Tae Kwon Do!, etc.

Tae Kwon Do!, originally uploaded by Luna Soledad.

Friday, September 3rd, Liam was awarded the rank of 10th Gup in Taekwondo and was received his "High Yellow Belt" from Champion Jun's Taekwondo Academy, as well as a certificate and his very first trophy.

Yay Liam! =)

After the belt presentation while packing the offspring and camera gear into the car, I promptly knocked my camera to the ground (again) and damaged my favorite lens (again). Grrr... At least the D200 survived.

So, the following week, the hubs takes the lens to our friendly neighborhood camera store... The helpful fellows in the store take the lens and begin to mount it on another body saying, "Well, maybe it's something we can fix; let's take a look... what happened?"

"Uhm, she dropped it on the asphalt."

"Oh," was the only response as the guy quickly set the body down and began wrapping the lens to ship back to Nikon for repair (again).

Hey, when I screw something up, I do it well!

So then I had to rent a replacement lens.

It's nearly impossible for me to walk into Southeastern Camera (and sometimes Peace - if Geoff is working) without buying something... Dangerous. --This time I found a nice used background stand that managed to find its way home with me despite my husband's famous last words, "Don't buy anything."

"But it was a trade," I argued (which never works when you're married to a man who argues for a living).

"And what did you trade for it?"

"Uhm, money."

"That's buying."

Sheepish grin.

And then (bless his heart) he helped me set it up on the back deck for an impromptu shoot of the kids in bad late-day lighting with the lens I had just rented... The lens which I used all weekend and now simply MUST have.

And lighting... I could really use some lighting equipment too!

"Giving a camera to Diane Arbus is like putting a live grenade in the hands of a child."

...Norman Mailer

belt testing @ TKD.

belt testing @ TKD., originally uploaded by Luna Soledad.

Today our little tike had his very first belt testing in Taekwondo. The youngest in his class, he did so very well! We could not have been more proud of our little guy... and more surprised... Who knew he'd actually been listening and paying attention all this time?

"A child's education should begin at least one hundred years before he is born."

...Oliver Wendell Holmes

at Taekwondo.

@ TKD., originally uploaded by Luna Soledad.

I think I enjoy watching the kids more than the kids enjoy themselves at Taekwondo...

This evening there were a few new folks there watching their kidos from the wings. I overheard numerous "oooh's" and "awww's" and comments about how precious, how cute, how adorable the littlest boy was. They laughed and clapped for him and I secretly beamed - for the precious, cute, adorable littlest boy was mine... all mine. =)

"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."

...Bruce Lee

proud & busy day.

proud., originally uploaded by Luna Soledad.

Saturdays are for errands, grocery shopping, and catching up on laundry. Whew. Just thinking about it all in the morning while sipping my coffee makes me tired. Today was no exception.

It started out with wrangling with the wild things and "Dan, Dan, the Painter Man" showing up at 10 am. As it was impossible to keep the children away from the paint and out from underfoot of our painter, we gave up and decided to start our day.

First stop: Lowes.
We dropped some serious home improvement coin and miraculously managed to get out of the store without beating the defiant and obnoxious kids half to death.

En route to feed everyone, we stopped by a local Taekwondo academy that just opened up near to one of our favorite eating spots to see how our rambunctious three year old would react to some real martial arts which he has been emulating from television.

We watched as Master Kim and Grand Master Jun (a two time world champion) taught our little son to kick into the air and punch a bag, to yell out "yaaaa!" and even to break his very own little board, pictured here. He could not have been happier or more pleased with himself. And I watched with my heart bursting with pride as he bowed to his teachers. Sold!

So I guess we're signing him up. =)

Next stop: lunch at the North Ridge Pub.
By the time we finished lunch, we (at least Kevin and I) were exhausted and our patience dwindling. Groceries would have to wait, so home we went...

Where, just hours after our darling little boy had exhibited such skill and made his parents so proud with his good listening and excellent behavior... he spray-painted his sister a high-gloss black.

Never a dull moment.

"No matter how calmly you try to referee, parenting will eventually produce bizarre behavior, and I'm not talking about the kids. Their behavior is always normal."

...Bill Cosby