A good Karate school is hard to find!

Either I am just being a difficult mom or there really hasn't been that great of a Karate school yet! We are still on the hunt for the right Karate school for Harry and its proving harder than I thought!

We visited another local Karate school yesterday. Again just up the hill in Renton, Kim's Karate on Sunset. It was great timing as it was the beginners class. But beginner class for anyone and was mainly filled with adults. Harry was trying his hardest, but it was a huge class and he was just getting lost in the room. And for a first time student I didn't think it was very nice of the instructor to speak down to him and say "buddy, are you awake?" There were a few other kids there, but you could tell they had been doing it for a long time.

I don't think I am quite ready to throw him in the deep end yet and will keep looking until we find a Karate school that offers a kids only or kid friendly program catering to the interests and the attention span of a kid.

If anyone has had experience with putting their child into a Karate program I would love some feedback as to your experiences....thanks!

Kung Foo Harry....
Harry's first Martial Arts experiance

For months now Harry has been talking of wanting to do Karate. He is so keen to learn...its great! So today we finally had our first appointment to visit one of six local Martial Arts centers...yeah six, crazy! Anyway, before we went down I showed Harry online what the center is like and what the students wear...etc. He was so excited seeing it!

I explained to him that it is not a place to play games, that you need to be respectful and be a good listener if you want to learn. I showed him how to bow, very cute!

We jumped in the car, literally he was jumping for joy out the door! His enthusiasm is so wonderful to see. I really think this is going to be so good for him as he seems to be passionate and quite foccused about this.

So we pull up to the do-jong and walk in "mommy, is this really it? I can't believe it, I am so excited" said Harry with a squeal. Just a beautiful moment.

Harry meets the Tae Kwon Do master and bows, I was so proud! He remembered.

Before to long he was on the mats with the instructor taking different stances, jabbing, calling out Yah! and saying Yes Sir! He did so well at listening and following direction, as a mom I wanted to cry. I am really excited for him to start this and will post some pics of him in his uniform when we get it.

This is our first visit, I still want to check out the other local MA schools to make sure I have the right fit for him. So hopefully he will be starting before school starts in 3 weeks.

Just Another Day in the crazy, busy life of a soccer mom!

Today was another beautiful summer day. The boys were still asleep and I actually got a shower before they woke....Aaaaaa! What a great start to the day.

Thomas was off to Soccer camp for his second last day and I had a fun morning with Harry all planned. We arrived at Soccer and Thomas was actually excited to be there. He ran down to the field bypassing the candy machines, which was a first! screaming soccer, soccer! Maybe he won't cry when I leave him today. But that was not to be! He screamed again, but thank goodness not for long, he really is getting better and the separation anxiety is lessening. He really does have a fun time and loves soccer with his little bud Noah!

Now for 2 hrs of special Harry time. I planned on spending our time together getting him enrolled in Karate and visiting a number of Taekwondo schools.

He's so excited and has talked about this for weeks now. After weeks of research online I made a list of all the local places to visit. We arrive and one after another all the places we planned to visit were closed...bad timing or what! I really wanted Harry to watch the kids in class all dressed in their cool white uniforms and to get a feel for it, to see if it's something he really wants to do. Disappointed, we will have to do this another time. He's still excited for his Karate!

Next we headed to 24hr fitness to get mommy motivated for working out....hahaha!

Finally, I bit the bullet and spoke with a personal trainer to help me with my motivation and help kick my butt. Just what I need, a drill Sergeant! We talked about my goals and how I would achieve it with his help. It was great and can not wait to get my "Get fit" (aka, loose the wobbly bits) program underway. I am very excited!

Dave has been working crazy hours....CRAZY!!!! I really should be saying Dave...Who? (sorry honey if your reading this, I miss you!) Anyway, work is stressful at the moment, with deadlines, meetings...etc, etc! So its been a little rough this week with the boys and the house. But Dave and I do get sometime in the late evenings, its usually watching Le tour De France together. We love it and try and watch it together every year. We hope to one day to see it for real...fingers crossed that will be another blog in years to come, watch out for that one!

Anyway, that was our day today. Its nice to end it at home, in our beautiful backyard enjoying the weather and each others company....We can do so much to stay busy, but it really is the simple things I love the most.