Online Taekwondo

No quarantine can stop Taco Tuesday!  Although I have to admit that Madison has been using that hot sauce up pretty quickly lately.  We'll have to make an emergency run to the grocery store soon for hot sauce, because as it was mentioned earlier, no quarantine can stop Taco Tuesday!

We had a special visitor today.  Nana dropped off a few items, and we passed a few items along to her as well.  But one of Madisons assignments in her online photography class was taking portraits of different people, so here's her first portrait of Nana in the front yard.

We continued a lot of online work today, with Daddy doing a bit of writing, including the new skit for "Northern Lights" when we pick that up again.  Which will be hopefully soon.  But until then, everything is still going to be "virtual" and "online."  Today we were watching a few things online, including a visit to the Marine Science Center and some other destinations.  The one Madison was looking forward to was her virtual visit to Edge ATA!

She had her taekwondo class today using a group meeting application online.  By the end of the night, I think there were over seventy participants watching various classes.  Madison's class was pretty good too, a lot of kids watching - and practicing - from their living room.  Madison is all dressed and ready to go here in this image.

And here she goes, practicing warm-ups with strikes, kids, jumping jacks and running in place.  Mr. Edge looks on above - you can see him on the big screen up there.  He and Mrs. Edge are watching the computer and looking at all the kids doing their practices, complimenting them and keeping them in shape, and in form.

Here's the nice touch for the practice though.  Daddy got some mats that KidPak Discovery was throwing out a few years ago, and we set them up on the living room floor for better traction.  It's a slightly more forgiving service than that wood floor, and it made it more comfortable for Madison to maneuver on.

So she was there joining her class, following along with Mr. Edge, just like all the other kids.  They might not actually physically be together, but this was such a nice moment to keep moving forward.  Business as usual is quite a bit different than usual, but it's so great to see ways to overcome obstacles and keep pushing towards goals and being productive.  Madison has a check-off list each day, starting soon, and there are requirements for her to follow each day.  If she does these things, she'll earn the first and second stripes for her new belt, all from the comfort of her own home.

And we're super glad for all of it.  We're glad to help one of our favorite small businesses during this time, and we're glad to see Madison keep moving forward, even during this unique season of challenges.  This next belt is going to always have a wild story about it, and it's going to be special, and unforgettable.

Madison even dressed up for class today, as you can see here.  She's sporting her brown belt, and ready for action.  This was a virtual class, so Mr. and Mrs. Edge could see her ready to go, and on that colorful floor too!

I love these shots of these high kicks.  They keep getting higher and higher, don't they?  Daddy and Mommy had to be out of the camera shot though, and not in the background.  It was too embarrassing to actually see her parents visible on screen!

As mentioned earlier, this was not a filler class.  And that's what is so great about it.  Madison is learning new things, new moves and new defense strategies.  Of course, some of this was just started last week and she's familiar with it.  But she and the others are perfecting form and these new moves during this time at home.  They're not just keeping the status quo, but moving forward, and we all love that.  It's just like a normal class.  It's just from home!

In fact, there was even time for practice with her nunchucks!  Yes, Daddy was a little nervous here, but there was no furniture broken!  All the kids were pulling out their nunchucks from home, swinging them around in their living rooms, and making all those aggressive noises with every strike.  It was pretty awesome!

Practice ended with some encouraging words from Mr. Edge, and some direction to a few videos in a student section on their webpage.  Madison will keep busy training and exercising the next few weeks while at home.  But she's moving towards that next belt somewhere at the beginning of May.  Sure, it may have to be mailed to us, or picked up online.  But she's training hard, and is planning on earning that belt.

So what about the rest of the day?  Classwork has been heavy lately, so she actually went back to doing that afterwards.  School work has been a lot these last two weeks, and it's not just for Madison. We're hearing a lot about it from other parents too.  It seems there's more work to do with this virtual school thing than there is while actually at home.  Nevertheless, she's working at it, and she keeps moving forward there as well.

We read tonight, and we prayed as well.  We stayed at home another day, doing everything from the house or our computers, and doing our part to help flatten the curve.  On social media, you can see everyone else doing the same.  We're loving the concerts and presentations you can find online, and of course we're all laughing at the memes about the quarantine efforts. Some places like New York and California are considerably worse than we are, with mandatory quarantines in place.  We're not quite there yet, but regardless, everyone seems to be staying at home who can.  Fortunately, Daddy can work from home.  We're going to have another big meeting tomorrow online, and we'll be doing some filming at the church too.  Madison wants to come along, just to get out of the house.  We'll do something quick there, keep socially distant, wash our hands extensively, and take a little break.  Until then, good night, and stay healthy!