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. 

Kings Dominion

We used our season passes to spend a few more days at Kings Dominion this summer!  We stayed at Ma and Pa's house.  Monday we spent all day at the park . . . arrived at 10:30am when it opened and left a little after 10pm when it closed.  It was a fun, but LONG day.  The next morning Max slept till 9:30am and Kyle slept till 10am.  That rarely happens to they were definitely worn out!  We decided to spend some time at the water park on Tuesday.  We spent about 4 hours in the afternoon there (no pictures since our camera was in the locker while we were getting wet).  Kyle did everything in the water park except one slide (and that's only because the line was insanely long for that one).  Kyle's favorite was the power plunge water slide . . . a 77 foot tube slide that was super fast.  Max's favorite was the zoom flume . . . a family raft water slide.  We all rode together.  It was pretty wild and fun!  After the water park we spend another few hours riding more rides in the park.  Wednesday we were a bit more tired so we made it a shorter day.  We got there around 11am and stayed till about 6pm.  The last thing we did that day was a show since that's about all we could handle at that point :).  Jason and I were feeling old by day 3, but we still managed to keep up with the boys who are loving all the roller coasters now!  Kyle's favorite roller coaster is the Anaconda and Max's is Backlot Stunt Coaster.  Max was thrilled he was exactly 48 inches so he was tall enough to ride some of the bigger coasters like the Rebel Yell, Grizzly, and Backlot Stunt Coaster.  He was also tall enough for the Anaconda which is all he talked about all summer, but chickened out once we were there.  He rode everything else he was tall enough for but wasn't quite ready for that one!  Both boys even rode the Drop Zone which takes you 272 feet into the air and drops you down to the ground at 72mph.  We had a great time . . . it was a fun vacation! 

Swimming lessons

The boys are taking two weeks of swimming lessons to start the summer.  Max finally agreed to a class and is Beginner A.  Kyle has done it before and is now considered Advanced Beginner.  They are both doing a great job! 

                                               Max going under water

                                     Kyle practicing jump and recover

                                         Kyle chilling after his lesson

                                           Max chilling after his lesson

Max has finally submerged himself fully underwater . . . several times.  He is working on blowing bubbles, kicking, and the back float.  Until last year he was terrified of the water.  Last year he went in the water but wouldn't try to do much.  This year he decided he was finally ready to do more.  He's done a great job doing whatever they've asked of him. 

                  Video of Max swimming with the noodle and practicing kicking

 

Video of Kyle swimming backstroke

 

Kyle is learning freestyle frontstroke and backstroke.  He has learned how to jump and recover.  He's practiced both the front and back float.  He is also working on treading water and the survival float.  So far he can swim backstroke 10m and tread water for 30 seconds.  He's an expert at all float styles as well.  The only thing he struggles with is his freestyle fronstroke.  Side breathing is challenging for him so he's working on making it 10m by the time classes end.  He's made a lot of progress overall though and is doing great!  

                               Video of Kyle's cannonball for the splash contest

Kyle's recorder concert

Kyle has been learning to play the recorder all year in music class.  They use a program called Recorder Karate.  Each song is a different color belt.  When you can play that song well you test with the teacher and she awards you a string of that color to tie on your recorder.  The belt colors are the same as those in karate.  Kyle was one of five students in the whole third grade to earn his black belt in recorder karate.  They had the concert last night and he played the concert version of Amazing Grace and Ode to Joy.  She said the music the black belts used was what they use in the middle school music program.  Kyle has learned to read music and sounds really good on the recorder.  Next year in 4th grade you have the option to take instrumental music and learn an instrument of your choice so Kyle is thinking he wants to try that since he's enjoyed this so much.  Max had just finished his last soccer class before we headed to the concert and he wanted to wear his medal to show everyone!

Max playing soccer

Max took a soccer class at the Germantown Soccerplex again this spring.  He had a great time and really improved over the course of this 8 week class.  He tried the hardest out of anyone in the class and was always trying to learn and get better.  They learned some basic skills during the first half of each class and then usually spent the second half playing a game.  Here he is playing and in the one shot he had just scored a goal!  At the end of the class he got a medal.

Nationals Baseball Game

Friday night we went to see the Nationals play baseball.  We got the tickets back in April for Jason's birthday.  It was Kyle's second game and Max's first game.  It was a great one to go to!  It was nice weather, we had great seats, and the Nationals played great and won!  It was an action packed game to keep their attention the whole time with a final score of 9-2.  Max asked lots of questions and got super excited when the scored.  I think he understands the game a little better now.  Jason watches it on TV all the time, but Max barely pays attention.  This was much more exciting!