Karate and other updates

k, i tried a new program a friend suggested. let's see if i can get it to work. this will be great for pictures like karate where i have several similar ones, then you can see them all at once! just click to see them up close!

this was karate testing today for both jordan and zachary...

here are a few other random pics from various happenings...

we're starting to put that boy to work!

kyle can make his way all the way across the monkey bars now - he's so proud!

jordan at her trik-a-thon for kindergarten...

wanna wear the kids out? make 'em hike up little mountain!

this picture makes me laugh because it's set up so nicely to be such a beautiful shot, and then her hair is going crazy and her face is filthy with dust & dirt from hiking! lol i love it anyway!

here we go... ya can't tell her face is dirty now! lol

zachary got to take the controls at the airplane for the first time - he looks so ticked off, but kevin says he was just concentrating really hard, and just never smiled. he really did love it, contrary to the story the picture tells!

here are some pics from one of our latest disneyland trips...

i normally don't type alot of stuff to read, but i have to tell you the best story that has ever happened at disneyland. normally this kind of thing never happens to me! we were having a snack at the refreshment corner, and mary poppins and bert came out. they immediately came straight up to my kids and started interacting with them. i was kinda feeling bad because other people wanted to take a picture or get an autograph with them. i finally just let it go and let them do their thing, though. they would stop to do a picture or say hi to someone, but they would come right back to my kids, who were just eating it up! they were interacting with them for like 20 minutes! bert did a "magic trick" for them, and he even drew a beautiful picture of mary poppins for us, which both of them signed. totally something i am gonna hang onto! the guy was really good, too - it took him all of 3 minutes to draw this picture! here is the drawing, and then below is a collage of the time they spent with them. then the piano player let them play around on the keys a little bit! (oh, one other thing a few days later we went back, and it was the same bert there, and he totally remembered my kids and was just as interactive.) it was so neat!

and last but not least, here are a few pics of kyle from his 7th birthday. the one on top with him drinking out of the straw is especially amusing to me!

High Dive

we went swimming yesterday, and the kids really love this pool because it has 2 diving boards - one of them much higher than the other one. i can't believe how little these kids look jumping off this thing! and it's amazing that none of them have any fear about it either!

the first one is just to show you the difference in height on the two boards...

you should so click on this picture to enlarge it - tell me you can't count every one of this poor kid's ribs! i promise we feed him! actually, he's the only one of the three kids that actually eats really well!

kevin takes a turn (i did also but there's no way i am posting pictures of my fat bum flying thru the air!) lol

she looks so TINY!!! i can't believe there is no fear there - she is so far above the water!!!

kyle attempts to dive...

...and never quite makes it - good thing he has that life vest on so he doesn't get water slapped on his tummy!

ooh, that looks like a painful landing coming soon...!

and my winner for favorite photo of the day... a lucky shot where i just happened to be in the right place at the right time when i heard kyle yell "cartwheel time!" hee hee! i love it!

Beach Day

we recently took a trip to the beach with kevin's sister and her kids. i have not been to the beach very much since having kids - it's very stressful wondering where they are constantly so they don't get sucked into the waves or wander too far down the beach or get snatched by some psycho beach bum lol. but they are finally old enough to have that fear of the water, so they aren't running head long into the waves no matter the size. jordan and kyle spend most of their time in the sand anyway, so it was a much more relaxing experience than i thought it would be, and we are even planning on going back next week!

hee hee! zachary climbed on a rock, and had nowhere to go when the water came in! i am so glad he didn't fall off that rock, we would have had an entirely different kind of day! after this they were banished from climbing on the rocks!

the water was cold!

zachary starts digging a hole...

...then the water comes in...

...so he attempts to jump out of the way...

...and ended up landing inside the hole instead!

so i tried to get a couple pictures of terri & her kids, but the waves came in faster than i could point & shoot!

take two? nope, this time that wave was out to get all three of them! by the way, i love how i managed to get the old guy in the picture too!

aunt terri was apparently looking like a good target...

jordan trying to bury herself...

ok, so i decided to try and take some pictures of some random people just to try and get some cool shots. here's one of my favorite series of shots i ended up with. each picture by itself isn't necessarily amazing, but in sequence they are pretty funny i think...

these last two are really cool to me, because if you look close you will see that there is a person inside the wave (he's harder to find in the second one, but he's there!) i actually think the second one is really awesome...

Latest karate news

i do realize that i post things about karate often, but it is something that we do a lot! kevin is not currently attending because he is going to his civil air patrol meetings instead, and kyle has never started, but jordan, zachary, and i all continue on our quest for that black belt! my next test will be for a blue belt, and then black comes after that when i am deemed ready! exciting! jordan is about to test to become part of the regular belt system - she has been part of the "tiny tigers" program until now which helps the little ones progress at a little slower rate and breaks things down more for them. she has been doing this since the day she turned 3! (she had a couple of breaks here and there when she was a little overwhelmed). but now she has a friend who is in class with her, and her competetive side breaks out when i tell her that if she doesn't go to class, vanessa will pass her in rank - that gets her movin! it's too funny. zachary is 2 belts behind me, so if he keeps working hard, he will see that black belt in the next couple of years, too! (as long as his behavior and mind set match the skills he is learning - that is a big part of becoming a black belt!) these pics are from the latest testing, and also the tournament that zachary and jordan competed in...

how cute is it for these girls to be so tiny and doing karate?! this is jordan's friend vanessa by the way, who gets jordan's competetive juices flowing. they are so cute together and love playing together off the floor!

this girl cracks me up!

ok, she's definitely related to me - check out the tongue poked out for concentration! hey, it really works, i'm tellin ya! haha

ok, now i know she saw me with the camera here - what a ham!

i don't know what this kid is thinking about when he's kicking, but he sure makes some interesting faces!

yee haw! there's a good flying side kick!

staff forms...

breaking boards...

and here are a few from the tournament...

zachary won a round of sparring for his first time ever!

jordan took second in her forms, and fourth in her sparring...

zachary took third in both forms and sparring...