Belt Testing

 Yesterday was Sid's belt testing day!  She has worked hard for a year and it was finally her day to shine.  She has trained so much that she wasn't nervous at all and was even joking with Sigung.  She knew her stuff and was prepared to show everyone that she deserved to be promoted to a yellow belt.

 First off was holding her splits for one minute followed by her katas. 

 First the katas are preformed super slowly without kiai's so Sigung can see each form.

 Next Kata 1 - 4 and 8 done at combat / competition speed with kiai's. 

 Here is the video of her Kata's at combat speed!  Kata 8 and 1 - 4

 This was followed with a 5 minute horse stance.  This is the hardest part of the test.  I tried training with Sid for this and I can't do a 5 minute horse stance.  The last 30 seconds she has to go SUPER low and hold it.  She was amazing.

Final part of the test was 50 push-up plus 10 with her nose touching the ground, 50 squats and another minute full splits.

 After surviving this Sid removes her belt for Sigung to lock up.

 He presents her with a half orange!  She skipped her yellow belt and received half her orange belt.  This ranks her above yellow but below orange.  We were so suprised and happy for her, she deserves it!  The final part for Sid was to pull the belt out of Sigung's hands. 

 Congratulations to our little orange belt!  We are so proud of you Sid.

Belt Presentation Video

Group shot of the kids who cheered and supported her through her test on Monday.  It was a great night.

Making A S~p~l~a~s~h

When it gets hot there is no better place to be than a warm lake under a blanket of sunshine!!!  Sid's best sister, Bella, turned 7 this week and to celebrate her mom rented a cottage for a full day of play.  There was no keeping us out of the lake.  We went down to the beach for a quick dip and made it back to the cottage two hours later.  We had the entire place to ourselves, it was amazing!!

Jumping Mommy

  Jumping Zuni!

 Jumping Siddy

 Tiger Tamer

Tiger Roll-Over

 Bye girls, see you next week ;)

The mom's were happy, the girls were happy and Zuni was happy.  What a lovely afternoon.

 Back at the cottage, something is amiss.....

Ahhhh run away!!!!!

Two peas in a pod!

Gypsy Magda!  OMG favorite shot of the day :)

 A little walk down to a creek and a bridge and Sid gets bombarded by butterflies!  Check out Magda's picture below.  AHHHH scary butterflies hehehehe

Thank you friends for the lovely break away and a chance to celebrate with Bella!

 Back at home we are full swing into a country summer.  Here Daddy has his coffee and gets ready to do the yard work.  Fuel for the tractor, fuel for daddy, country living suits us all!

 Our little country girl in the backyard.

 Playing in the rocks while Perogie oversees the game.

Dad finishing up the day by watering our glorious tiny garden!  Tomatoes, beans, carrots, cucumbers and zucchini are growing like mad.

Monday is the BIIIIGGG belt test.  We saw 3 friends get their tests this week and Sid is very excited and a touch nervous.  We know she'll do well, she has earned this privilege and we cannot wait to watch her show her stuff.   Pics to come of course!

Summer, Summer, Summer!!!!

Summer arrived at 7:09 last night!  Yippppeeeee!   It sure has rolled out its welcoming mat with a humidex of 44 degrees.  The last few days have been scorchers but that hasn't kept us in.  We went rock climbing with Uncle Rick.  So many laughs, giggles and a few tumbles off a wall or two :)  Belaying Rick was great fun.  (Belaying is the term used for controlling the climbing ropes.)  Holding my brothers life in my hands... oh all the opportunity for payback! When all was said and done, I was fairly considerate except for a few times I accidentally forgot to provide the proper courtesy slack at the end of the climb.... ooops sorry Rick! 

 Here Mom and Sid boulder.  This is rock climbing without ropes.  Uncle Rick was enjoying bouldering too but we didn't catch him climbing!

That was followed up by a super hot soccer game, the Xtreme's fifth of the year and we are still undefeated... OH YA!  By the time we got home, it appeared really stormy but the rains never came.  It cooled off enough for a good sleep then the humidity hit again.  We were up early and out to do our playing before the sun got too hot.

Wednesday morning started at our favourite local strawberry patch.  Glorious sweet and fresh strawberries yum!   Sid amused all the fellow pickers with continuous singing while picking :) I have to confess, the siging does slow down the picking quite a bit!
Here is the video (first one shot with my friend D7000!) Strawberry Picking ~ the musical

SUPER YUMMY!!!

 And more big news.  The wee one finally lost that wiggily tooth we have been posting about for 3 weeks!

Honestly it was making me a bit bonkers because it was so loose and she would wiggle it and play with it and scream "OWWW" every time she ate.  She was showing the mom's at Kajukenbo when a mom of 3 said "Sidney, would you like me to pull that out for you?  I have three kids and I am an expert, I promise you won't feel a thing!"  Much to my surprise Sid jumped up and said YES!  The mom had Sid grab a tissue and checked to see how loose the tooth was.  Then she said ok, I want you to grab the shoulder of my shirt really really hard and twist and while she was saying this she pulled the tooth without Sid knowing.  Then she said I am going to count to three and pull it.  1, 2, 3 - ta da!  Sid was in awe that it didn't hurt.  Another first at Kajukenbo!  Sigung, Nat, Jen, and another Stephanie and all there kids were all present to see the event and celebrate with Sid.  She was so excited and proud. 

 Sid has had big plans for this tooth.  It was to go in a locket Granny and Grandpa gave her when she was a babe.  It fits!!!!

 That's it, she is a big kid now! And the tooth fairy let her keep this first one and left her 5.00 for it.  Lucky girl!

Stay tuned, we are off to play at a cottage for an overnight then back to reality to practice for Sid's belt test on Monday.  Lots of pics to come!