Saturday Billy KICKED BUTT (literally) at his Taekwondo tournament. It was the 1st of the season and he was signed up for pomsea (patterns) weapons (a form of patterns holding a weapon, in this case a comma - sort of look like mini sieves) and sparring (his favorite). He did GREAT, was a bit nervous but really proud of how he did.1st up - pomsea. He killed it. Its all about intensity, focus, form, precision and control. That's our Bill. He walked away with a Gold medal and was thrilled. His bestie, Grace, also got a gold and everyone from his dojong got either a silver or gold in this event. Super fun way to start the day!
2nd .. weapons. He has only been practicing with comma's for the last 6 weeks or so and this was his 1st ever competition in weapons. He was most nervous for this event. He secured a Bronze but also said ... I didn't expect to do much better, everyone elses routines were more complex than mine. It'll come, just proud he showed up, tried and did his best! (To put it in perspective, the kid that won had cartwheels, somersaults and a jumping split in his routine, Billy's weren't that Bruce Lee-ish)3rd - Grand Champion round of pomsea - this is where they take ALL the Gold medal winners, regardless of age or belt color and have them compete for the Grand Champion trophy (which is officially taller than Billy) Its high drama, anxiety ridden and fun to see the best of the best. Billy did great (again) but ... in a field of 20+ wasn't able to secure the prize. No worries, there is always next time.
Finally - sparring. This is the most nerve racking for Tracy as Billy is very strategic, zen and not as aggressive as the other kids (his coach actually called him a pacifist) BUT ... he loves it and spars with a big smile on his face the whole time (not very intimidating to the other kids but oh well). He won his 1st match and was on to the gold medal round. His opponent was a bit more fast/aggressive and managed to squeak out a 1-2 victory over Billy. So, Billy got Silver. He is a smart, intelligent sparer, we just need to work on his offense a bit:)
So, Billy got a full set of medals, one of each and is thrilled.
A side note on the tournament. Its run by Grand Master Lee and I have to say. I think he might have a bit of a control issue. The tournament schedule is not only NOT shared in advance, its also NOT shared during the day and the ONLY person that knows the schedule is him. This means, for parents and kids alike, spending the WHOLE day waiting for your name to be called to compete. We had a full 3 hour gap that (had we realized we could have gone and had lunch and come back) entailed sitting around. Then, he called the kids for sparring a full 90 min's before they actually sparred. Which means Billy just sat on the hard floor of the gym for 90 min's watching other kids spar and waiting his turn. He is way more zen than I and didn't seem to mind but ... there has GOT to be another way. We got to the tournament at 8:15 and left at 4. Full competition time by Billy? 14 min's. Total. Sigh....
But...we had a super yummy night of salsa verde pork, hearts of palm salad and yummy pudding parfaits waiting for us at home with Jim/Jen. We were celebrating Tom, Tracy and Jen's birthdays - Jen got a bottle of homemade rhubarb martini cordial (yummy), Tom the newest Lee Child Jack Reacher book (Yippee!!) and ... since Tracys birthday presents were all from the airport gift shop, they thought it would be appropriate to shop at the gas station. A Mr Clean Magic Pad (always handy), Spicy Chicken Noodle Bowl (Kay's favorite and I think she's already eaten it) car wash coupon book (perfect if you know tracy well, she only washes her car about once every 2-3 years) a book of matches (practical) and a flashlight WITH batteries (you can never have too many flashlights in a house with 3 kids) A perfect ending to the day:) Kay had a sleep over and Jimmy had basketball try outs so it really was VERY low key and lovely.
Sunday - Twins/Vikings game....
Tracy was able to score tickets to the Target Box for the Twins game. I JUST SO HAPPENED that the Vikings were also playing at home and so .... they had the football game on the TV in the suite and watched the baseball game live from a really spectacular view. Tracy invited Jimmy, who in turn invited his left limb (Anders) and his right limb (James). The boys thought they died and went to heaven ... chicken wings, pizza, nachos, popcorn, cookies, unlimited soda, football, baseball, fireworks, the suite, valet parking, you name it.... God help them the next time they go to a "normal" game. They quickly made friends with Nolan (also in the box) and were busy talking sports trivia for the rest of the day. To make things even better, both the Vikings and the Twins won!Sunday evening
Jimmy had his last basketball try out session with Anders and James. The anxiety was tense. Rumor was that they were going to cut 8 of the 22 boys and they were all critiquing their performance. The BEST possible outcome was that they all 3 made the same team and we could set up a carpool program to make any Uber cabbie jealous. The WORST case was that 1 of them would make it and the other 2 wouldn't. Not only would this cut in on hanging out time but...it would also make our lives a driving hell. 3 months, 11 tournaments, 100 games. We NEED all 3 boys to make the same team!!!!
We also had the 1st annual Rock for the Gift. Tom sits on the board of Gift of Adoption (which does a killer golf tournament every year). They are trying to branch out to more donors and thought a live concert in a brew pub would be a good venue (and it was!!!) There was a comedian and 3 live artists. Awesome music, good (aka free) beer, a yummy food truck and we were able to invite many of our friends. So, it was an unexpected fun night out, just happened to be on a Sunday night. I think we have a good platform for a killer fundraiser next year. (PS - Monday morning Jimmy found out ....He made the A team - WOO HOO!!! Anders and James were cut. GOD HELP US! how in the world are we going to make it through this winter of basketball, gymnastics and taekwondo.....yikes!!!)
