4th Grade

Just wanted to put something on here quick.  It's the usual "I can't believe she's already in 4th grade" spiel, but really.  Upper elementary.  Wow.  She's just getting so old!  Here she is on the first day of school.

Emma's 9th Birthday Party

For her birthday this year, Emma decided to have a much smaller than usual party.  She invited two of her dear friends and we took them bowling and out for lunch at a fun diner.  Emma said it might be her favorite party ever.  I could really get used to having such a small group, and wouldn't complain if she did it again this way.  We'll see though.  On a side note, I can't believe she's nine years old!

I just kept the invitations really simple this year since I only needed two of them,
and made this on the computer and printed it at Walgreen's as a photo.  So fast and easy.

These three had so much fun!  It was hilarious to watch them giggle together and cheer each other on.

Emma's form looked particularly good at the party.

At the diner.  We thought it would be more fun if the girls had their own table.  So Eric and I were sitting at the next table. I forgot to get a picture while they were eating lunch.  Since Emma's not a huge cake fan, we decided to just let the girls order dessert at the diner in lieu of the tradition birthday cake.  They all wanted ice cream.  Fine by me.

For the favors I just got a couple of those reusable plastic cups and filled them with candy.
I almost couldn't screw the lid on they were so full.  I had to strategically place the straw in so it would fit!

I put a few non-candy items in a little sheer bag that I tied to the straw.  In it there were some bubbles, a bracelet making kit, a smily face ball, eyeballs that are worn like a ring, and a sock coin purse.  The sock was the only nod to the bowling activity.  I didn't feel like trying to do a theme favor this year.
 I don't think the girls minded.  =)

Black Belt

We've been anxiously waiting for 2 1/2 years for this moment (Emma even less patiently than Eric and me), but Emma is officially a black belt!  I am just so proud of her!  She has worked so hard for this.  I have never seen her more dedicated or more diligent.

And let me tell you, this was a lot of hard work for her.  Not just the long couple of years worth of classes, tournaments, belt tests, practicing, etc.  But just the boot camp and test itself was killer.  It took place in early June, right after school had ended.  For three days straight all the kids testing for their black belts had to attend a black belt boot camp.  It was 4-5 hours each day of continuous work.  They worked on their form, their weapons, sparring, and board breaks.  And they just kept doing it over and over.  And besides these things, there is a fitness element to the test, comprised of push-ups, sit-ups, punches, kicks, and punch/kick combos.  For the test itself they would do these things for one minute each as fast as they could (the punches, kicks, and combos were against big punching bag).  They practiced these over and over at boot camp as well.  So all the kids were a sweaty mess each day.  One of the days they all went on a 3 mile run and went to the beach where they ran drills back and forth on the sand.  On their way back to the studio they climbed up a super huge muddy hill (as Emma describes it) as part of their workout.

On the third day of boot camp, at the end of practice, they had the actual test.  The first thing they did was the fitness portion.  For 5 minutes straight, without any real breaks in between elements, they all did as many push-ups, sit-ups, etc. as they could.  One minute for each element.  An adult was watching each student and counting how many they did.  Each push-up, sit-up, and kick counted as one point.  Every two punches counted as a point.  And the combo consisted of two punches and a kick, each combo counting as one point.  In order to qualify for and earn the black belt, the the students had to tally at least 350 points.  Emma's score was as follows: 70 push-ups, 46 sit-ups, 328 punches (worth 164 points), 91 round-kicks, and 72 combos.  Her total was 443 points, which was even more than 2nd degree black belts needed to earn.  She exceeded her expectations by leaps and bounds.

After the fitness portion of the test, they did their forms, 3 different board breaks, sparred 3 different opponents, and performed with weapons.

Getting some instruction on how the testing will proceed.

Emma is right in front of the instructor.

The judges tallied up the scores and announced who had passed the test.  We were so thrilled when they announced Emma's name!  We felt confident that she had passed, but it was really nice hearing her name called as final confirmation.  It had been the most intense 3 days (and especially the final day) of Emma's life.  I don't think I had ever been more anxious either as I sat there and watched her complete each task.  The relief of it being successfully over, was overwhelming.

Oh how I love this picture.  You can see the relief on her face of having passed, that it's over,
 her sheer exhaustion, and that she accomplished this huge goal of hers.  I think that's very tear-worthy!

Congratulatory hug from one of her teachers (Emma's favorite teacher!)

Her teachers daughter who also helped coach and train Emma.  She is a huge supporter and fan of Emma's.

And one more with the head instructor.

It takes awhile to get the black belts ordered, since they are custom embroidered with each student's name and rank.  In late August, we finally attended the black belt ceremony and award banquet.  The black belts were all seated at a table in the front of the room, and they stayed there through dinner.

I can't believe there is a black belt with Emma's name on it!

Following dinner a traditional Korean black belt ceremony took place.  A single candle is lit in the front of the room, and each student, after the teachers and instructors go first, walks in holding a candle, bows, walks up to the candle, lights their own candle, bows again, and proceeds around to either side to sit behind the table.  Once they had all done this, they were each awarded their black belts, and one of the instructors talked about them and their individual achievements.  Being done by candlelight, it was not great for picture taking.  So most of my pictures are of after the ceremony of Emma with her instructors.

Being awarded her new belt.

Singing Emma's praise.

All of her instructors and TKD leaders.

I almost can't believe she has her black belt now.  She looks so good in it.  And now she wants to work towards earning her 2nd degree black belt.  That's just fine, but I'm still enjoying this moment for now.

Six Flags

We went to six flags, and Emma couldn't have been happier about it.  She just loved all of it.  She's always loved rides and coasters though, and has never once been afraid to ride any of them, even when she was really little.  So I knew she'd have a blast.

Very first ride of the day was Goliath, the new coaster this summer, which is the world's tallest, steepest, and fastest wooden roller coaster.  I think it was a little more intense than Emma was anticipating, but she loved it.  The day just went on perfectly from there.

I didn't take many pictures on rides, but I did take some of a ropes course thing they had.  It was a three-story tall structure with different ways to walk between corners such as balance beams, rope bridges, wooden plank steps, etc.  Great test of balance and fun to be up so high.  You were harnessed to a rope which connected to a bar above you and would move along with you as you climbed about.  Eric went up with Emma for quite awhile (no time limit) and they went all over the place.  The pictures were extremely backlit, but they made for some great silhouettes.

Emma thought the double decker carousel was cool.

At the end of the day her very favorite ride was Goliath, so we had definitely started things off right.  And for anyone interested, here is a video showing this ride with the front seat point of view.