TKD Nationals!

The boys had so much fun in Detroit! It was so exciting, even though it turned out to be kind of an emotional roller coaster.

The flight was pretty long, so the first day they arrived and weighed in and tried to get a good night's rest. The next day was the tournament!

The morning of the tournament, their awesome teacher, Master Evon, gave them these cool jackets! They were so thrilled and he was so excited to give them to the boys. He is just the best coach.

Getting ready for action!

Brett won gold at nationals! He did so great! He won both of his matches easily and brought home the gold. It was so exciting! The euphoria only lasted a few minutes before Jason was up. There were not too many 6 year old competitors, but Jason had to face a much bigger bracket. He won his first match by a big margin and looked great out there. He moved on to the quarter-finals.  The next boy he faced was pretty tough with a killer front kick. Jason fought his heart out, but lost the match. It was single elimination, so his day was over. He was pretty heartbroken, and I hated to hear him so disappointed. Fortunately, Derek is really good at cheering people up and knew just what to do to put a smile back on his face. Jason was pretty sad for a while, but by that evening, he was back to having a great time with Brett and Dad.

They went out to a baseball game the next day.

They found the perfect statue to pose with! I'm so proud of my boys! They have really worked hard to get good at TKD, and it has been such a great sport for them.

I had yet another birthday. I guess I don't mind too much since I have these cuties to celebrate with!

This guy turned seven! I can hardly believe it!

He was pretty excited about his birthday.

Brett is all about the big birthday breakfast. Fritattas, bacon, sausage, French toast, cinnamon muffins and strawberries with whipped cream. Whew!

Who's the king? Brett's the king. At least today.

He loved his birthday gifts! Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Liau and Bailey for the great gifts.

We have been watching the Great British Baking Show together, and he really wanted to make a cake together. I think it turned out pretty well!

Preparing to blow out some candles. Suspenseful.

There he goes! With Cara cheering him on!

I guess he is officially seven.

The cake had rainbow layers! I wish they were prettier colors, but it is hard to control three kids with food coloring. They had fun putting it together.

The boys found another tournament already. Here's Jason with a flying punch!

More hardware!

While the boys were out on their adventure, Cara talked me into going to Chuck E Cheese. One of us was totally thrilled.

At the beach with a sandy sandwich. She dropped it a couple of times, but that didn't stop her from eating the whole thing.

Lovely.

The kids were dying to pick some strawberries again. They love it!

Jason was very meticulous about only finding the best berries. Brett was done in 5 minutes and started on a second bucket. Cara dumped all of hers on the ground.

We ended up with 16 pounds of strawberries! It is an hour drive to the farm, and the kids were having so much fun so I just let them keep picking. We made a lot of strawberry freezer jam when we got home.

The pie at gizdich farms is famous, at least locally. It is really delicious! The dutch apple was the best.

Hard to be grumpy with pie and ice cream!

Cara was queen of the octopus at the mall and used her power to bonk her brothers on the head. She is crazy.

I am having the best time with these guys this summer! They are fun and smart and keep life interesting.