Little Rock

The weeked my parents were in town we headed to Little Rock, AR for the Taekwondo World Championships. The boys competed and did wonderful and we did some playing too.

Friday we went to the Little Rock Zoo. The first thing we saw were the chimps and at first I thought one of them had some fleshy growths. No it was this little baby holding on to it's mama, it was it's hands and feet. He was so adorable to watch.

Really is that not the cutest little chimp you have ever seen!

He was trying to climb like the others. It was really just a bush and he was only about a foot off of the ground but mama came and got him down pretty quickly.

Check out those dreads?!

Oooo, the elephants.

Silly boys!

Good lookin' couple.

Even better lookin' couple, riding the train.

My favorite little men!

My favorite man and a not so smily but adorable little girl.

She is just so cute!

It was a beautiful tiger!

These sculptures were made of rebar. They were pretty neat. We sent a picture to my brother who works at a place that bends and sells rebar.

Mr. Pechacek being made a mast by the Grand Master. The opening ceremonies were really cool. There were some amazing stories and some impressive displays of skill!

This is Saturday at the Tournament. Arabella was a trooper, especially if she had a snack.

A gaggle of kidswith the ATA Tiger (I can not remember his name). My smiley boys look so cute in their white uniforms.

Jon went first. Even though the boys had earned their camo belts they tested with their yellow belts because that is the form that they knew.

Jon was a bit grumpy in the 45 minutes proceeding his competition but we kept telling him that he would do great and had him say "I can do it!" and he did!

He is still in the younger group that gets to have a helper as they do their forms and one steps.

Jon actually did a pretty good display with his bo staff.

Jon earned two trophies at the end. He was awarded one for a great black belt attitude. I will have to post a picture of them sometime. They are jade green with some Korean writing on it in gold and are a bit bigger than a dessert plate.

Joey is in the older age group and does not get any help. He kind of raced through his form but did it really well. He actually gets a score and did not place in the forms part of his comptetion but did get a trophy for participation.

Joey did place 4th in his weapons. He did place 2nd in one steps (which is the precurser to sparring). Yea for Joey!

We had a good time in Little Rock. We plan on going to the World Tournament next year and there is a chance that Joey may be a black belt by then or close to! Thanks for coming with us Grandma and Grandpa Bird.