Brown Belt Decided

We had a few things happen today, but this was one of the bigger events:  Madison has earned her brown belt decided!  You can see her above, going through her form, which she says is not as complicated as previous ones.  She nailed it, and Daddy was happy to have some great pictures of her today too.

Here she is, holding her belt afterwards.  The pandemic forced us all to be a little different in the presentation for the belt this time around.  Families weren't there nearby, pulling on the belt together to create the knot and so forth.  Daddy was at the entrance here, taking pictures of everyone with their belts, starting with Madison.

As for the testing itself, that was very much like a usual testing, except the lack of sparring.  There was no sparring, as that would involve contact.  The kids were socially distant, which means they were more than six feet apart as they did their testing.

And of course, everything was cleaned vigorously.  This belt was so unique in that it was earned with Zoom classes, and then these small setting classes with lots of cleaning agents all around.

Madison did really well with the nunchucks, twirling them around and looking like she was having a great time while doing it.

The class was larger than the six kids that were there for the 3pm slot this last week.  Some of the students from the later class shifted to an earlier time here to make more room there, as they were able to come in for the afternoon time.

But the class size was still small enough that there was plenty of attention given to each student by the instructors.  Again, we're so proud of Mr. and Mrs. Edge.  They've done such a fantastic job these last few months, striving to keep this all running as best they can, and they've been more exhausted than the kids in some places, as it is somewhat of a daily marathon with computers and energetic hosting, one segment after another.

Here you can see the students doing their form.  Madison is in the midst of a jump kick, and other other students are in the midst of other portions of their form as well.  There were differences, of course, in what things were done, as there were different belt ranks.  Madison has had her brown belt, and it was one that saw her through a very difficult season for the studio, in more ways than just the virus.

But how great that these students can keep moving forward, and how great to see the studio with more students again.  Eventually, we'll all be together again with full strength.  But this is the best we could do at the moment, and how great it was to see the parents all lined up at the windows - socially distant, of course - watching their kids earn a new belt rank.

Mommy was here too, watching through the window as Daddy was inside, snapping pictures.  I've sort of become the photographer for a lot of these families, catching whatever action shots I can.  Obviously, I've got a lot more of Madison.  There was a lot to take pictures of today.  The kids were focused on getting that next rank.

You have to go back to March 5th to see the last belt rank testing, when Madison first earned her brown belt recommended.  That was just on the edge of this worldwide pandemic, right when we were only just talking about it, and not even imagining a world where everything closes down.  And on this blog, you can see her progress through it all, training in front of a television screen on mats in the living room, or in these small afternoon classes these past two or three weeks.

She's been focused though.  Just as she's been focused in school, she's been focused on getting this next belt.  Hopefully the next time there's training, all of the students will be together, because she really misses some of them.  But she's happy to be with the afternoon class she's in right now as well.

Here you can see her sparring with a cushion.  There was no contact today, so she got busy using her skills to destroy her stationary opponent, raining down punishment with a foot-fist fiesta!

Nunchuck skills were a focus this season, as this was one thing that didn't require contact at all.  I think she's grown quite a bit with these, feeling a little more comfortable twirling them about.  I still don't entirely see how useful these can be in actual combat, but there's no denying they look pretty cool when you see your daughter flipping them all around.

Although these sorts of poses are the coolest of all.  There's a strength in her strikes, but also her defenses too, an intensity with her focus.  It's a choreography that is teaching her forms and postures that help prepare her, but also give her confidence.

And in the end, the students got their belts.  They were put in front of each student, still wrapped in plastic this time, all socially distant of course.  Daddy snapped pictures of each student as they were dismissed one by one to the entrance of the studio.  Each student posed with his or her belt, smiling at their accomplishment.

No group shot today, no family shots either.  Families were outside as the students trained inside.  They reunited when all was said and done, and there was much congratulating.  Madison did very well, as did all the others.  Not just today for training, but all through this, consistent and wanting to keep moving forward, despite all the challenges the world had to offer.

Of course, today was more than just a belt ceremony.  It's just that I had a whole lot of pictures from that, and it was in fact a pretty big deal, an achievement amidst the whole outbreak.

We were filming again today at the church, and it was an epic outdoor board game that we created for two adventurous contestants.  It was a game that involved clam juice, sardines, baby food, pickle juice, hopping on one foot, being blindfolded, and having a cream pie to the face.  In other words, typical KidPak.

Daddy stopped by a nursery on the way home.  It's only about two miles from our house.  A friend of ours works there, and we heard they had some tomato plants, so I picked up about nine of these.  We'll plant them soon enough, and they can join some of our other produce that we've already planted.  We're developing our garden now!

Tonight, we started an "Ozfest."  That'll be three movies, as far as I know.  Daddy was considering messages for these, a sort of "Oz" series for KidPak somewhere down the yellow brick road.  In the meantime, just watching the movies again will be nice.  Tonight, we actually started with "Oz the Great and Powerful," which sets up the classic "Wizard of Oz" tomorrow night, and then "Return to Oz" at the end.  The messages of "The Wizard of Oz" are fairly obvious, invoking courage, wisdom, love, and contentment.  Tonight's movie was great to see again, and there are good messages within as well about redemption, and again being content.  The last time we saw this movie, by the way, was on the Disney cruise. That got us reminiscing, and longing to go back again.  Some day.  Some day this will all be over with and we'll be free again.

Anyway, tonight we read and we prayed as well.  We prayed for Ba-Ba, who was taking a particular injection today that Mommy and I remember very well.  The purpose of it was to increase the blood count, and the side-effects of this were notorious.  This was one of those shots that caused more trouble for Mommy than much of the chemotherapy itself.  But she made it through, and we're praying the same for Ba-Ba.

After hide-and-seek, we gathered together our room to read about Carina Smyth a bit more.  We tucked Madison in, and tucked ourselves in after that, ready for a good night's rest.