Catching Up!

So we had a slight computer mishap which Ken fixed right away. What I have come to realize is that I work on my blog when puttering in the kitchen. I upload, I type and publish between tasks. Currently we are without our kitchen computer so I have to specifically dedicate time to sit down and catch up. So here we go.......

Wednesday March 14

 Today was a special day for our little friend Neirin who turned 3!  We went out to a gorgeous little tea room run by volunteers in Manotick.  We had a great lunch and shared some much needed Mom time while the little ones (well not so little ones....) played.

 I guess our singing isn't the best!

 Making his wish.  Happy Birthday little guy.  Thanks for sharing your special day.

Thursday March 15

 It was supposed to be 14 and sunny.  It was windy, 1 and cloudy!  We had already made plans to go to the park with Brianne since we had the bikes out and Sid just got her new skateboard.  Sooooo we bundled up and off we went!

 Sid had fun trying her skateboard out but I didn't get any pictures because I was right beside her holding her hand as she went down the ramps!  After skateboarding it was fun for the girls to climb and slide on the ramps.

 Our little caged tigers...

 Back at home, Groovy got the beauty treatment.  "She looks like a model mom!".  Notice the barrettes?  Good gurl Groovy.

 Maggie's natural defence to being dressed.  Here scratch my tummy...

This week was March break so other than the tea room and park we laid low.  Public places we frequent were under attack by hordes of schooled children and their parents and or care providers.  The weather was warm so we hung out at home and went to Karate every day!  It was conditioning week (ugh says sid) so Sid had lots of time sitting with her friends between sit ups, push ups, the Gecko, running, medicine balls, jumping push ups and more.  No Kata or fighting at all, just strength training.  After training on Saturday, we picked up Uncle Rick and headed up to Granny and Grandpa's for a fantastic weekend!


 Here Sid plays with Miss Priss, Granny and Grandpa's resident mouser!  She is a very sweet and lovely cat especially for a barn cat!

 Even without a ladder on the tree, Sid can go right up and she and Uncle Rick spent a lot of time up there.

We were completely spoiled rotten by Auntie Shae, Uncle Greg and Addy!  We arrived to find birthday and Christmas prezzies waiting for Sid.  She got two beautiful hats (she is wearing one in the pictures below), an awesome telescope (we have seen Jupiter, its moons, mars, Saturn and its rings and Venus!!!!!) a Sid sized back pack and chair, the playmobile ambulance and accessories and more thoughtful, perfect gifts that thrilled and awed us.  The gift that I will treasure for a lifetime is a hard cover book of this blog.  I now have from Nov 2008 to Nov 2011 in a book with all the pictures and posts.  I opened it and cried. Honestly I was so taken back to be holding all these memories and able to look at any given day with the flip of a page.  Thank you so much Shae, Greg and Addy, you have no idea how much your kindness and generosity has moved us.  I can only imagine how much time it took to sort through and do the layout.  Thank you a million times over!!!!!

 Here Sid looks like a little school kid!  She had her backpack filled to the brim with detective stuff.  Granny and Grandpa bought her an awesome set of walkie talkies for Christmas and her and Uncle rick had a blast playing with them.  I can't wait to see her and Bella using them out in the yard and woods.  So she had her walkie talkies, a note pad and pen, her magnifying glass and her detective team, Hedwig and Valor packed away for our adventure in the woods.

 Here Granny shows her the coyote and cow skull.  These are very fascinating for Sid, she always comes back to look at them.

 Searching for clues.

 Grandpa helping her cross the moss covered stones that litter the creek.

 Hmmmmm fungus.

Family!!!!!!!

 Back to the cow skull.

 A little bit of yard Karate for Granny and Grandpa

 One last sprawl up the tree.  We don't call her Sidney "Gecko" MacNeill for nothing.  AKA Gecko Girl.

A short visit but as always it was filled with amazing food, drink and company.  I cannot express how thankful we are to have family that loves and knows Sid the way Ken and I do.  We cannot wait until next time...... Thank you!

Our First Karate Tourney!

What an amazing weekend we had! Sunday was Sid's first ever martial arts tournament and we were all anxious and excited to see what it was all about. Registration was at 9:00 and we were there until 4:30. Sid competed in 3 events; forms (kata) white and yellow belt 6 and under, point fighting 6 - 8 year old white and yellow belts and continuous fighting 6-8 year olds white and yellow belts.

This is the first event, Forms.  Most of the kids in this shot are from our club just waiting for the first event of the day to start.  The judges collected their cards, set up their chairs and called the first name.  Yup, it was Sidney.  Out of about 12 kids competing she was the first to go in the first event in her first tournament ever!  ACK!  She carried herself amazingly and preformed her Kata with precision making all the corrections Sigung had been helping her with over the last month! 

Here she does her opening "Judges!  My name is Sidney MacNeill. My style is Kajukenbo.  With your permission I will preform Kata 1"

Here she closes out with her Super horse stance.

And now for the points......

YAY Sidney, we are so proud!  Out of 13, she came in 5th and had to go first.  The first four trophies were swept by our club and we held 5th, 6th place too.  Whoa.

Sigung scoops her up and congratulates her on such a fine performance.  Nerves now out of the way we were able to carry on with the day in a bit more of a relaxed manner.

Here Sid and I sit down for a quick bite to eat while Dad stays in the gym in case they call the next event.

Point fighting coming up and all the kids get their gear on and get their final pep talk from Sigung.  These always end with big group hugs and cheers!

Sid's first fight.

She worked so hard for this and boy oh boy I am happy she landed her famous spin kick for points.  That is her secret weapon.  :)

And that is truly what it is all about!

Johnny got second in Kata! YAY.

Sigung borrowed Sid's helmet to begin grooming the next generation of Kajukenbo kids! 

Maxim in his first fight won and when he pulled out his mouth guard he got a tooth with it!!! 

Next up at the end of the day was continuous fighting.  Sid had to fight all boys from our club.

Spin kick from Sid, punch from Wyatt!

And she takes 4th place!!!! Way to go kiddo!

Exhausted and proud.

This says it all.

Sigung asked the competition team to come to the club for classes on Monday and to bring their trophies.  There were about 22 kids and 4 adults who went to the tournament.  We cleaned up and brought back over 40 trophies.  In Sid's category we swept kata, point fighting (boys), one in point fighting girls (sid), and swept continuous fighting.  Towards the end of the day, the judges were putting the high colour belt kajukenbo kids against bigger kids to try and make the matches more equal.  Sigung is very proud of his school and his students.

Sigung's sermon on Monday talking about how proud he is and how amazingly everyone carried themselves.

There were over 250 competitors and all but two of our kids won trophies.  Many kids had two and three trophies.  You can't see the stack of 2nd, 3rd and 4th place trophies behind the front row. 

Here is a picture of all the kids that showed up at the club Monday.  Some were competition team some weren't and some kids with their trophies were missing.

What is heart warming is the support these kids have for one and other.  Hugs and congratulations were flying around.  Pride, respect and joy spread through the club like a brush fire.  It has been an awesome experience!  

Now the next one..... We found out that on April 21st there is the provincial trials for the Canadian Karate team.  This is being held in London Ontario and if they place at this competition then they are invited to compete for Canada in Montreal in the World Karate Championships at the end of October.  We have about 40 days to prepare.  No break from training for Sid, she is ready to get it on!