Ivan and I went to meet Troy Cummings, author of the “Notebooks of Doom” series, at the library. The line was very long, but we made it to the front eventually.

Ivan attended his very first Tang Soo Do tournament yesterday. He did a good job standing in front of five judges, introducing himself, and showing off some moves. He pointed out, proudly, to Amanda afterwards that he was the only “little dragon” who showed of a back kick.

He also got to”belt spar”, which involves pulling flags made from parts of karate belts out of your opponents belt. Ivan struck first, but his opponent manged two points, for the win when time expired. (They both got identical trophies).

Presentation of Trophies by Black Belts.

Belt Sparring

All participants warming up together

Celebrating a successful tournament with donuts and drinks

Ivan was really concerned about whether “persons” was a word.

Ivan has a new and not encouraged habit of liking to take his shirt off. Note that it is no where near warm enough for this. Also he enjoys the zany poetry of Shel Silverstein.

This trio is hosting their own radio show playing Parry Gripp tunes and telling jokes. Cautioning each other to avoid dead air.

The kids are pretty sure there’s a leprechaun lair in this hole by the bridge. There are clover nearby. Sure sign. They developed a plan to catch him collecting sticks with which to “stun” him but he never came out. There’s a more in depth plan in the works for leprechaun catching next year.