Ketner Lake

If you are watching Paige progress through her belts, there is an certain unspoken importance about her blue belt. It is kind of like going from a sophomore to a junior in high school or college. There's a certain degree of respect that it demands from the underclassmen. It shows a degree of dedication, and that chances are that you now have your sights set on the black belt. That is certainly true of Paige.

The demands on Paige's ability to perform only get tougher from here on out, but she is certain that she is up to the challenge.

While things were cooking, I hid about fifty (50) eggs in the backyard for Paige and Darrian. Grandma Patty took the kids to the park to give me the opportunity to stash the eggs. When I was done, the kids came back to the house and the hunt began in earnest. So far as we can tell at this point, all fifty eggs were found, but it took some time and a few hints. Then dinner was served.

After spending the afternoon relaxing around the house, it was time to pack Grandma Patty and Darrian back up and get them back to the Amtrack station. Around 8 PM that night they were back off to Omaha. For being so short, it was a really fun weekend. It also made Marna and I consider some train travel of our own in the future. Seems like it'd be a great way for Paige to see more places and learn about them along the way.

Getting to the summit of Pikes Peak, at over 14,000 feet, takes some doing. A normal train wouldn't be able to make the incline - the steel wheels would slip against the metal tracks. So this train, which has been in operation for nearly 120 years, has a center rail of cogs. This allows the train to climb to the summit of Pikes Peak even when on several 25% grades.

On this particular day, the wind was just too much, so we stopped just shy of the summit. Sitting there, well above tree line however, the point was made as to just how massive Pikes Peak really is. And surprisingly, even though we were merely sitting there in the train, many of the passengers, including Darrian could feel the lack of oxygen. Many slowed down considerably.

After getting our fill of pictures and breathtaking views from inside the train, we started back down again. As the train got below tree line, many of the passengers perked back up. Funny to see what that kind of height can do to the human body. Half way between tree line and the station we stopped again and were allowed to get off the train to stretch and use the bathrooms. After about 40 minutes break, we all boarded the train again and headed back to the station.

All said and done, this is an adventure worth taking. The guides do a great job, and the views are simply amazing. You can go through all four seasons and several different ecologies in the four hours it takes to get to the summit of Pikes Peak and back.

At CoCo Key there were three water slides. All three were enclosed. Two of them you could chose to use a tube or not. Of these two, one was made of plastic that allowed light through, while the other was pitch dark. The third slide was was also pitch dark, and it was designed to be used without a tube. What do you think Paige likes the most? If she's not on a tube with dad (which means going very fast), then Paige would much rather go down the pitch dark slide on her butt. No fear.

After swimming, sliding and floating ourselves silly, we had dinner at the water park with family.

Paige has been wanting a minivan for a new car for some time now, so we rented a Toyota Sienna for the trip, complete with automatic doors. This thrilled Paige to no end, and she did fantastic on the trip.

Something we did differently this trip was to stay not at a hotel, but at a "Vacation Rental By Owner" or VRBO. This is in essence homes that people own, but do not live at full time. In order to make some money from the vacant property, they rent it out at a cost comparable (slightly higher) to a hotel. We stayed at an old row house in downtown Omaha, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

For one of the days during the trip we connected with Grandma Patty and went over to the Henry Doorly Zoo. This is easily among my favorite zoos. They are always expanding and working on interesting new habitats. And having grown up watching Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom on television, the sponsor of the zoo, there's a sentimental value to going. For Paige the special treat was a ten day old baby giraffe. It was already taller than me.

One of the events that the Awana clubs are known for is the Grand Prix races. Clubbers (grade school kids) are given a pinewood derby car kit to make over several weekends prior to the race. During those weeks leading up to the race, one of the club leaders was able to arrange the use of his bandsaw, and another leader was on hand to cut shapes for kids needing help. And yet other kids work with their parents on their car - or in the case of Paige, her Grandpa Rich.

This has become somewhat of a tradition for us. Paige picks what she wants her car to be, then we head over to Grandpa's house one Saturday to cut and paint the car. In years past, Paige has chosen a glass slipper (out of wood?), and a VW Bettle (slug bug!). This year it was to be a stretch limo. Grandpa carved the general shape, and then worked overtime to hollow out seating arrangements. After applying purple paint and decals, Paige glued two small toys into the hole as passengers.

You only see one passenger in the picture above because Paige decided that she didn't like the other passenger being in the car, and subsequently ripped it out.

I also decided to participate this year. Not knowing what to make from a block of wood, I casually joked with Paige that I should just paint it green and have a green brick. Paige liked the idea but thought that it should be a brick. And my design was born. No cutting or other modifications, just some brick red paint, and black magic marker. And in the end, it won first place for speed in the open class, first place for design in the open class, and third place for overall speed across all (three) classes.

Paige's purple limo didn't win anything this year, though it gave a good show. And since Paige picked the design for my car, I gave her the first place for design in the open class trophy.

This competition, Paige competed in three different activities. The first was for her form. The form had changed recently and she was slow to master the new moves. She had earned her stripe (a piece of tape at the end of her belt showing achievement within the rank) for her form just a week earlier. But when it comes to her form, Paige is meticulous. She is conscious of every nuance. And in the end, she brought her "A Game" and earned a gold medal.

For sparring, Paige was a very strong competitor. Perhaps too strong. In her traditional approach to sparring, Paige went full throttle against her challengers. This works sometimes, but she has yet to learn to wait and be patient for the right striking opportunity. One of her opponents merely stood with one of her legs extended, and Paige would walk into it every time while attacking. This is a point, and in the end Paige did not get a medal for sparring.

The third part of the competition Paige competed in was board breaking. At one time, this had been a strong area for Paige. Perhaps because she didn't know any better. "You want me to hit that board and break it? Cool." Over time however she has learned that executing the techniques incorrectly can be particularly painful. We were hoping that she'd regain her confidence in the competition setting, but in the end she couldn't break the board, and didn't earn a medal.

So only one medal for this competition - a gold medal though, in Paige's favorite part, technical form.

Paige remembers having gone to the Melting Pot when she was younger, but other than that she didn't recall much detail. When our appetizers arrived, she wasn't really sure what to do with them at first. Apples in cheese? Gross! Or, as it turns out, she really liked them as well as the other items. Credit where credit is due, Paige is really good about trying anything at least once. And she gives it an honest taste too.

When the appetizers came out, raw, Paige was thoroughly grossed out. She had no idea what to make of the different things she was seeing. The lobster tail in particular really threw her, as did the shrimp. After cooking them up in the fondue bowl however, she found a liking for both. In the end she stayed more towards her customary chicken, but she did make the rounds.

When dessert finally came Paige got a few bites in, but was so full, that she could only manage a few bites.

Paige continues to progress in her taekwondo skills, and she's actually become really good at informally helping and coaching other kids in her class. At the blue belt level you are allowed to start learning how to formally teach. At this point, that is something that Paige thinks she'd be interested in doing. You know, on her way to "becoming a master." She's got goals!

As it turns out, earlier in the day Wednesday, while in Physical Education class at school, Paige sprained her ankle. She did quite the number on it too. Getting the belt was worth enduring the pain of walking however, so Marna wrapped her up, I gave her some ibuprofen, and off we went. Two days on now (it's Friday as I type this), and while she's still got some bruising on her ankle, she back to bouncing around the house like normal.