Swimming & Pools

I've started to send dd and ds to their swimming classes this week. Hopefully I could continue with the weekly program next year. It is quite hard to get a place in the swimming class for ds. Places are quite limited or they go quickly especially during summer. Last year I wanted to enrol him into a learn-to-swim class but there wasn't any places available on a Saturday at the previous sports centre. Dd got a place though but she had already acquired basic swimming skills beforehand in KL with her cousin prior to coming to Oz ( It was paid for by my dad as a birthday gift to them both). Ds didn't get to go to the one in KL either as he was 3 and half yo and the centre only allowed children if they are over 5 yo. Surprisingly in Oz (well, not a surprise really, Oz being quite a sporty and outdoorish nation), there is not much of a age limit anywhere and you can go to the class as early with your say > 3 months old baby.
I am quite impressed to see ds' swimming skills. He seems to be quite advanced than I originally thought. He can swim like a fish underwater only coming up to gasp some air every 2 or 3 seconds. However, I would like him to learn the correct stroke techniques just to be on the safe side. We have a pool in our backyard and before we secured a padlock on the child lock gate, ds was always finding ways to open it. (He could open the gate very easily if he stood on a chair) . I take water safety quite seriously and I should of brought the life buoy to Oz which my dad had originally given me when I was living in a condominium with pools in the complex.
Actually, my mum is more safety conscious than I, or shall I say water phobic? Once, she came over to my lil flat with my sister and nephews and we all went down for a dip in the pool. She was so water phobic that she insisted that all my nephews wear life jackets. So I let them wear my kids' life jacket just to please her. So there we were at the kids' wading pool which was only 2 feet deep, 4 kids under the watchful eyes of my mum (the matriarch), my sister and I , and 3 Indonesian maids!
I can't really blame my mum for being water phobic. We used to live in a house with a pool when we were little, and I think she remembered my dad too often diving in the pool to fish out my siblings (mainly my younger sister) out from the pool to save us from drowning. After which I guess it proved too much for my parents that we subsequently moved to a house without a pool (though this subsequent house did have a pond with tadpoles in it).

Summer kids' activities

The kid's school term will end this week and I have some things up my sleeve to keep them occupied. Next week I'm sending them to a swimming bootcamp. Then we'll go to the library next door. The library has a superb summer reading program for kids and dd already has half the stamps in her passport to qualify for a reward. I think it might take longer for her brother to collect the stamps. I hope he doesn't get too bored this hol. He might want to go swimming or to the playground everyday or even to the icecream parlour/toy shop. Boy, it is going to be a looong hot summer. Any suggestions?

Kitchen Gadgets

Dh was outstation for most of this week so I was cooking western to appease my kids appetite. I cooked black pepper steaks and lamb chop with mint sauce . It didn't really turn out as I had hoped. The recipe said fry the steak a few minutes on each side for rare , add a few more minutes for medium and more for well done. It didn't happen like that. I was cooking on my really old tefal pan and I was wondering was it time to buy new pans? My mint sauce didn't happen either as my made in china knife was soo blunt . So I went to the mall to get the knife that you can rock from left to right , right to left to slice up fresh herbs (what's it call? I saw Nigella use it once). I found one in a shop that specialise in kitchenware. It was originally $19.95 but reduced to $11.95. I used the herb slicer yesterday to slice fresh dill and oregano for scallops with dill butter sauce and spaghetti marinara. My kids loved the seafood , I would have to do this more often.
I was also looking out for some new pans. I scouted Myers dept store for Tefal pans but could not find any. Even though they had 30% off kitchen utensils, the branded pans were insanely priced from $119-$199 per item. I didn't know the price of cookware could be so dear!
I was scouting again one day and suddenly by chance I found a Breville cast iron cookware that had red price tags on them. One griddle pan had be reduced from $139 to $83. The color was being discontinued. It was my fave color ie light blue so I thought I would get it. They gave an additional 30% so I only paid $58 which was a bargain I thought for cast iron cookware. So now how and what do I use the pan for?