About every three months, Master Mike at Thief River Falls Tae Kwon Do does rank testing. This is an opportunity for students to show what they know and advance to the next level belt. The lead-up to rank testing is full of lots of practicing and drilling, and the testing itself is pretty nerve-wracking. As a reward, and to take a break from the high-intensity preparation for rank testing, in the week or two after rank testing, Master Mike does some fun things with the students, including sparring. Sparring is where the kids use their kicking and punching techniques on eachother, in a full-padded, supervised situation.
Elise took a break from Tae Kwon Do this session, so did not participate. Anja was SUPER excited for sparring. It is pretty cute to watch these little people duke it out.
You can see a video of Anja sparring here: sparring video.
Today the girls wanted to ride their bikes, so I took them out to the college parking lot, which is a great place to ride because it is HUGE and flat and on the weekend, totally deserted. On the way to the car Anja asked if she could learn to ride without training wheels today. I tried to hide my sigh. I am totally incompetent when it comes to teaching a kid to ride without training wheels. I tried with Elise for two summers and failed miserably, we just ended up arguing about how to do it. We lucked out when our friend, Andrew, came up for a visit last summer. He had the temperment (patient) and experience (motocross racer) to get Elise riding without training wheels within a couple of days.
As we got ready to go, I tried to talk Anja into postponing her attempt until we got to Virginia, but she shot that down immediately. So, we got out there and I took off the training wheels. She asked me if I had the video camera with and I said "no, honey, it will probably take a few days before you are riding by yourself." She started by just sitting on the seat and scooting herself around with her feet. The I ran along side and balanced her while she pedaled. She felt pretty solid, and was not scared when she lost her balance, just got on the seat and started going again. Within and couple of minutes, I was just holding onto the back of her shirt to grab her in case she started to fall. After about 10 minutes I called and asked my mom to bring out the video camera because I was pretty certain she would be riding on her own any minute. So, after about 10 minutes of practice and help, Anja had it!
You can see a video of the big moment here: going solo.
This weekend I got to spend some time with one of my best friends,
Lori. Since high school, she has
supported me no matter what, in both the peaks and valleys of my life. She has always met me with compassion and
understanding, and never judged me harshly (even when I deserved it). She has given me the help I needed even when
I didn’t ask or know that I needed it. I
am fortunate to call her my friend. It has been delightful to watch our kids become friends, they have a great time together! Here, the kids take a ride with Ashley and Sam's Grandpa Bruce:
Grandpa Bruce is so patient with the kids. He and Grandma Jane raise bees, and Bruce showed them the hives, after the kids were properly protected.
I have intended to post on this blog when something exciting happens, on that day. HA! Yeah, that is not happening. There is too much going on! I may have to change my goal to once a week. I posted earlier in the week about Elise's class field trip. Here is the excitement from the end of this week:
Elise
This week was the last week of school, and Elise finished 2nd grade. Her class looped 1st and 2nd grade (the same students stayed with the same teacher for both years), so she knows these kids well and has a great experience with them. We got to see her music class perform, they did such a great job!
You can see a video of Elise's class singing "Rockin Robin" here: 2nd Grade music.
To register for school in Virginia, incoming students need to have a pretty extensive health form filled out by a doctor, so Elise had an appointment at the doctor this week. She was nervous she might need to get a shot, and I wasn't sure, so she was VERY relieved when her visit did not include any kind of needles (I was relieved, too).
Elise's Girl Scout troop had an end of the year celebration, where they were awarded some patches for their accomplishments, and then went swimming. They had a great time and it was really fun to watch them play together.
Anja
The day of Elise's music program I kept Anja home so she could come with us. She didn't know, but I had scheduled her pre-kindergarten physical for right after the music program. I knew she would be getting shots, and I did not want her to figure that out too far in advance because I didn't want her to fret about it. As we walked out to the car after the music program I told her we would now be going to a doctor appointment for her. She asked why and I told her she needed one before she could go to Kindergarten. We got in the car and started driving to the clinic. About two minutes from the clinic Anja asked "will I get a shot?" Crap, I was hoping to avoid talking about that. "Probably," I said. Silence for about one minute, then: "What does 'probably' mean?" Crap, crap, crap. "Probably means I think so, but it will be up to the doctor and nurse." She said nothing more. Her appointment went really well, and she was very brave for the shots, no fussing or anything until the actual stab of the shot when she cried (poor thing). Then we started talking about what treats she was going to get from the store because of her shots, and she quickly recovered. She was a trooper.
Anja had Tae Kwon Do that same night, and because she had gotten the shots in her thigh, I wasn't sure she would feel like going and doing a bunch of running and kicking. I also knew she would probably be doing her rank testing (missed the scheduled date because of a conflict with preschool graduation last week), and I just wasn't sure she would do very well because of the whole shot business. But we went, and before I knew what was going on, Master Mike was putting her through her paces, she broke a board with her foot lickety split and BOOM! she had her next belt! I was so proud of her!
Every May each elementary class at the public elementary school here takes a special field trip. For the second graders, that field trip is to the public library and one of the local parks. In years past, I have been one of the librarians who took the second graders on a tour of the library, read stories, and taught them how great the library is. Today, I had the great fortune of being able to just be a parent, accompanying my second grader on her field trip to the library. I got to listen to the stories and see Elise and her friends react to them, I got to talk to Elise about books she likes and read with her.
After visiting the library, Elise's second grade class went to Lion's Park. After four days of rain (and over four inches), the park was very wet, but the kids still had a great time!
We had a big day yesterday! Anja graduated from preschool. She was so proud, and so excited.
You can see a video of Anja and her class singing "The Wheels on the Bus" here: preschool graduation video
When I started my Master's program in 2010, all my extra time (and then some) was taken up with school, and this blog went on hiatus. Now I am almost done with my program! My last class will begin the end of June, and during this break from school I decided to start posting on the blog again. That, plus we have some pretty big things going on in our lives. Like MOVING!!! (more of that later, as the time draws closer).
In the meantime, I thought I would start with a post about our latest adventure, a trip to Fredericksburg, Virginia, which will soon be our home.
Having two girls who love nature and critters of all kinds, we spent some time outdoors. We got really lucky because when we were in Virginia, a brood of 13-year cicadas were starting to emerge. This is huge! They estimate 20 billion cicadas will emerge to mate and breed over 2 to 3 weeks. We will probably miss the peak, but felt very lucky to spot a few.
We all love hiking, and spent some time exploring a beautiful creek.
