Kade's Taekwondo - Local August Tournament 2023

Every two months, Kade completes his Taekwondo cycle and gets tested at graduation. You have to show what you know! 

Each student shows off their Form, Sparring, and Board Breaking to be able to graduate to the next belt. Kade was working towards his Brown Belt Decided. 

A few days later, we were back at Carolina Pines Community Center for the local tournament. 

This was a much bigger deal than the last time - he was competing against nine other boys in his ring. He was so close in his Forms. He was in a three-way tie for second place and had to perform his Form again. 

Unfortunately, the judges decided to award the other two boys with second and third place, leaving Kade with a fourth place finish in his Forms. 

Nevertheless, he persisted! On to Weapons where he showed off his nunchuck routine! He did really well, placing Second in Weapons. 

This time Kade wanted to sign up for Combat weapons in addition to standard sparring. He was so good!!

He was awarded Second place at Combat Sparring. There was one boy in particular who was TOUGH to beat! 

Kade got him in the end though! Both boys moved up within the sparring bracket to meet each other again in the final sparring match. The other boy was much taller than Kade, which Kade used to his advantage! He crouched down when the other boy kicked and it would miss him! Kade could get a few punches in that way too! The other boy would then try to punch Kade, but since Kade was crouched down, he punched his head (helmet). He received a warning the first time, but the second time - he was disqualified from the match - making Kade the winner! Ha!

It was a long morning at the tournament - Kade was exhausted afterwards! We loved watching him and so proud of how well he did! 

I'm going to add this in here too.... we grew a watermelon! 

We planted this thing in APRIL! I think it was a good learning lesson to the boys to be grateful for the things we can just pick up at the grocery store - how long the process takes for things to grow, just for you to eat!!

Roaring River Mountain House & Camp Cheerio

 

We booked a long weekend in Roaring River, North Carolina. Our cabin was tiny. Technically, one bedroom, one loft and two bathrooms. The boys had their own "cabin" - two twin beds in a loft above the family room/kitchen of the main house. The covered porch connected the main cabin to the master cabin - where we slept - one bedroom and a bathroom (and laundry). 700 sq feet of air conditioned space on 18 acres of land! Perfect for us to let Moose roam free!

It was wonderful to be in nature and breathe that clean mountain air!

There was a nice trail through the center of the property that opened up to corn fields on one side and hops field on the other (also bordered tobacco fields). 

Brock was so excited to find a wild mushroom!

We attempted to build a fire in the fire pit the first evening, but so much of the wood was wet. We got a little fire going - enough for the boys to make s'mores! 

Moose thoroughly enjoyed the stick finding part of building a fire!

The next day, we drove the 5 miles over to Stone Mountain for a hike to the waterfall. I think roundtrip from the car was about 2.75 miles. 

It was pretty slippery standing in this part and at about this same time, 3 other dogs showed up with their owners. We decided it best if Moose and Brent hang out at the top and Kade and I walk down to see the actual waterfall. 

Kade showing off the waterfall. 

Look! We walked to Stone Mountain Falls!

I made us all redo the picture because Moose wasn't facing the camera! Haha!

On our way back to the parking lot, we stopped to check out the stream. Moose liked wading in it, but that's only because he was hot - otherwise, he does not like to swim. 

The next day, we packed up our stuff to head "into town" for some Cracker Barrel breakfast! Can you believe in just one night this amazing spider worked such an intricate web?!?

I know it's hard to see - it was on Brent's truck between his side mirror and door!

Goodbye mountain house! Our favorite thing to do was to hang out on the porch of the house in the shade and just sit around and talk. The owners had lots of games for the kids to do (huge jenga blocks, cards, dart board, etc) and we just hung out as a family. The boys ate lots of popsicles and we sipped our drinks. The big industrial strength fan mounted on porch kept the mosquitos away. It was nice to "unplug" and just spend quality time with the family. 

(Picture from part of property - Old shed still standing from the 1800's!)

We arrived at Camp Cheerio! Brock was in the Cheyenne Cabin this year!

Wouldn't you believe about 10 minutes before they officially opened up the road for all campers, the bottom fell out and it POURED!! We were SOAKED! We ran inside with all of his things and made his bed and put out his toiletries. We had plans to walk around a bit - take Moose around the big field by the flagpole, etc - but not in this downpour! Gave our hugs and wished him a great week!! (Yay for bottom bunk!!)

We (I) waited for the release of daily pictures every night, scouring to find Brock in them!! We found him in a few group shots - soccer, fishing and evening program pictures! 

Sixth boy from right (blue shark bathing suit)

(Brock is wearing his USA shirt and blue crocs)

This one from the last day was totally worth it - getting ready to go down the slide at the lake! Love that smile!

He was ready to come home after a week at camp! Cheyenne scored Honor Cabin twice this week. He said his favorite thing to do this year was the Canoe trip and favorite evening program was Predator-Prey!! 

Nags Head Beach Trip - July 2023 - Part II

The evening of the family fishing trip, we decided we were too exhausted to cook - so off we set for our traditional dinner at Owen's Restaurant! Next year I'll try to get Brock to eat something besides his coveted cheeseburger! 

Would you believe I didn't take any photos of the hot tub? The boys had fun with it, but had to keep taking breaks as it was HOT (for their little bodies)!

Our little beach house worked out great - this one had a grill!! Fresh caught Spanish Mackerel and T-bone (for the land lovers)!

The next day, we had a division in the family. Some of us wanted to go to the beach.... 

And some of us wanted to go fishing - Round two!

Kade and Brent went back to almost the same spot we had caught fish two days prior and did VERY well!

Kade jumped up on the bench every time they caught something - didn't want to get bitten!

Back to Brock surfing! 

He LOVES that water!

The catch! The boys ended up with 6 Spanish that day - not bad considering they didn't get out to the fishing grounds until almost noon!

As they were waiting to get their 9 pounds of fish cleaned.... 

They walked around the marina to catch Fishin' Frenzy cleaning up their boat after their day's haul! Kade got asked to come onboard and take a picture with Captain Greg Mayer and some crew! The boat name may sound familiar if you know Wicked Tuna: Outer Banks!  

Moose's epic night walk! Look at that sunset!

Looking for crabs - just to play with, not injure, hurt or maim. 

The following day we all headed to H2OBX for a day at the water park. Alas, no pictures, but very fun! The boys are older now, so we can let them go off together and do the rides/pools they want. That meant Brent and I were able to actually ride some rides together too!! Win-Win!

All packed up and ready to head home. We caravanned to Bojangles and then continued our journey home from there. Thankfully nothing broke down on the way home this trip!! (Just an interesting way to affix your boat license plate - with zip-ties) Another fun week at the North Carolina Outer Banks!