Sunshine State Games

This weekend we traveled to exotic Winter Haven for the Sunshine State Games karate tournament. On the way we stopped at Lakeridge Winery. They were having a festival complete with a wine (and juice for E) tasting, great music, and some grape stomping for the kids. If you like muscadine grapes, you should check out their wines...especially the Southern white or red (very sweet) and Sunblush.

Elijah did well at the tournament. He was outperformed in kata, but he did a great job. In kumite (sparring) he was in the 6-7 novice/intermediate division with two other boys (note that he's just barely novice, not at all intermediate), and he was in the ring I was assigned to...the ice rink. It was new and very, very slippery. He lost his first match, and got upset in the middle when he was punched. Also had a rough time in his second match as the other kid liked to punch him in the face. The best part of being punched in the face is that it gives one free points due to penalties. E also threw a great punch when the other kid stopped at the 30-s warning buzzer (happened at the last tournament too!). He won the match and got the silver medal. In the end, he said he had fun (minus the slipping and getting punched too hard :-) Afterwards, the kids enjoyed the hotel pool, then Han took them home. I stayed with Wendy to help judge the next day's tournament. Some of our favorite moments include dinner w/ some of the karate "kids" and their parents, adventures in opening and practically breaking down hotel doors (it was like a thin sheet of very weak metal that kept getting stuck at the lock, though we could easily push in the top and bottom and see inside our room), and our GPS's creative instructions ("take a left on I St., then navigate off road"). Scroll down for a video of E in action.