Hiking with the Kids

It had been long since I last updated the blog. Like usual, no time. Nothing much to blog, though the thought of silly blogging interests me already. That is how much I miss blogging, but for now it would be a luxury for me to do so. Unless something interesting worth jotting down, there might not be any posts in between, I guess. I might just as well publish a monthly issue or might even be a yearly one. =)

Had a few great weekends recently. Had Raya over at my inlaws. Whole week of visitings & eating. My lil son says Moon Star & Kepapat!!! as result of seeing the raya decorations at shopping mall. A city boy, I must say. Indeed, we had alot of kepapat during the Raya week.

Then, the next weekend was well spent at Cameron Highlands. 3D/2N stay over there, with my extended family. My parents, sis's family, mine & our brother. First 2 days was spent ravishing on the strawberries, scones, tea, corn etc. Mum enslaved herself to cooking full meals for us, breakkie, lunch, dinner, brunch, teatime, supper etc. Despite us saying no, she still braved the icy water preparing our food.

Came the 3rd day, hub & i decided to do something we have been passionate about. We hiked Mount Berembun that day. Knowing that we had to check out by noon, hub woke up at 5am to prepare. I had to breastfeed (but actually was more on sleeping, while bf) & woke up 6++am. By 7++, we were on our way to hike. This particular hike would take 4hrs in total to reach the peak, for a normal hiker. But as for us with kids, we kind of knew we would detour somehow. Lack of time especially.

In the earlier of our hike, Aydeen was ever so curious. He tried to reach all that he could.

Asher was fresh at first.

But soon, didi felt asleep after 15min hike.

Here we are, started going up.

Loved the trail out there. Weather is just nice for the kids to zzz.

Koko is still fresh. Singing all the nursery rhyme while hike was exhausting. All just to keep the kids entertained.

We finally decided to pitstop after 1hr hike. The younger one did not bf properly before the hike.

A pitstop became a long stop. Nappy change, food, milk, play etc.

45min N we are at the same spot. Asher found his comfort zone, which is everywhere except for being on the mat.

We spent the next 2hrs hiking nonstop. Had to take a detour & forgo the peak. Lucky enough to meet a photog climber; he took a nice family pic.

Finally koko fell asleep on the way out.

Well, didi actually slept through the whole journey, except for the 45min pitstop.

We really had a great time hiking out there. We were at first worried about the younger one, as he is just merely 6months old. Turned out that didi was the one having the most fun, being asleep almost the whole journey. It somehow assured us that we did a good job carrying him afterall. The hike was not without some research. We did a better preparation this time as opposed to the first time we brought his koko. Food, diaper, toys, dry clothes, poncho, umbrella, thermos, sweater were all being forced into hub's lil bag. Though  did not manage to make it to the peak, we certainly enjoyed the whole hike altogether. Looking forward to the next trip up there, & hopefully will bring them to the peak the next hike.

Kids Are the Bosses

This weekend, did the normal thing which parents would have done. Went beach outing with the kids. Felt terribly sorry for leaving them last weekend, so we made up by bringing them to the beach. The outing was fun, the city boys were afraid of the beaches. Koko was so funny when he stepped on the sandy beach cautiously, so scared that he would fall down. Didi kept staring at the sea, ever so curious. Had a good swim in the sea, then again we went swimming at the hotel pool. Too bad that we had tan lines from last week's race, that people started staring as us at sea side.

At the pool, the mum was so curious that how come mat salleh kids can swim at 1 month old, but asian kids are being prevented to the pool. Then the stupid mum go and experiment on her own kid, at 4 months old. Just a split second, I promise!! Told my kid & off he went into the water. What I could gather was that my kid naturally could blow the breath & eyes wide open. He went down, then up again smiling. Well, not going to do that again. The gramma would definitely scold if she knows us bringing the younger one to the pool. The theory I got was, kids are natural swimmer up to 6 months old. There are classes for infants overseas, not too sure if they have it here.

There were seafood, sea, sand, sun then we headed home. Had a real good day. The good was, the kids pengsan so the mum has time for herself now. =)

Ironbound 2012

Its a 2 day expedition adventure race. Its a long race, a last minute prepared race. Though we have registered half a year ago, somehow we couldnt find a babysitter for our kids. We decided to forgo the race, till the very last minute. Hub N I became irrational & kind of force mum to take care of our kid. Race starts on Saturday, we decided to go on Friday evening. Hurriedly packed all the race stuff, kids stuff & off we went to mum's place. At midnite, we managed to put the kids to sleep. We dozed off eventually. 2.30am, we started our journey to Lumut. Reached about 6.30am, no thanks to the jam on the highway.

Prepared our stuff & started the race right away.

Day 1

3.5km - road/trail run

orienteering

15k - kayak

62k - bike

Surprisingly we were the 4th team overall in the mixed team. 17 mixed teams overall, we initially targeted to finish N enjoy the race. Racers were coming in from Hong Kong N Singapore as well as the local team. Dino & Mariana were the 1st team, followed by Spore team trailing behind 8mins. 3rd was another Singaporean team, then us about 30mins apart. huhu. The race was so long, that at one point it felt like it we were alone for a long time. It was a mind race as well, but somehow we made it before 6pm cut off time. We reached at 5pm. 1st team arrived 1-2hrs earlier, huhu. I guess the midnite squats N some left over endurance I had few years back helped. As for hub, he relied more on his mental strength. He had lesser training than I did. Still, he towed me during the run. We were quite surprise of ourself after the Putrajaya race's performance.

Day 2

5k - kayak

5hrs trail running

Abseiling

We had a leaky kayak. Kayaked from Lumut to Pangkor island, we were about the 6th team. Again, hub towed me throughout the whole trail run, whenever possible. We had a Hong Kong team with us, they made funny jokes. 2nd day was tougher for me, I hate running. We managed to overtake 2 teams N became 4th at the end of the race course. This time, no injury for us. Managed to reach before the cut off at 3pm. We finished at 2.30pm. Sweet. Thanks to the organizer, this would be my most memorable race. A 2 day race. After the race, we shoot back home, I was missing my kids already.

Putrajaya Urban Adventure Challenge

Hub registered Ironbound 2012 when I was pregnant last year, just to cheer me up. It is a 2day expedition adventure race. Never had I thought that he would be serious. I mean, no training nothing. The only training I get is some late nite training, ergo N weight liftling mainly. Thanks to my hub for setting up a home gym, an ergo machine & some weights for lifting.

So, prior to Ironbound, coincidently there a shorter version of adventure race in Putrajaya. Its called the Putrajaya Urban Adventure Challenge. Kind of forgot the distance, but there is about 15k run, 30k bike on/offroad, 100m swim, 2k kayak & 4k biathlon. Well, joining in last minute, obviously we suffered during the race.. hehe.. A team of 2, we joined the mixed team. Hub towed me at first during the run, well, we were the last runner. Behind is the official van. Then eventually we gathered our composure & overtook some other team, but not mixed team.

Mountain biking was good, as we were closer to the front team. It was the swim that we finally met some other mixed in front. Otherwise, it was like a race of us 2, as we were really slow. Towards the end of kayak we were actually 7th position. However, last leg was biathlon & somehow hub cramped right after swim. I had to do my slow run, & was overtook by 2 teams. Still not too bad as they had prizes up to the 10th, we were the 9th.

Waited for the prize giving ceremony. Managed to exchange stories & am glad to make some new friends. Adventure racing always gave me the pleasure I couldnt get elsewhere. =) Thanks to hub for making this real. N especially to mum for taking care of our kids =)

Blogging is Theurapatic

I miss blogging. It seems almost impossible to blog nowadays. Priorities have changed, it was at first no blogging with lots of blog readings. Reading blogs is inspiritional, however; somehow it came to a point where time is just too precious to be wasted on anything but sleeping. And now, have lost the touch on the art of blogging. Once it was easy to pen out whatever it was in my thoughts, but now; words have to be arranged few times before it sounded right.

Had taken a looong leave as I am now a fulltime housewife. It was at first some kind of embarrassment; friends lashing out comments on how easy of being a housewife; not getting any money etc etc. It is not easy at all.. Like SERIOUSLY...  with 2 precious kids; life is just getting tougher. Kind of difficult to explain, it takes another housewife to understand. Even mothers do not understand what I do; though mainly taking care of my own kids, except for 1 or 2 of my closest friends. Well, might as well skip this chapter.

Been a while since I blogged. Last time was when I was still with Aydeen. Now, I have Asher as well. My 2 kids. Life still goes on, with them being my priorities. There is so much to talk on.. as like my second pregnancy; labour pain, new kid, training, races, family, friends etc etc. Time just wouldnt permit. Or maybe I cam zombie through my blogging =)

2nd pregnancy was much easier. Having the first one, with 24hrs labour (including being induced); 2nd one seemed like a bliss. Ran through my pregnancy, jungle trekked, ran a half marathon (thanks reita), ergo & I had a shorter labour. Never easy; its just as painful.

Came along Asher, now its like no time for training. Well, actually no time to cook a proper meal, no time to do housechores, no time for myself. Just as I would like to be selfish, if there is anytime I can escape from my kids, I would like to go running =) All chores/training to be done late at night after my kids are asleep. Have been about a year or two since I had facial/spa etc..

My diary has been a boring one. The whole book has doctor's appointment, or where the kids went, or a 4km jog with kids scribbled on it if lucky. Life is boring.. It is monotonous & repetitive. Somehow, life got slightly more interesting as I had joined some adventure races. Thanks to hub for being my partner. Though I scolded him alot during the race, nevertheless he was ever so willing to be my race partner. Thanks. Races detail in next entry. It might be another year or two before there will be more posts, I guess =)

Malaysia's First Rowing Medal

Congrats to the rowing team of Malaysia to have ended the medal drought yesterday. Yesterday in history, the men's pair had clinched the very first rowing medal; a BRONZE (it really felt like GOLD) in the SEA Games. They had a competitive fight. Good job to the whole team =) And the rowing event wasn't even listed in The Star newspaper. Congrats again!!!!!

Hoohathlon - a mini triathlon

Attended Hoohathlon last 2 weeks. It was fun. It was a triathlon race for beginners; which I asked hub to participate. At least, its serves as an appetizer for his triathlon quest. Turned out he wasn't prepared for it, & I ate his appetizer. Actually, its more to not many races that I can participate nowadays, & hoohathlon seemed to come in the right time. I thought of doing my own training, not wasting my money. But again, that race distance seemed appropriate to me. I did suffer the last ATM tri, during biking & running leg.. not forgetting the swim as well.

Prior to race start, I lepak with Reita. I suddenly felt so segan, as everyone else seemed really a beginner. But, again, it was a fun race rite?? Reita is another reason that I came. At least, we could hang out together. Race was about 100m swim, 10k bike, 5k run. I did that in 59min; with bike speed about 31km/h.

Finishing the race, I got 2nd & got a cool leave head band for Aydeen. No prize, nothing, but they gave some cool goodies bag. After the race, rushed back to celebrate Father's Day; then Alvina's birthday. That lil girl turned 1 already, it was that fast.

bike leg - pic thanks to Tey =)

Reita finishing the race. Let me elaborate more; pinjam citer yek.. She is a mother, with a career in hand while juggling her 2 kids with no extra help; trying to train every opportunity given; stuggling her aneamic condition & yet, still excell in all =) i think i can imagine how hard it is.. definitely not easy... we had planned to do the below races together..

kenyir - both DNS

atm melaka - I did, she DNS

hoohathlon - both did

* the direction seems like a sunny day coming up, hopefully =)

Aydeen gets his first podium appearance =)
Thanks tey for the pic...

After race smile..

Big thank you to the guys in blue..

thanks tey for the pic