Great day .....

Today was one of those days that was just overly pleasant. Got up early as always did some work, I had a nice bike ride in the morning for an hour, then headed into the office. Cleared off a few things before I headed to lunch with a friend who is now working in one of the agencies that we work with so it was a bit of work and a lot of good personal time. KJ (we will use that) is a great person to have as a friend. She is open and honest and is sincere in wanting the best for people. She is great for boosting my self confidence, and that always puts a smile on my face - a definite friend. So we had a great lunch in DC and then I headed back to Vienna on the metro and it did not breakdown (as opposed to my last metro trip from a lunch in DC). When I got home a bit more work and then an hour reading by the pool. How could a day get better :-)

In case you are wondering - reading a book on Buddhism. An introductory book. I just finished Dan Brown's Angels & Demons so I needed something a bit more substantive. And no Mom I am not converting to Buddhism (even though the hair cut fits)

.... cu

AAU Karate Championships - Final Report

Saturday was a big day for Martika. She competed at the finals event in Kumite and SHE WON. See the an article on her win at Loudoun Extra.

Finals is a big deal for the competitors. Everyone comes to finals to see the top athletes compete as well as to see the "event" of finals which includes demonstrations and special awards. Rather than 10 rings with action in all of them they create four rings and put them center stage (as it were).

Tika was very excited going in and she knew she could win - she just had to go in and compete like she had been all week. She was quickly up 2-1 when Emily, her competition came back with two quick scores to tie it 2-2. Tika responded right away - she was not losing - and won 3-2. Jerry, one of her coaches looked into the stands and said he could see how high I had jumped - he never thought I had that sort of vertical leap. When Jerry asked Tika if she saw how high I jumped she had said she did not but wished she had, but she did hear me throughout the entire match, even with all of the noise in the arena. I like to think she heard "Dad" through everything else :-)

Of course this is a big thing for Tika, in her 7th National Championship. This was one of her goals. It does not diminish how well her sisters did this week as well with Sam's first Silver in Team Kumite and her first time on Television. Then of course Kristen making it into the top 4 in her division for the first time ever. I was so proud of all of them.

I will post pics as soon as I get some from some of the folks that had good cameras and had good access.

Next up for them --- a couple of days in Canada with their Mom and then they are off to Junior Olympics in Detroit the end of the month.

.... cu

Sam made the news ....

I guess some parents would not be proud of that - I am sure Jeffery Dahlmer's parents were less than excited to hear he made the news - but in my case - I am excited. Sam was competing yesterday in a team sparring event at the AAU US National Karate Championships. Turns out the local media was there and this morning they showed a short bit of Sammy sparring. It is about 8 or 9 seconds into the video that is on the right.

And yes I was very excited to see her on the news. In case you are wondering, she won the match and her team took home Silver for the tournament.

--- cu

More Good Grades & Immigration stuff ....

Got home this evening and waiting in the mail was Samantha's report card. I was worried that it was only sent to her Mom's house. She did FANTASTIC - straight A's in fact A's in US History/Geography, Accelerated Math, and ART; A+'s in Music, Honors Science, Language Arts, Phys Ed (of course) and keyboarding. What a GREAT report card. Now I just need to track down Tika's.

Also waiting in the mail was a letter from US Citizenship and Immigration Service. In it they stated they received my application, it was being processed and that I would be contacted in 90 days for an interview. Not sure what that entails but it is progress.

Finally - been tracking my exercising for months - this month was the first month I hit over 300 miles on my bike. On top of that I ran over 30 (best month for running has been almost 40).

There is more news but I need to make some personal connections before I blog about that.

Not a bad day ----

---- cu

Beach Volleyball and good grades ....

Today was our annual company picnic --- which also means my annual beach volleyball game. I did not get any pictures from this one but I do have one from a previous year. Of course this year I am a bit thinner - my triathlon training and eating better has got me down to under 175 lbs. It was a bit hot today - over 95 so we took it easy - only 30 minutes or so of playing. My team did win :-)

Kris's report card showed up the other day. A+ in Health/PE; A in Honors Science, Art, Teen Living, Honors Civics and Geometry; B+ in Guitar and a B in English. On top of that she scored a perfect score on her Civics SOL. Of course Dad was very proud. The fact that she goes in High School with HS credits is VERY cool. I hope to see Sam's and Tika's soon.

Looking forward to next week - a few days in Albany and of course Canada Day. Hoping it will be a good Canada Day - my hearing is Monday so I will likely need a good pick me up. Hopefully after Monday I will get to see some people I have not seen for a while. Been a stressful few weeks/months.

... cu

It has been a loooong week .....

The last week has been VERY tough - some VERY good days because of the kids - and then others where the days could just not go fast enough. This week has been one where things are totally out of my control and I cannot reach out and change that. I sit and wonder if anyone else has the same challenges - not knowing what is going on - seemingly powerless to do anything about it - but wondering what is going on with things - knowing things have changed but not able to know if anyone knows. This blog has been the one thing that has help me keep my sanity --- but who knows who reads it (except I know Mom does). Hopefully the other important people are reading it - hopefully.

More cell phone camera play ---- to try and lighten things up :-)

Hope this coming week has things happening - even just a message that there is a chance - so I feel like progress is being made or at least there is hope.

cu .....

Kids reminded me of this ...

I was driving the kids home this evening and Sam started talking about Thunderstorms. It reminded me that I had seen something on the news lately and it was one of those amazing stories that I had to share. Here is the link - Luray Lightning JRT

cu ....