USA Open and Jr International Karate Tournaments!

At the beginning of April the boys went down to Las Vegas for a week to compete in two karate tournaments.  They had a blast and it was definitely a new experience!  On Friday they competed in the Jr. International Elite tournament, and on Saturday they competed in the USA Open.  There were over 100 countries represented at this event!  Our dojo sent 6 people.

On Friday at the Jr. International event the boys competed in kata and kumite (fighting) and on Saturday in the USA Open they competed in kata, kumite, weapons, and team kata.  They were lucky enough to be in different age divisions for all of the individual events with the exception of weapons.  They did remarkably well, and came home with 9 medals between them!

 On Friday the boys both won their kata divisions, and Jake also placed bronze in kumite.  On Saturday Bentley won his kata division, and Jake won bronzes in both kumite and kata.  As a team their group won team kata, and Jake won gold in the weapons event!

It was a fun experience overall, although it did provide some "learning moments" for the kids on how sports and luck sometimes come together.... !

These type of tournaments are single elimination bracket style for kata and kumite, which means that all the competitors are put into pairs and either do kata at the same time or fight.  At the end of each group of two the judges give either the blue or red flag and the kid wearing that belt (the red or the blue) advances to the next bracket level.  The only caveat being if you lose in the first round and the kid that beat you eventually goes for gold or silver you get the chance to go for bronze again.

So if you happen to face the eventual winner in the first round (what happened to Jake in kata on day two!) you can't go for silver, but you can at least compete for bronze. 

As for the fighting... fun for the boys but nerve wracking for me as a parent.   It is interesting to me that Bentley says his favorite moment of the weekend is the fight he won.  Not all the gold medals, but the fight!  Ack!  Our dojo doesn't really focus on the fighting so it's an area we don't have as much experience with.

Last but not least?  The weapons division.  It was tough to see Bentley and Jake compete against each other!  They both performed beautifully in my completely non biased opinion!  Weapons is the only area of competition that is scored by points instead of flags and brackets.  There were 21 kids and Bentley was 2nd up.  Like all point based sports the first kids set a bit of a baseline for the rest of the group (meaning you rarely see top marks at the beginning).  Jake had a better position at 14th to compete and ended up with gold, and Bentley was just barely edged off the medal stand.  I am very proud of Jake and also bummed for Bentley at the same time.   I have no doubts they would have both been up there on the medal stand if Bentley had a different draw.  But... sometimes that is how the cards fall! 

Here are two short clips from the competition.

Bentley doing kata (he is the blue belt on the right):


Jake doing weapons:

   

Awards!

Princess Girl

What is a photo shoot without a few shots of the princess in a dress or two? :)

My Great Big Nine Year Old!

*Birthday boy* was the reason for getting out the photo equipment  - we are often a bit belated around here, but better late than never!  It's hard to believe my Bentley is already nine, but it is fun to see glimpses of the great guy he's growing into.  :)

Jake the Great

I was glad we could capture Jake's great grin and sparkling eyes!

Trend Setter

Fashion at our house involves pajamas at all times of the day:

 

A few months back Bentley started keeping his PJs on in the morning, and I'm afraid he's started a bit of a trend.  Evan never wants to climb out of his PJs.  Viva is in hers half the time.  Jake hasn't given into the trend, and Lincoln is still proud of his ability to dress himself so hasn't succumbed.  But my oldest and youngest?  PJ boys.

Bentley tells me that he can go twice as long without doing laundry using this method.  :)  I tell him to just admit pajamas are super comfy - no shame in that!

He does still get dressed before he leaves the house.  So we're not too far gone... yet!

Gymnastics Girl: Photo Shoot

Gymnastics photo shoots aren't *quite* as fun as dance ones - no tutus and flowers and ballet slippers... :) But, nonetheless, my favorite little girl and some snap shots of what she's dedicated soooo many hours to working on this past year!

Little Bros

My two favorite mini cuties.  :)

Everyday Life: More March

L & E playing the newest version of Whac-A-Mole.

Viva making bubble bath. She got the recipe out of girls' book she owns.

Reading Time

Reading Time

Unhappy Evan

Unhappy Lincoln

Happy Evan with Two Giraffies!

Happy Lincoln with One Doggie & One Bear (?)

L& E have inherited their older brothers' Hawaiian backpacks.

Everyday Life: March

Viva sewed a small decorative pillow from fabrics I received at a quilt retreat.

Evan LOVES strawberries.

Viva LOVES to read.

Evan playing on some of Viva's gymnastic equipment.

Jake drawing!

Evan and Lincoln enjoying a green bath.

Great-grandma reading to Lincoln. She reads a lot of books to Lincoln.

Our Little Superhero!

Bentley playing Small World. Jake doesn't like the game, so either Matt or I play with him. When a game is new we play five times or more a week. Now we play once every week or so.

Karate Life

Hi ho, hi hum... it's a karate life for us... !

The past two months or so have been rather crazy around here.  Bentley and Jake wanted to check out a big karate competition, and we decided to let them have a go of it!  They have been training for an extra hour after class every night - which makes for some long evenings and an awful lot of time spent on karate!

It's a great experience for the boys and it's fun to see them work so hard for something they want.

Evan

We did some pictures with the kids this past week. First up? Super cutie, who's growing up way too quick. He wanted to sit with blankie and giraffe - and since they go everywhere with him I think they qualify as an extension of Evan and are thus a great addition to the picture! :)

 

Next up we asked Evan to pose without his props on the stool.  This was his reply:

 

Then a staredown:

 

And half of an impish smile:

 

We tried again the next day.  He was still in a bit of an impish mood, but he was willing to pose without rolling around - a win!

 

Super cutie.

The Games L & E Play

Lincoln has played Rat-a-Tat-Cat for a long time, maybe even a year. He can play on his own with no help. Evan has recently shown some interest in learning to play, but he doesn't quite understand the rules, so he's difficult to have as a partner.

Both Evan and Lincoln are learning to play Blink. Blink--as the name implies--is a card game of speed. Whoever gets rid of their cards first wins. The deck is divided in two and the players try to discard their cards onto two different piles. To discard a card you must match the shape, color, or symbol of the top card on a pile. There are five shapes, five colors, and five symbols. Evan and Lincoln play the game fairly well with a little coaching, but it is not a speedy game when they play.

Two weeks ago I pulled Catch the Match out of the game cupboard. Lincoln loves it. The game has 15 large cards with 20 or so objects on each card. You have to find an object that is exactly the same on both cards. When Bentley and Jake saw Lincoln and I playing they wanted to join the game. Unfortunately they can be a little competitive and they don't always make allowances for Lincoln's much younger age! Last Sunday Lincoln complained to me that when Jake played with him, he only found one match while Jake found thirteen. I need to work with Evan so he learns the game.