The Padilla Family

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Nicole passed her test-receives her new belt

Nicole went to class on Monday night and learned she had passed her test.

She's an official (low)yellow belt! Good job, Nicole!!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Nicole tests for her yellow belt

On Friday, March 13th, Nicole tested for her low yellow belt. The white belt students have to do their Form and their One-Steps.

Her favorite thing to do in class is kick the red bags.

But she especially likes to practice her running jump kicks. She has amazing force for someone so little. She kicks and hits harder than the two boys in her level.

The kids who were testing bow in.

Nicole and Ross wait their turn.

Nicole, Ross and another girl testing for her black belt all performed the white belt form at the same time. I was not prepared for that (I thought they would be doing it individually) so didn't get any pictures.

Nicole is doing her first one-step.

The fellow student here is just giving Nicole a target for her one-steps.

We didn't get any feedback after the testing, so I guess we'll find out on Monday if she passed and gets her yellow belt. I'm sure she did, she's ready to move on to new forms, and she's looking forward to doing contact sparing.

We finally meet Baby Ty

Ty Dante Larson was born Feb. 4th. He weighed in at a healthy 9lbs, 7oz!

Good job Dani!

After sicknesses, holidays, and bad weather, we FINALLY got to meet Ty when he was 5 weeks old. He's so cute!

Nicole with Ty.

Big brother Jake got in the picture too.

Nicole's 1st Tae Kwon Do tournament

On Saturday, March 7th, I took Nicole over to Oak Harbor for her first Tae Kwon Do tournament. There were TKD school's from as far as Yakima, and as close as Oak Harbor.

Excited, but nervous.

All Mount Vernon's students getting a pep talk from Master Rhodes.

Bow in. Nicole is the 2nd in from the right. (Next to the big tall guy)

There are two parts to the judging; Form and One-Steps.

Nicole is performing her one-steps here.

After performing her One-Steps she had to go again against this little boy, because of a tie.

Here she is receiving her trophy for 3rd place in Sparing (One-Steps).

There were six kids competing in this white belt category, she was the only girl.

Good job, Nicole!

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Ski weekend to Mission Ridge

President's Day weekend we went with Tony, Teresa and the kids to Mission Ridge for three days of skiing. Our two families shared a nice cabin just minutes from the ski resort.

The view from the deck.

Nicole being, Nicole.

Little Tony chillin'. He had a cold and an ear infection, so no skiing for him.

Bruno, Nicole and Alex hanging in the living room.

Jeffery, Marcus and Tony up early on the first morning of skiing.

The great thing about the cabin is it was only 8 minutes down the hill from the Lodge. We would take off around noon and head back for lunch, then go back for a couple more hours of skiing.

All three days of skiing the runs were shrouded in fog. Some up top worse than others, but in general all the runs were bad at one time or another. It kind of made it interesting at times.

The Lodge at Mission Ridge.

James

(I didn't get any pictures of Marcus and Jeffery on the slopes because they took off and we didn't see them again till the end of the day)

Bruno

Bruno and Alex

Me and Bruno

Nicole had lessons from 9-12 everyday. She got very proficient on the rope tow. Hopefully next year she will graduate to a chair.

What's better than drinks in the hot tub after a hard day skiing?

Marcus and James

These were some really cool icicles hanging outside the kitchen window.

Oh sure...the day we leave it dawns clear and beautiful.

Even after three days of skiing, I would love to have gone back up one more time in conditions like this. Oh well, maybe next year!

Olivia's 6th Birthday party

Bruno's brother Paul's daughter Olivia turned six years old on Feb. 5th. We were invited to a birthday party and her Grandma & Grandpa's house. Olivia wore her most beautiful Princess dress.