In striking contrast to destination and purpose, two of our sons headed off for adventure over Spring Break. As mentioned previously, Scott and Thomas were off to Las Vegas for 5 days of mostly Taekwondo testing and competition, but they managed to find time for fun together, too. They stayed at the Stratosphere, which has various scary rides available from the top. Thomas paid for one, but after he was all set to take off on some kind of coaster, the ride was closed due to heavy wind. But at least he was willing to be brave...
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| Unlike at home, sightings of blue sky were in abundance. |
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| Like other tourists, Scott & Thomas walked all over, viewing the colossal hotels. |
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Eating gelato at 10 am was one of their pleasures, despite a comment from a
passerby of "Who orders gelato this early in the morning?" Could be worse! |
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| The things that amuse Thomas... |
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| The MGM Grand, where the guys got cheap tickets to Cirque du Soleil's "KA" |
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| Fifth row tickets were incredible, I guess... (I wouldn't know!) |
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| Thomas enjoyed the roller coaster at "New York, New York" ~by far his favourite hotel. |
Scott was able to relax considerably more after his 7th degree black belt midterm, early Friday morning. He had been experiencing back pain since the previous week and had not worked out prior to the testing in order to prevent further injury. He was fairly confident of testing well afterwards, and only needed to take Tylenol a couple of times to recover. Thank you everyone for prayers in this regard. :) He will now need to test in July at World Championships as the final step in working towards his 7th degree.
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| Doing his form at the Convention centre. |
Thomas competed later that afternoon in the creative weapons division, using his sword. The videos of the other competitors are just insane but I'm not able to download them. Thomas did well with his focus and confidence among such kamikaze adolescents. Canadians are just too gentle...
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| Bowing in to start... |
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| Thomas got a few tips on sword techniques from a friendly peer. |
Saturday was time for competing in forms, sparring and weapons. Thomas didn't get the memo that everyone was wearing black... must be an American thing!
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| Scott only had to judge one ring, so was able to watch Thomas compete. |
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| Three competitor medals to add to his collection. |
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| On the way to the airport, this store seemed like a logical stop. |
Nora was so excited to see Daddy home, and even more thrilled about her new (tacky) fridge magnet. You know I just had to tease Scott about his gifts... A mood moustache ring and bacon-flavoured toothpicks for James... you get the picture.
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The most treasured gift of all.. a napkin from "Paris, Paris"...sigh.
I have some training ahead about the preferences of little girls, and big ones, too! :) |
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Lewis, our magician, was enthralled with his most
appropriate gift of another card trick set. |
Our week back at home had been considerably quieter. Nora had special occasion to wear a green dress as St. Patrick's Day fell on Sunday. In honour of a distant relative of mine on my father's side? I don't know, but it's fun to wear a green dress anyways. (Makes me think of the song
If I had a Million Dollars by the
Barenaked Ladies... "I'd buy you a green dress, but not a real green dress that's cruel...") :)
We increased the girl quotient in our household by having Maisie stay with us for four days. Nora thought it was great having two dogs, but Maisie wasn't so taken by her. :)
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| An attempt to match Nora's shirt? |
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| To say the two dogs are tolerant would be correct. |
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| With other absent family members, it was fun to have Maisie as a distraction. |
Charles left for Guatemala early on March 14th via Dallas. Wifi access was slim, so we had very few updates during their 13 day trip. Thankfully the teachers posted photos and messages on facebook occasionally so we had glimpses of their time. Wasn't too long into the trip that Charles had his camera stolen, so we're relying on photos from others. Looks like it was a fantastic experience, and thank you again to everyone that helped Charles to get there and be safe.
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| Proof that Charles, left of centre, did do some physical labour... not sure what, though. :) |
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After major sunburn from the first day (above) the kids wised up
and adapted their shirts as a new form of headgear. |
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| The group of 24 students and 3 teachers. |
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| After riding in tuk-tuks to tour a Mayan village. |
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| Enjoying bartering with local vendors. |
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| Experiencing the jungle at the coffee plantation. (Charles-centre) |
Charles arrived safely last night, feeling better after a couple of days of sickness. He had an overwhelmingly positive experience with his biggest regret being his inability to speak Spanish, which resulted in having poor communication with his very nice host family. We're all happy to be home together once again, all wearing Guatemalan jewellery of some kind. :)
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| Not appreciative of Dad's attempt at a welcome home photo! |
James didn't have Spring Break, now that he's attending university but last Wednesday, he definitely made it happen that he can't go anywhere for sure. He accidentally rear-ended a car on a dark, rainy night when the car slammed on his brakes approaching a green light, as a police officer was approaching from the street on the right. James couldn't avoid hitting him, and sadly he heard last night that his Ford Ranger will be written off despite the low gas mileage. A very sad day for everyone, although we are truly thankful that James and Kelsey weren't injured. It put the lost camera in perspective...
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| RIP 1992-2013 |
We've been sharing vehicles for a week now, but it won't be able to last too long. So, that will be the next thing to deal with. Hope you're all having a good Spring Break, too. And an early Happy Easter to you also. :)
