a guard stationed at my hotel room floor that I was from M'sia and he said, 'O Kelantan...Manohara....' Oops! I wonder what's the impression of Malaysians to Indonesians...scary...and I quickly double locked my room door after they left. The guard was accompanying a technician who came to my room to fix the shower.

The room is actually quite nice


Jakarta is a city with a population of over 8 million people, being the twelfth-largest city in the world, as compared to Kuala Lumpur, which has only less than 2 million people. So, everywhere you go in Jakarta....you see a sea of people. It's no joke - you can see people by the roadside, doing nothing but just observing passing cars; jobs created by the unemployed and youngsters by directing traffic to earn some loose change (if given). And the most chaotic - is traffic jam! You think KL jam is bad - Jakarta is so many times worse!

Crazy mad rush on a Friday afternoon, that we decided to abandon our car and walk to the shopping mall

Shopping in Jakarta is generally a haven for shopaholics, if you have something in mind that you would like to buy as things are cheap. I bought a swimming costume for Ryan and he had been wearing it day and night for 4 days now (no, it's clean 'cos the maid will wash it at night and let it to dry overnight) :p

Ryan posing in his swimsuit

Singapore Trip

Singapore here we come!

We were at the Lion City for a short holiday last Saturday from 6 June to 8 June. It was really too short a holiday, so much so that we'd hardly enough time to visit places, shop, or even look up friends. Nonetheless, we tried to squeeze our itinerary with as much fun-filled activities for the boys and as much shopping as we could.

Our journey started at 10.30am on Saturday...'lo n behold, we couldn't imagine what awaited for us at the highway ahead from Sungai Besi toll to Seremban to Melaka. My gawd, massive jam, and bumper to bumper drive all the way. We contemplated turning back a few times but even the turn-off was jam-ed up. So how? Sit in the car lor and entertain the kids, who kept on asking 'Where are we going?' 'Why so long one?' 'I want to go there by aeroplane' 'I want to see the bridge now' 'I want to go to the zoo now'

Ryan says he wants to fly to S'pore


Look at the bumper-to-bumper jam


Jaden eating his sausage bread in the car


Stopover at the Restoran Jejantas at Ayer Keroh


The jam cleared after the Melaka turn-off and we continued our journey.

Again, at Tuas (Second Link), the queue was horrible, and we were unfortunate to experience kiasu Singaporean drivers, who refuse to give way.


Finally, at the bridge! Now, the GPS came in handy to bring us to Watten Estate Road, where we stayed for 2 nights. We finally reached my auntie's house at 6.30pm, after being 8 hours on the road!!


Early next morning, we went to Suntec City to buy tickets for the Ducktour (highly recommended by Yvonne). We paid RM100 for 2 adults and 2 children, as they were having half-price promotion for Malaysians and we were allowed to pay in RM. Unfortunately, there were not enough seats for the 10am tour (and the 11am and 12pm tours have been chartered), so we ended up with the 1pm tour. With so much time in hand, we went shopping at Robinsons and later had lunch at Tony Roma's. We thought the pork ribs were so-so only, rather disappointing, as we'd our hopes high....haiya, standard really jatuh...

The boys with their cousin, Ben.


Ben and Jaden, with a skeleton. Ryan hid behind Jaden as he was scared (Only a teeny weeny of his green shoes are showing)



Ryan, Ben, Jaden and Nic mesmerised by the fountain....


After Tony Roma's, we rushed for our Ducktour. The boys really enjoyed sitting in the 'duck'.

After the ducktour, we shopped again, till we drop dead (rather the children dropped dead tired). We headed home for a short nap, had dinner at a nearby chinese restaurant before heading to the Night Safari. My cousin, Michael joined us with his son, Ben while his wife had to put little Nicholas to sleep.

Again, at Night Safari, we enjoyed the half price promotion for admission (tram ride no promotion), paid RM66 and another SGD30 for the tram ride.

Why does Ryan has so many funny expression?

Tram ride

Next morning (Monday) we'd breakfast, spent some time with my auntie, played and 'tortured' the house dog before heading to Orchard Road for more Great Singapore Sale!

The journey home was a brisk, left Orchard Road about 2.30/3pm and reached KL before 7pm!