Kyle's 10th Birthday at Great Wolf Lodge

Kyle is now in the double digits!  He turned 10 last Sunday and to celebrate Ma and Pa gave us a weekend trip to Great Wolf Lodge, a super fun indoor waterpark.  We had a fabulous time!  There was so much to do.  Not only was the indoor waterpark a lot of fun, we also spent some time in the arcade, bowling, and playing MagiQuest.  We enjoyed the buffet for dinner both nights which was quite tasty and had a variety of food . . . something for everyone!  Everything you need was right on the grounds so you didn't have to leave for anything which was nice.  They even had a Dunkin Donuts for breakfast and a pizza place for lunch.  The water park had lots of water slides, a wave pool, a basketball pool, a Big Foot Pass, a climbing structure, and a lazy river.  Kyle's favorite slide was the Tornado.  He also really enjoyed playing basketball in the pool.  Max loved the blue slide (a tube slide), the wave pool, and the lazy river.  The arcade had lots of fun games.  Kyle hit the jackpot several times on a few games and ended up with over 2000 tickets.  He was able to get a rainbow soccer ball that said Great Wolf Lodge on it.  MagiQuest ended up being a two hour adventure on the 3rd and 4th floors of the lodge.  We each accompanied a boy on their 9 quests to become a Master Magi.  They used their wands to find a variety of treasures, paintings, books, etc.  It was a pretty cool game and the boys enjoyed it.  Kyle said it was his best birthday ever!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Karate Kyle is now a BLACK BELT!

Kyle has worked very hard over the last 5 years and has finally achieved his goal of a black belt in karate.  He had to write a 500 word essay explaining what earning his black belt means to him.  He's learned 7 different karate forms, nine different one steps(done with a partner), and nine combinations.  He broke a big board this time with a running jump front kick.  He had to show a lot of skill and power and not everyone gets to test for their black belt.  He had to get his belt signed by Mr. Brown, the head of the karate studio, before the test date.  He was one of the first kids to get his belt signed.  Hope you enjoy some of his moves.  The pictures are of him with Mr. Brown and Mr. Nick.  Mr. Nick was his little ninjas instructor back when he first started.  He is now working at the Urbana location of Kicks Karate, but he returned to help out with the black belt test in Germantown for the day.  He was excited to see Kyle getting his black belt.  It's amazing how far he's come!

Max's yellow belt test

Max is thrilled to finally be doing karate like his big brother!  He's in the little ninja classes until he turns 8 so his belts have the white strip in the middle.  Once he turns 8 he will start working on his solid belts.  Meanwhile he's having fun learning some basic karate skills and playing fun games like sensei says and dodge ball.  His recent belt test was for a yellow belt.  He did a hammer fist to break his board.