Wow..what a day! This was our first ever Karate Tournament..and what a Tournament for our family it turned out to be!!

We got there bright and early(think 8:45am) to get good seats..and I am rather glad we did!!

Here we are pre-Tournament start! We brought Josie and Sabrina with us and Taejan and Ziah stayed with Stacy.

All the Trophies..Eric set them up last night!

Declan all ready and hanging with Daddy!

Josie watching Noah and Sabrina practice beforehand:

Josie(15.5) working with Declan on his Kata before he goes on. They are the same rank..which Declan loves..LOL.

various teens practicing:

Sabrina and Daniel practicing:

Let the fun begin: the schools ( we hosted but ours and 3 more had people there) all doing their opening before the Tournament actually begins!

We didn’t sign Declan up for Competitive Kata ( although in hindsight we probably should have).so he did a Demonstration Sanchin Kata:

At this level they get a Participation ribbon and a Medal:

And yes..he is always this serious when it comes to Karate.. Sensei Connie says he can stayed focused no matter what.

Here’s Josie and Sabrina doing their Competitive Kata..they did very well Josie is a Yellow Belt like Declan but Sabrina is a Jr Black Belt ( I think that’s what they call it)..:

here Noah and Michaela getting ready for their Competitive Kata.. I missed their 2 person set because Declan was doing his Kata on the other side of the Gym :

Noah dance background really showed during his Kata, remember he’s only been taking for 6 weeks!

His scores..um.. blew everyone way is saying it mildly..:

1st half awards: There’s Noah..getting FIRST place!

After the awards ceremony they did a 30 minute Demo..Declan had been asked to participate and do  Kata with Sensei Connie and some of the other kids from his class:

They did some awesome “breaks”..here’s Sensei Jack:

And Sensei Mark and Sensei Connie ( Owners of the Dojo) doing a Kata:

Only Declan sparred ( well Sabrina did too but I didn’t get pictures) because Noah and Josie weren’t ready to at sign-up time 3 weeks ago! Declan just started sparring a few weeks ago and they only do it every few classes and only this Thursday did HOW to spar really click with him, in class he had NEVER won a match! And yes..this was competitive sparring.

Here he is waiting for his division to have their turn:( yellow gear). By this time we had been there 5 hours, he was not looking happy..PLUS his mouth gaurd had gotten left home so we had to buy one there..which was too big and not very comfy for him ( by the last round his mouth was very bloody from it)..so we were unsure if he’d even spar or be into it..but he did!

Round one:Declan wins 3-0 :

Round 2 Declan wins 3-0!:

Round 3 Declan wins 3-2: Yes every kiddo he sparred was bigger ( well easy when your the smallest and youngest in the division..lol).

At this point a Photographer from the local paper came over to get his info because she had gotten his picture sparring and he may be in the paper..again! About 90 minutes after his Division was over and everyone else had completed the 2nd half the award ceramony took place:

So here’s Declan getting FIRST place!! Man we had NOT expected this again!! He was just too cute about it, and the trophy is really almost as big as he is..LOL

Here he is with Sensei Connie:

again.. with Sensei Connie..we just love her!!

and both boys Trophies and ribbons and Medal!!

Not too bad for our first Tournament eh?

Tomorrow is the Karate Tournament.. I will have a LOT of pictures to post…consider yourselves warned!!!

After all the nice weather..this is what we woke up to today!

it sure is pretty..good thing or I might scream!