226/365+1 : Silver

What an apt prompt for today for me!

I have watched so much of the Olympics over the past couple weeks and seen the proud parents of the athletes in the crowds. Well today I had my own proud Mummy moment as Sam won 2 silver medal trophies at yesterdays kickboxing competition.  The other name for these trophies are "dust gatherers" as number one son doesn't ever clean them!!

225/365+1 : Exhaustion

A tired looking donkey at the show today.

Sam is down in Glasgow at a WKA competition - this blurry photo was taken from Facebook (as of course my son wouldn't think to update his parents on his progress) and shows the mens team who won silver (Sam is the one on the right.) I expect he will be exhausted by the time he gets home late tonight as we only came up the road on Friday and I packed him back down to Glasgow at lunchtime yesterday!!

149/365+1 : Tools

I was Callum's very last primary school fete on Saturday - and they had a glorious day for it. We have been going to fetes at the same school for 10 years now - as despite being RAF kids my boys have been lucky enough having to attend one primary school instead of being moved around the country with each posting.

But why is it that your kids buy a whole heap of rubbish at these events - but thankfully this year there were no cuddly toys needing to be re homed - and I even managed to buy absolutely nothing from the book stall (the cake stall was another matter!)

But he did come home with this chocolate fondue set which he has been nagging to use - I suppose I had better be a good Mum and find a recipe - then buy some strawberries and marshmallows to dip in it. Such a hard life. Really all he wants to do is use those long handled forks to dip stuff in - and probably drop it everywhere. Is it just me - or does the pot look like Shrek??

Also at the fete was Sam's kickboxing club who were putting on a demonstration in the field for everyone. Despite the almost total failure of the sound system they put on a good show - and I actually managed to see a rare glimpse of the teenage one doing his stuff.

So Proud

Today Sam took part in his 3rd black belt grading. In 2009 he gained his black belt and every year he has to grade again for a star on that black belt. He needs 5 stars in order to go for his 1st Dan so he is well on his way.

A grading is 4 hours long and consists of jogging and sprinting (one poor girl was physically sick at this point but carried on and managed to complete the whole thing), lots of fitness exercises including ton ups and they finish off with 4 bouts of sparring. I was tired just watching them all!

All the kids did really well and made their parents very proud. It wasn't always easy to watch especially as some of them were so exhausted and were fighting so hard that tears were shed and some blood was spilt (mainly Sam's!!)

Parents only get to watch the last hour which is sparring and the award presentation at the end.

Plenty of fighting:







Even against his Sensei - David "too fast" Firth:
















On the receiving end of some TLC from Sensei Kayleigh after a punch to the nose resulted in a nose bleed. Several years ago this would have meant Sam coming off the mats and refusing to fight again. But now he can dust himself down and get back on with the job in hand.























Had to laugh and this photo of Sensei David sparring with one of the younger fighters!!



Group photo of all the team - we are all so very proud of you.

Sporting Weekend Part 1

Sam was down near Glasgow this weekend at the International Sport Kickboxing Association competition - where he won a gold medal for the team fighting event and a silver for his continuous sparring.

So well done Sam - even if there was a distinct lack of communication from him all weekend!!!

He has decided not to go to the world championships this year which are being held in Germany - mainly due to the extra costs involved due to it being abroad. Bless him - he said he would rather spend the money on our holiday - which is now under a month away - woot woot!!!!



This photo has just been posted on Facebook of the team and their medal haul - well done guys (and girls!)

North Of Scotland Open 2011

A couple of weeks ago Sam competed in the North Of Scotland Open which was held just down the road from us at RAF Kinloss. Most of the competitions he goes too are away down in Edinburgh or Glasgow so we don't tend to go down to support him (to be honest standing in s smelly old sports hall all day on a Sunday isn't always my idea of fun!) But seeing as how it was on the doorstep I thought I would go along to lend my support to Sam and the club.

The competition was organised by 2 of the parents from Kaizen and they did it to raise money for their chosen charities - Help For Heroes and Breast Cancer. They raised an amazing total of £4000 pounds which was a fantastic achievemnt.

Here are a couple of action shots of Sam - fighting one of his club team mates.






And the winners podium featuring a clean sweep by Kaizen winning 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
























More silverwear for his room! This time is was two 2nd place trophies.

More silverware

Sam spent the weekend down in Motherwell at the World Kickboxing Association qualifiers - and this time there was more at stake than a couple of cheap trophies. The main goal was to qualify for the WKA world championships 2011 which are being held in Germany this year. In order to qualify you need to get at least a second place in any of your categories. Sam managed to get a silver in points sparring and a bronze in continuous sparring - so to say he was well chuffed was an understatement - and we are so proud of him and his achievements.

Team Kaizen had another fabulous competition with every single member of the team qualifying and bringing back a medal haul of 18 gold, 8 silver and 7 bronze medals.

So it is Germany here we come in August...........

Some crafting - finally

I leave it until the day before I go back to work to get the pretty paper and glue out don't I? But up until today (in fact since November) I haven't felt particularly inspired to do any scrapbooking.

But the start of the new year has heralded plenty of new challenges on various crafty websites and blogs. The beauty of many of them is that they are completely free (unlike many of the so called American "celebrity" scrappers who are also running classes provided you are willing to part with your hard earned pennies)

Scrapagogo has 3 free classes running throughout the year - Blueprint To Go, Month In Review 2011 and Details Delivered. You don't even have to be a subscriber to their delicious kits to be able to take advantage of these classes.

The idea behind Details Delivered is to focus on the journalling and documenting side of our lives and not just the photos - which is something I need to do more of as quite often my journalling consists of a few words and a title! Here is my take on the January prompt which asked us to to look back on 2010 and see what valuable lessons we learnt, I chose this photo of Sam taken shortly after he returned from the Kickboxing World Championships back in October. During the week he was away competing I learnt just how much I missed him and wished I had been able to go down to Edinburgh to cheer him on. I also learnt just how proud I am of him for this achievement - at the age of 13 he has competed against boys his age (and older) from all over the world. The medal he came home with was the bronze medal for full contact sparring which he won despite the fight being stopped due to his being injured. I then learnt that he has a lot more courage than I ever gave him credit for.

The papers I have used are Amplify by Sassafras Lass and came out of Scrapagogo kit from the beginning of last year - along with those gorgeous letters and the Bo Bunny chipboard arrow. The journalling is hidden behind the photo. I am hoping that at some point I might actually like my handwriting enough to have it on display instead of tucked away behind a photo.





One of my crafting goals is to use up some of the stash that I already have without buying anything new (although I did spend my Christmas money in the Scrapagogo sale!!) I am saving my pennies (and compiling a wish list for our trip to the US in June/July)Top of my list is the new Campfire range by October Afternoon which is going to be perfect for all those photos I'm going to take while we are staying in our log cabin in the Smoky Mountains.





















The next crafting job is to make a few thank you cards for the boys to send.

In Print Again

For the second time in as many weeks Team Kaizen have got their names into the local paper - this time it was a great photo of all the medal winners in their Team Scotland kit.

















And then last night the team won another award when they were voted Junior Sports Team of Moray from Sport Moray. Sport Moray is a voluntary organisation whose Executive Committee is made up of individuals from local sports clubs and groups. They provide a co-ordinating role in the development and promotion of sport in Moray and a large number of individual and team sports are represented.

As well as the team award 13 year old Jodi was awarded junior sportswoman of they year - so well deserved as she is a triple world champion this year.

Team Kaizen are going from strength to strength and have had a fantastic 2010 - lets hope 2011 is even better.

Team Kaizen

We managed to get the whole of the team who travelled down to Edinburgh for the world championships together for a photo shoot - the main reason being so we could get a photo to send in to the local paper.

Try getting 13 of them to all stand still and smile - a bit like trying to get an octopus into a string bag I should imagine!!






Sam posing with his medal!


























The medal itself which has pride of place in his bedroom.























They have already had one write up in the local rag (minus a photo) and I have just heard that they have been nominated for one of the sports teams in moray award - there is a ceremony to be held in a local hotel in the near future so we have everything crossed for them all. It would be a prefect way to end the year for them - even if the planning is underway for the next big competition and our own competition which is to be held in Moray during the first part of 2011.























And this is the whole of the Scotland team at Edinburgh Castle which is where the opening ceremony took place the day before the competition began.

World Championship Action Shots

I have finally seen some photos of Sam taken whilst he was competing down in Edinburgh the other week.

The quality of the photos weren't great - they were all very orange due to the lighting inside the sports centre. So I have converted them to black and white.

I look at these photos and think how small he looks - and it makes me glad I didn't see him do his full contact fighting which is what these photos are of. The last one is of Sam being attended to by the medics and his instructor Kayleigh - even if I had been there parents aren't allowed anywhere near the ring when they are fighting so I couldn't have helped him.

I have got some team photos which I took in the club - and some of Sam with his prized medal which I will share with you soon.

WKA World Championships 2010

Sam won a bronze medal in full contact sparring at the World Karate Association World Championships being held in Edinburgh this week.

I so wish I could have seen him fight - although to be honest full contact looks so brutal. They fight in a proper boxing ring and it does what it says on the tin - they can punch and kick as hard as they want but they must avoid hitting in the face area. They also fight bare chested which I am assured that just makes it hurt even more.

Unfortunately he missed his own medal presentation as he decided he needed sustenance and headed for the cafe - so they called his name but he was nowhere to be seen. Hence I have no photographic evidence of his hug achievement.

I will admit to bursting into tears when my friend rang me to give me the news - nothing can wipe the smile off my face this evening - and I can't imagine how he must be feeling.

Can't wait for him to get home on Saturday.

Team Kaizen are having a fantastic competition with the medal tally sitting at 19 yesterday and with more to be added today. Not bad for a small family run club in the North East of Scotland.

WKA World Championships

Sam left this evening to head down to Edinburgh for the World Kickboxing World Championships 2010. He and his fellow Kaizen team mates form part of Team Scotland and I am sure they are all going to kick ass - quite literally.

We are all so very proud of Sam to have reached this level - this is the culmination of about 5 years hard work and dedication. Some weeks - especially leading up to this competition he has been training 7 days a week and even during the 2 week tattie holidays he has been doing 2 hour training sessions in the morning and then going back to the club in the evening for his normal classes.

We had a bit of drama as they were about to set off though. Two 4 wheel drives were packed to the gunnels with kids and kit when one of them started to smell of hot brakes. Andy came out with the chap from next door (who just so happens to be a car mechanic) to have a look at it. It was discovered that there was no brake pad at all left on one of the wheels and the driver was told that she couldn't drive the car all the way to Edinburgh tonight. Another car was found but it couldn't fit all the kids and their bags. So the upshot of it all is that Andy has gone down himself (as luckily he managed to get his car back on the road yesterday) and has taken Sam and 3 of his team mates down the road. He will stay overnight in the hotel (probably on the floor in his sleeping bag!) and will travel back up tomorrow. But at least it means they will all be there in time for weigh in at 9am tomorrow morning.

We wish the whole team lots of luck and can't wait to hear how they have all got on.

Not another certificate....

....to hang on the wall??

The other weekend Sam was awarded his first junior star on his black belt at karate. He gained his black belt 12 months ago and since then he has been working towards his first star. This involved another 4 hour grading which consisted of running, practice drills and competitive sparring. In order to get their adult black belt once they turn 16 the kids have to have got at least 3 stars on their junior black belt. These can only be awarded every 12 months.

This week he got his belt back after it had been sent away to get the star embroidered on it. He also got a framed certificate - but I think he is running out of wall space in his room to put many more up!!

And a week today he will be heading off to Edinburgh with the Elite Team Kaizen to represent Scotland at the world championships.

So are we proud of him? You bet we are.

Fun in the rain

Weather wise this weekend has been a bit of a wash out - but it didn't stop the Kaizen open day from going ahead.

All the stalls had to be moved inside so it was a bit cramped at the kickboxing competition for the kids was going on too. The open day was in aid of those kids who had qualified for the kickboxing world championships which are being held in Edinburgh later in the year.

This year Kaizen have up to 15 kids who will be going down to represent Scotland - and we are so chuffed that Sam is one of them. But as with most competitive sports these sorts of things all cost plenty of money. We have accommodation, food, kit and categories to pay for each which soon add up. The point of the open day was to raise funds to help these kids realise their dreams.

We had a cake stall (and I am pleased to say my 60+ muffins and 2 dozen fairy cakes all sold!), car boot sale, bottle stall, BBQ etc but the highlight of the day was throwing wet sponges at the kids favourite coach.

For £1 for 5 sponges the kids were queuing up to throw them at David - shame it was freezing cold water and he was visibly shivering by the end of it!

We are now waiting to find out what the grand total is - to add to the impressive £650.00 we raised by collecting old clothes etc earlier in the year.

Team Kaizen

Did it again!!

Members of the Elite team headed down to Glasgow for the full contact world championship qualifiers - for Sam this was his first experience of full contact fighting in a ring. In one way I was quite glad I didn't go as I am sure I wouldn't have liked to have witnessed his fights. On the other hand I would have loved to have seen his face when he won second place.





Everyone qualified which was just fantastic - and it means that Sam has now qualified to fight at the world championships in October in three categories - light, semi and full contact. It is now just a waiting game to see who gets the places.

So a huge congratulations to everyone - all that hard work and training is paying off.