My First Tournament Sparring

I signed up for two different types of sparring for this tournament - continuous and point - because I wanted to get experience and see which category would be better for me. In continuous sparring, you continuously spar for 30 seconds and points are tabulated as you go. In point sparring, as soon as a point is scored, the fight is stopped, competitors return to their starting spots, then you start again until the next point is scored. You have to be the first one to make contact with your strike, or you're out of luck. I suspected that I would be better at continuous; that is what more of my training has been, and I think I have a slow initial reaction time but can come in and score some points after someone has tagged me. Unfortunately, no one else signed up for my division (18+ beginning and intermediate continuous sparring for feather weight women), so I still don't know!

Adults were awarded swords at this tournament instead of trophies. The top one on the display stand is the 1st place sword I got for being the only woman brave enough to sign up for continuous sparring. :) I asked some other women about it later (women that DID compete in point sparring), and they said the idea of continuous sparring intimidates them. I just want to get some practice at it before I'm up in the advanced/black belt division, because I've watched that and am a little intimidated, myself.

(I competed at the "intermediate" level since that is my current rank at Alpha Martial Arts, where I started over because the style is slightly different. I have not been training enough since earning my black belt to feel like I am at a black belt level, and since this was my first competition, I thought it better to ease into it.)

When it came time for point sparring, there were actually 4 of us signed up for my division. They drew names and paired me with Becky from Five Knuckle Bullet for the first match. Their school focuses on fighting, so I was a bit intimidated going into it. I also didn't know what to expect from a point sparring match and didn't completely understand what the rules were. I hung back and figured things out for the first bit. You can see in the video where I finally figured it out and started to get the hang of things. (Points are visible on the table in the background - I was white in this match.) Just as I started to improve, time was called. I didn't even know there was a time limit in point sparring. I thought it was first one to 10 points. Oh, well. The entire reason I did this tournament was for experience, and I definitely learned a lot.

link to video here:

my first sparring match

Since I lost the first match, I was not eligible for first or second place. I fought the loser of the other match to determine 3rd and 4th places. I think her name was Luellen. I had a slight height and leg length advantage. I did get in one kick to her head towards the end, which I was excited about, because that scores 2 points instead of 1. Once again, scores can be seen on the table in the back. This round I'm red.

my second sparring match

Since I won the second match 9-1, I earned 3rd place in point sparring. That's what one of the smaller swords is for. The other small sword is for my 3rd place in forms competition (out of 17 competitors - I'm proud of that one!)

Overall, this was a fun day and a great learning experience. My school took home lots of awards and gained quite a bit of recognition. We were the new kids on the block and represented ourselves well. I am proud of Alpha Martial Arts and looking forward to my next tournament!

My First Martial Arts Tournament

Click here to see my form.

I competed in my first tournament today. It was a great learning experience. Since I started over at white belt when I joined Alpha Martial Arts, I am now only an orange belt in their style. So I competed at the intermediate level. The people who do tournaments at the black belt level have been competing for years, so I think this was a good place for me to start and see how the whole process works. There were 17 competitors in my division, males and females, 35+. The first place winner was my training partner, Chris, with scores of 9.04, 9.05, and 9.06. The second place winner was a Kung Fu/Mu Shu man, with scores of 9.04, 9.03, and 9.02. I came in third place, with 9.04, 9.03, and 8.97. I see lots of room for improvement, but I am proud of myself and glad to have this first tournament under my belt. I can't wait for more!

Future Egg Factory

We have wanted to get chickens (laying hens) for a long time and have finally gotten around to it this summer. We converted the former shed and dog kennel into a chicken coop and yard.



This was the dog kennel (under the deck):

In this picture, you can see the dog kennel on the left and the wooden storage shed right next to it. John added a metal storage shed on the right, so we'd have room to store our garden tools after converting the shed to a coop:
This is the inside of the shed. The hole goes out to the kennel. There was a box/dog house inside the shed, so a dog could spend time out in the kennel or come into his cozy house in the shed to sleep. We did not use it much. Our dog is rather spoiled and indoors most of the time. But the set up is perfect for allowing chickens to move from their coop to their fenced yard.

Step 1: Put a better roof on the shed so water doesn't drip down from the deck. Then insulate the walls:
We added a wall to divide the shed into two parts - the chickens have about 2/3 as their coop (on the other side of this screen), and humans have the remainder as walking space and a place to store feed and bedding.
This door can be accessed from the human side of the coop:
When you open the door, you can access the nest boxes and easily collect eggs:
View from the chickens' side of the coop: (You can see the back of the nest boxes on the upper left)
Roost and droppings board:
Trapdoor ramp leading to the fenced yard:
One of our first two chicks, eating in her yard. We found out the hard way that the yard was not cat-proof.


So, since those first two chicks lasted less than 48 hours, we took a break for a while and took some time to better cat-proof the enclosed yard. Then we mail-ordered some chicks from a hatchery. So much fun to pick up a peeping package from the post office! In case you've never mail-ordered chicks (which I hadn't before now), this is what they ship the birds in - a cardboard box with holes:

Inside the box:

We got two black Australorps and two Ameraucanas.
We'll keep them in this crate inside until we think they're old enough for the coop. They already have distinct personalities. Smaug is the independent one (off by herself in the shot below). Chico (the yellow one) is the mother hen. Kiddy (the other black one) is the runt and likes to burrow under the wing of anyone who will let her. Fluff (the brown one with the ground-squirrel-like stripes) is either blind or sick or not so bright. Hard to tell at this point.

Estes Park Races

On the last Saturday of vacation (a few hours after ending our soggy camping trip), the kids ran a race associated with the Estes Park marathon. The girls (Helene and Becca) ran 1/4 mile.

The boys (Campbell and Aaron) ran 1/2 mile. Campbell did a great job of pacing himself. He started out in the middle of the pack, held his pace, and ended up in 4th place.




The following morning, many of the adults participated in other parts of the race. John, Chad, and my dad ran the half marathon. Courtney ran the 10K. Kathy and I ran the 5K. It was cold (40 degrees) and raining. Motivation to run faster!

Our kids are in the slideshow on the official race website. The pictures are from 2 years ago, so you might not recognize Campbell with his hippie hair. Helene (bib number 24) was in early on the Skirt Sports trend. http://www.epmarathon.org/index.htm

Northfork Vacation, Backpacking/Camping

On our last Saturday of vacation, we went camping. This was the only day we could really work it into our schedule, so we ignored the weather forecast, which called for rain.

We backpacked for an hour up the Crosier Mountain Trail from Glen Haven and found a good spot to set up our tent at Piper's Meadow. The boys then continued the hike to the summit, while the girls rested and played around in the meadow.

Here are shots from the boys' continued hike to the top of Crosier Mountain:

The meadow was absolutely beautiful, and we enjoyed playing there in the afternoon and cooking our dinner on the camp stove. We brought MREs from REI which were quite tasty (Chicken & Dumplings and Red Beans & Rice). That was actually the first time in my life that I remember eating chicken & dumplings. It was delicious. I'll have to try a non-dehydrated version sometime!

We also made a small campfire, which was nice, as it was starting to get cold.

Helene found a special dinner spot on the boulder in the middle of the meadow:

John found a good reading rock:

Shortly after dinner, the rain began. And it did not stop. It rained and rained and rained (heavy rain for Colorado) the entire night. Our new tent let quite a bit of water in, and we were all sleeping in puddles. No one got much rest, and by morning we were rather miserable. So we packed up at 6am and headed down. John tried to heat some water for coffee and oatmeal, but the stove, matches, etc. were all too wet. So we just hiked back and hopped in my parents' hot tub. :)

All in all, it was a good experience. Despite the rough night, we enjoyed camping and look forward to going again in better weather!

Northfork Vacation, While the Kids Are Away, the Parents Will Play

This pretty much sums up the relaxing time John and I have had while the kids are away.

Northfork Vacation, Camp for the Kids

On Sunday we took the kids to their first ever sleep away camp. The YMCA of the Rockies has a mini-camp, perfect for first timers. It is 3 days, 2 nights. We drove across the RMNP on Trail Ridge road to deliver them to camp (which is near Granby). The drive (well, the parts of it for which my eyes were open) was beautiful. I can't handle the sheer drop-offs.



We saw this moose on the western side of the park, right by the road. I took this out of the car window.



Annie joined us for the ride. We stopped at a playground for a bit, and John made her a daisy chain.









Camp Chief Ouray looks like lots of fun. There are ropes courses and a swimming pool and stables with horses. The kids got more and more excited as we neared the cabins. There were crazy counselors in costume yelling, "Welcome to camp!" as we drove up. On the way over, Helene starting getting whiny and saying she was going to miss me. She's had a history of separation anxiety, so I was a little worried.







When we walked Campbell to his cabin (where I made him pose for this shot), I asked if he wanted us to stay or was ready for us to leave. He very matter-of-factly said, "Yeah. You can leave. Bye." I didn't expect tears, but still . . .

And, to my surprise (and relief), Helene was also nonchalant about our leaving. She let me take her picture on her bunk and then said a brief goodbye.

I hope they have as much fun as I think they will. It would be great to start a tradition, and for them to have a camp they look forward to attending every summer.