Fun Walking at Knightdale Station Park

We’ve been walking a ton lately. Mainly because I need it but since T’s muscle pull injury he needs it too. I got some nice shots of T yesterday while walking. 

The kid never takes a bad photo even when it’s off the cuff like yesterday was. 

Another Update on T

He is doing better. Laser therapy helps a lot. He goes back in for more laser therapy on Monday. On Tuesday he sees the PT for the first time and we will find out just what stretched he should be doing for that muscle. On Thursday he goes back for more laser therapy on it. In the meantime we are also using a tens unit on it. We are doing everything we can to get him back to training as soon as possible. Every day he’s not training is very costly for him. The laser therapy shortens his turn around time from about four weeks to two weeks. We are praying that by the 26th his muscle will be healed so he will be able to do his final testing for his 3rd Dan black belt testing cycle. It’s amazing what they can do for pulled muscles now that they couldn’t do back when I was doing sports as a kid. Advancements in technology can be mind blowing. 

Visit to the Capital Building

Since T is having to be careful because he pulled a muscle. We decided to take him to visit our Capital building yesterday and let him see the inside of it.  He’s seen the outside of it with all its cannons and statues several times. We had a great time seeing everything on the inside and it was a great learning experience. 

Update on T’s Injury

We went to see our chiropractor today and he had to do two key adjustments near the area of his muscle pull. While there we found out about their laser therapy for muscles. So we opted to do laser therapy on T’s leg. We are getting a run around with PT/his regular doctor that it takes a certain amount of days to get approval and we can’t wait 5-7 days to get him seen and healing. We found out from the chiropractor that the laser therapy has a faster turnaround rate, like a possible 10 days, rather than doing generally PT that would be a possible 4 weeks. This chiropractor has been adjusting T since he was born and he knows our son well. We trust him for T’s care verses doctors that don’t know him at all. After the adjustment today and the first laser treatment T’s leg is feeling a lot better. More treatments to come though. We will update more as we have more to update. 

Good News / Bad News

T pulled his llipsosas muscle on Sunday during training. It’s a muscle that goes from your hip into the upper thigh muscle. At first I thought it was just muscle pain from his training as hard as he does.  When he went to see his stretcher on Monday we found out that it was more than just muscle soreness. He recommended T be seen sooner rather than later so off I went to make an appointment for him to be seen with a sports medicine doctor. We saw the doctor today and sure enough it is a pull. He’s going to need PT and he won’t be able to compete this weekend at the tournament. As soon as we can get him into the PT we will know how long he will be out of commission. 

Good news is that the doctor had X-rays done today to make sure nothing was wrong with his hip and the X-ray technician informed T that he still has a lot of growing ahead and that he was going to be tall. Those aren’t words we hear too often when referenced with T...LOL!  That made T feel good. Not being able to fight and train though made him feel bad. It’s his first real injury with this sport. 

When we go to PT we are going to have to come up with a game plan that will get T back to training ASAP. Any time down is no good in this sport. 

My Silly Boy

So T got his father and I talked into playing Pokémon Go with him. I’m not a big fan of Pokémon. But the game is cool. It gets you moving more. I’ve moved more and gotten more exercise in the last month then I have in the last year. It’s been something fun to do as you get your exercise. We are always trying to ☝️ up the other while we play and walk. I sit so much of my days because of homeschooling T and also taking him to his training sessions. I’m really enjoying moving more. We are outside more and at home sitting less. It’s been a good change and gives us more bonding time with our son. So many things I thought I’d never be doing. Like, raising an elite athlete, playing Pokémon Go, traveling a ton for competitions. None of those things were in my plans. God knew though. He gifted us our crazy silly athletic boy and we wouldn’t trade the life we are living now for anything in world. We are loving every moment with him. Here’s a pic of T fighting Hitmonchan. 

What A Handsome Young Man

Took this picture Sunday after church just before we went out for lunch. 

3rd Pretest in the books...

T took his last pretest tonight and passed his written exam with a perfect score. He tied with the other 2nd Dan testing for their 3rd Dan also. He passed his sparring kicking combinations also with flying colors. So proud of this kid. He was doing so good against his partner that his partner got very frustrated with him so they put T with another partner that is a 1st Dan but a foot taller than him and T was whooping up on him pretty good. I have to always remind myself that this is just family TKD and not competition TKD and there is a huge difference. Of course it doesn’t keep his partners from being very upset 😡 when T gets the better of them...LOL! 

One happy boy right here. He loved passing so well tonight. It made his night and ours too. We’ve been quizzing him for his written exam like crazy this afternoon. 

Happy Sons Day!!!

We have such an amazing son. We are so proud of all his accomplishments. We are so thankful to God for blessing us with him. We love you to the moon and beyond T!!!

Cha Cha Changes!!!

So T’s room is being torn apart from his little boy room. Getting rid of all his little boy stuff.  So sad 😞 😭. He informed us a month or so ago that he wasn’t a little boy anymore and wanted a big boy bedroom so we are slowing taking it all down and apart and we will be getting his new set at some point next month. Until then it’s the air mattress. And of course he doesn’t mind that at all...LOL! I’m trying to organize and reorganize stuff. This will be quite the chore but we are up for the challenge. A couple of seasons ago we repainted the living room, what is now the dining room, the school room, and did the kitchen cabinets plus switched out the countertops. Plus we fixed up the downstairs bathroom. Now time for T’s room and hopefully our upstairs bathroom this fall/winter. Never a boring moment with us. Always pressing on and getting things done. So glad to have a husband that knows how to do things and he does his best to be patient with me as I do my best to help him😁. The painting is the easy part but doing any repairs along the way that needs to be done is always the challenge. Everything’s a mess but when it’s all done it will be nice. #funtimesahead #lovinglife #makingthemostofourtime 

3K Run Today

T ran his 3K Run today. Two years ago he did the same run in 14:14 and was weighing around 60 pounds. This time he did it in 15:00 and was weighing 71 pounds. This is one of his requirements for earning his 3rd Dan Black Belt. He came in first. Did a cool down lap while everyone else was still running. T and one other fellow and one other girl ran the entire time of their run without walking or stopping. They all got their runs done though in under 30:00 minutes. We are so proud of how well T did at getting close to his time from two years ago with him weighing heavier. 

Adidas Everywhere!!!

He has the clothes and the shoes!  Waiting to do the bulk of my buying for the cold months when the Christmas sales happen.  At least that's what I'm hoping we can do so it won't cost as much to outfit this kid for the cold months...LOL! 

1st Uniforms and Now Gloves

Close up of the new gloves. I hope we don’t have to get these anytime soon. T already doesn’t like them just from looking at the pictures. Change doesn’t come easy. It remains to be seen when they may enforce the wearing of the uniforms and gloves though.

(These are borrowed pictures)

I like the send help flag.  Pretty much all that athletes feel this way.  Change isn't easy.

Growing Problems

Had to finally get the boy some new running shoes. He chose Adidas. He loves Adidas and Under Armour. Adidas seems to be his go to for running shoes though. The boys going through a growth spurt and we are going to have to get him all new sweat pants and shirts for the cooler months🙄. I hope the cold holds off until the Christmas sales start at the Carolina outlets in Charlotte. I was able to outfit him for the winter last year with their awesome sales at a great price. Most were buying for Christmas and I was buying for him to wear now...LOL!  #lifewithanathlete

New Style Olympic Sparring Uniforms

New style uniform that World Taekwondo wants to use at the 2020 Olympic games in Japan. No more traditional Dobok. Sports specific uniform.

(these are borrowed pictures)

T really doesn’t like these uniforms. It goes away from traditional TaeKwonDo uniforms. They say they are making them Olympic Sport specific. If he gets to represent our country someday in this sport at the Olympics or a Worlds event he may have no choice but to wear this uniform though. 

Announcement of US Open

Looks like we will be heading to Florida!!!

The 2020 U.S. Open Championships will be held in Orlando, Florida in 2020, at the spectacular ESPN Wide World of Sports venue from February 27 to March 1 next year.

 

Designated as a Major Tournament for all age categories for the first time in 2020, the most famous Open on the World Taekwondo calendar takes on even more significance than ever, with a ferocious fight for Academy places and qualification for the National Team Roster along with those all-important world and domestic ranking points up for grabs.

 

Events Director Jeanna Salgado said: “It’s been some time since we have been in Florida, and it’s by far the most requested venue for us to bring the US Open too outside of Las Vegas, so we’re delighted to be able to be able to make it happen. The new venue is absolutely stunning and perfect for such a prestigious tournament. With everything on the line we think this is going to be the best U.S. Open ever!”

 

Additionally, for the first time ever USATKD and World Taekwondo Europe are joining forces in their ambition to further develop their youth athletes at elite level. With this new cooperation between USATKD and Taekwondo Europe, the US Open 2020 will also be added as the first non-European G-ranked event to the list of ranking events where European Cadets and Juniors will gain ranking points, alongside U.S. athletes.

 

USA Taekwondo CEO Steve McNally said: “We are excited to see the introduction of junior and cadet rankings within World Taekwondo Europe and think supporting innovation around the world is important for our sport to continue to grow. For U.S. Juniors and Cadet, it will provide an invaluable opportunity to compete against more of the best talent the world has to offer on their home turf and gain vital tough competition experience at an early age.

Downtown Raleigh Today

Today after T finished his schoolwork we went downtown to walk, see the sights, get Pokemon, and get Poke Stops for Pokemon Go. Yes our son has gotten us to do this with him. I will say this for the game...it sure gets you out walking and exercising. I walked over 3 miles today while walking around downtown. They have made some incredible improvements to downtown also. 

T is sitting on the same cannon at the Capital building that my brothers and I took a picture on when we were kids. Talk about a flashback. 





Made totally of sand. It was over by the History and Science Museums. 

Sparring Training with Arlene Limas and Grant TaeKwonDo

T has really been enjoying being with his team and training with Master Limas and Grant TaeKwonDo Staff. He loves being with his team. They all paired up with kids from different schools to do their drills. He are some pictures of the drills from this morning. They are getting g ready to start the afternoon session. I had to take the pictures through a tinted glass window or a regular glass window depending where I had to be to get the shot at the time. 

Podium Pictures from BBW Fall Hanmadang and In House Tournament 2019

Grand Master Nelson giving T his 2nd Place Trophy for breaking. 



Grand Master Vincent giving him his 1st Place trophy in Poomsae. 

T had a good time today and enjoyed seeing old friends he hadn’t seen in a while. It was one of the best in house tournaments that BBW has ever done. Everything ran so smoothly.