Taekwondo Update

Our three older kids attended Taekwondo Day Camp August 18-22. With my wonderful neighbor Carmen's generous offer to drive all the kids to and from camp, that meant I had a good 6 hours with a quiet house Monday through Friday last week! Arden was delighted that he got to attend camp, even though he's not in classes. There was some taekwondo activity, but lots of summer camp-type things as well, to include crafts (tie-dyed t-shirts, for example), playing at the park, a pizza party on Friday, and so on.

One thing I didn't particularly relish was having to make a lunch for the three of them to take every day! I sure am glad I don't have to do that on a regular basis, LOL. It's stressful trying to figure out what healthy food we have on hand that they will actually eat once they leave the house! One more reason I'm glad we homeschool and can eat mac and cheese, Ramen soup, or leftovers for lunch!!

Anyway, Kenna and I enjoyed hanging out, though it was REALLY weird to have just one child. I really cherished the time I got to play one-on-one with her, reading and playing silly toddler games that made her shriek with delight. She also obliged me by napping wonderfully throughout the week, so I got some nitty-gritty housecleaning done as well as some napping myself. We also went to base on Friday to do some errands. Grocery shopping with one child goes SO much faster.


On Thursday of camp week Charis and Arden had their belt test. It's hard to believe they've been doing this long enough to test again already, but there they were. They did great, according to Ted, who got to see them test this time around. Last time they tested was right before we left for Idaho, so we missed the traditional potluck promotion ceremony the Saturday afternoon afterwards. (I'm not too sorry, considering it happened in June in the Las Vegas heat!) But this time we were in town, so we all headed down to the park by the studio, where the kids had spent lots of time during camp week.


It was "blessed hot," as Carmen would say! At least we got to eat underneath the pavilion. Apparently last time the pavilion was taken, so everyone was out in the sun. (There are no big trees in this park!) Honestly, it would have been fairly miserable, but the kids were super excited to see whether or not they passed their belt tests. I chased Kenna around during most of the awards presentation, but thankfully she discovered the ice buckets under the pavilion and happily entertained herself in the coolness underneath the tables. (I tried not to think about any germs she may have been ingesting when she would pop an ice cube into her mouth, but hey, she was happy, and I was able to see what was going on.) In this picture you can see our two receiving their yellow belts--they're the ones in the baseball hats. Mr. and Ms. Martin, the brother and sister team who teach at the studio, are in the orange and blue shirts, respectively.

So, we now begin another 8-week round of classes before shelling out another hundred bucks for the next belt test. Sigh. Well, the kids are proud of themselves, and we're proud too...but we haven't yet told them that they will not be continuing classes after we finish our contract in November! It's a great program, but 3 times a week is a lot, and once they pass their next belt test, their classes will shift around and will conflict with Wednesday night AWANA, which is our priority. I know it will be tough news for the kids, but I'm hoping they will graciously accept our decision and understand the time and money factor is significant. Perhaps in the future we will be able to let them start up again if the desire is still there.