Halloween letter

We received this in the mail just in time for Halloween.
I wonder who sent it?

 

Orange you glad

Orange you glad I didn't say Banana?
Kieran went from Yellow to Orange the other day.

We weren't sure if Kieran was actually going to receive his orange belt after the grading.  Mainly because we were so late.
But he did say they practiced.  And were playing a bit in the basement.  So it seemed to me that he did the prep and he felt like he did fine.
But it was good for him to have a bit of uncertainty.

But sensei Martin, asked me to stay because he knew Kieran was going to receive his orange belt (4th Kyu rank), just after the warm up.
The kids were lined up.  Those misbehaving were instructed to do pushups until the students got their belts on.  Sensei Martin is very strict and that's a good thing for these boys.

I had Kieran's friend Joshua with me and we were there to see Kieran get his belt.

Kieran's face lit up when sensei called his name to come up and receive his belt.

HPMA Orange Belt Grading pics

Whoosh...weekend? what weekend

It feels like weekends are a passing thought.  I know every day is the same as the others.  But it's already Monday.

Friday, I was able to get some wiring done for the bathroom.
Saturday was lots of driving around.  Sometimes to the wrong place.
I was hoping to accomplish more this weekend but there were other priorities that kept bumping out the bathroom work.  But it's okay.

At Matthew and Luke's birthday I got to eat some samosa's.  Glad I got Cathy and Bohdin hooked on them.  Glad I didn't have to go and buy a few boxes that I'd eat in less than a week and gain 10 lbs on my handles.
After the birthday party, it was off to HPMA for 3 hrs of belt testing.  Kieran and Yahvi were going for their next level belt.  Orange for Kieran and Yellow for Yahvi.  I didn't stick around.  Mostly because I didn't want to sit uncomfortably for 2 hrs.  And I wanted to get something done on the bathroom to keep it going.  And plus I got chewed out by sensei for bringing Kieran late to prep for his belt testing.
But Kieran afterwards said he did okay.  And from the photos that Sonal sent, his form looked really good. So I am glad.

At least I got the wiring sorted out.
Sunday at least I got stuff done.  Although they weren't related to the bathroom.  I got the oil changed in both cars and rotated the tires on the civic.
All this before I had to take Kieran to Splash meet  at Alderwood. This is a nice pool.  It looks fairly new. Change rooms could be larger.  But the pool deck is pretty nice.  It's nice being at deck level vs being a floor up.  But the finals are at Albion CRC which is like that.

The Swansea team did great! I think there were lots of PB's, and many 1st place finishes. Kieran did pretty well.  His front crawl and backstroke have improved so much, and he brought his relay team from a distant 3rd to 2nd place with his breast stroke in the IM relay. They were in a tie for first going into the last leg, but finished 4th.

We missed his first race which was the butterfly.  Which is too bad, cuz I wanted to see him do this.  I can't do it very well, but I've managed to do a length of fly in my own lessons.  It's hard.  I'm so amazed at how well these kids are doing this stroke.  And how fast.
I didn't take a video of his backstroke event.  I wished I did, just to show Tresa, I didn't think I would be taking any pics, but after seeing how much he had improved in his technique, it's night and day from prior races.  And the second event is best.  With a 2nd place in the breast stroke.

Backstroke 4th plc, but it was very close from 2nd to 4th.
Breaststroke 2nd plc
Freestyle  3rd plc
Freestyle Relay 1st plc
IM relay race 4th plc

It was great to see the kids organize themselves, getting prepped for their heat and the relays.  Cheering each other on.  It's these memories they'll carry with them for a long time.
The event was over by 3pm.  I was impressed with how fast the kids got through all the heats.  All 47 of them.  I thought I would be stuck there til past 5pm.

I brought Joshua home with us for an afternoon playdate, which worked out.  I cut the grass and trimmed the grape vines and filled up 3 bags for garden waste, next week.  It was supposed to rain all week, so I had to get it done.  Temperatures are dropping this week just in time for Halloween.

Photos of Splash and HPMA.