Tournament on the Tundra

Hmmm, maybe that's not an entirely accurate title :) However, it WAS really cold, well at least extremely chilly for our visit to the land of lakes. My brother and his wife graciously hosted our troop of karate kids (and us parents too!) It has taken me more than a week to blog about it because of black belt preparation, baseball practices, spring cleaning . . . well, you get the picture. Add in this lovely head-cold my eldest child decided to share with me (I knew those close range math questions were trouble; I understand now why teachers teach from the front of the room--as far away from the students as possible, lol :)

Tournaments are so much fun with friends!
We're glad we got to hang out waiting for staging.

Our drive was nice; we stopped at my parents' house, got to spend a couple hours with my dad, helped my mom fold about 80 Operation Christmas Child boxes, and we ate NOODLES--oh yummy noodles :) With that fuel, tucked away, we continued our trek--arriving just in time for lasagna at my brother and sister-in-law's (we have excellent timing ;) Buck and C went with G$ to check out the local Costco, and Graysen brought back flowers for his Auntie--awww! He loves buying ladies flowers when they feed us and let us stay at their homes :)

Afterwards, we ate some cookies, the kids played some games, and we enjoyed discussion and fellowship . . . but not too late, because tournaments start early when you have one in the 8 and under crowd :)

As usual, this tournament was a whirlwind! Unfortunately, though the three youngest were in rings forming an "L" shape, Caelan was in another gym entirely. At one point I was on my knees, cheering for Gabby's sparring match, taking pictures of Graysen's awards ceremony, and spun around just in time to catch a picture of B winning his first competition sparring match! I didn't get to see any of C's events, but my brother and sis were able to share their attention with all the crew, and Buck kept track of C's winnings. Once, again, she didn't have anyone her age in her belt rank, but she was able to spar and do her form well, regardless. 

We tried weapons this time too, C chose long staff; the boys chose the bong mahnis (I probably didn't spell that correctly :) G went too long (30 second limit), B went to short (I missed it, Buck said it was blink of the eye type stuff), Gab wasn't interested, and C I guess bounced her staff off the floor, but the judges didn't detract for it.

G$ applying a technique that allows him to score points on his opponent, while his opponent (who is no longer in the ring) cannot score points on him. He was in the championship match, and finished with a second place medal!

Graysen doing his form

G$'s group and his friend S

B gets his first sparring win!!

He, as usual, had a GIANT group! They actually finished after everyone else in our family did, but I'll put his picture in age order :)

Third place in his form! He had to do another form-off to break a tie for potential second.

Gabbers doing her spar kicks! She won the first round, but lost the next two. They don't award a fourth place medals, but that's what she got :)

She's made several friends in this group, and enjoys seeing them at subsequent tournaments.

Buck's pic of Caelan's wee group

Blurry a bit, but the best we've got :)

Bling

I think they had a good time! And that's the goal--make a friend and have fun!

After the tournament, we had this crazy idea to visit the Mall of America--so did everyone else in a 10 state area. There were officers, real officers, directing traffic into the parking structures. The mall itself was shoulder to shoulder. We spent about 15 minutes in the LEGO store bouncing off other lookers, and then we got out of dodge! We instead popped over to IKEA to do a little actual shopping :) There were some updates needed in the kid dishware department. Buck also spotted a fun rug to replace the one that fell apart over the winter months on our deck. Just a few odds and ends, but the wait in line there was no joke! Busy day to be ooot and abooot as they say in the 'Sota ;)

We joined my bro and his bride for dinner at Chevy's--a place we used to enjoy in our Cali days. Then back to their place to chill for the evening. Well, some of us chilled--others did this ...

Slumber parties are super fun :) 

The next morning we attended church with our family members. It was nice to be in a smaller community; ours tops 1,000 each weekend and we don't really feel like we're all that much of a help. In our previous church, we carried some responsibility for the function and outreach--notsomuch currently. We enjoyed our visit, even if we had to "buy" donuts (a rookie mistake on the kids' part "Free-will donation??" :)

After a little yard football/frisbee and a neighbor meet-and-greet, we decided to check out true MN fare and discovered the Juicy Lucy. I didn't get a picture of this former speakeasy food, but it's a hamburger with cheese baked into the middle of it--huge sandwich, very tasty! Buck says he would for sure go back there and eat more of them :) Because I've learned that eating is what makes a vacation a vacation for my man . . . 

We look forward to the next visit and more fun with family, food, and not the mall ;)