US Open Orlando 07-01 & 02-11

Yes!

We went to Florida!
Again!
Just seven short months after we were there for the first time!

But this time was for fun of a different kind.
We (and I mean Mattie May, Frank, and I)
all competed in the US Open Karate World Championships!
Yes, Frank and I really did compete!
When we first started planning for this,
we were going for Mattie May to compete.
But Larry said he needed some more warm bodies on his team,
so just three short weeks before we left,
Frank and I started learning to break!
Most of Team Abilene traveled together,
in a 16 passenger van and
Don took his truck to pull the trailer
with all the breaking supplies on them.
HERE WE GO!

We followed the truck most of the way.

One of the longest stretches of the trip finally over!
I love my Texas home,
but it sure takes a long time to cross the border!We drove straight through the night all the way to Orlando.
Not any pictures of the night travel,
no flash on my iPhone!
The next morning the girls are still doing good.
They did very well traveling for such a long time!We finally made it to Orlando,
and we had to travel all the way to the Sunshine state
to see rain!
The skies opened up just as we pulled into Orlando
and we began to wonder if we would ever see the sun while we were there! After dinner together at Cici's,
we all went and checked into our rooms to get some
much needed rest.
Later that evening,
Frank and I took the girls in our room to
Downtown Disney.
We weren't going to make it to any of the parks this trip,
but we wanted them to have at least a taste of
Disney while we were there.

I fell in love with this fountain!
I want to do this in my back yard!

It didn't take long for Mattie May to find the
girl with the pixie dust!

I was still finding Pixie dust in her hair earlier this week!

Then we found the Lego store!

Wow! Recognize this guy?!
LOL

It amazes me what they do with Legos!

As we were walking around,
the girls found this little guy at
World of Disney.

I don't know about you,
but we love Stitch at our house,
and this one spits at you!
The kids loved it.

We ate supper at the
Earl of Sandwich.
It was really yummy
or I was just really hungry!
I wolfed mine down like I hadn't
eaten in a day or two!
Then we just walked around for awhile.

Mattie May found a place to play with
Mr. Potatohead for a bit,

and of course we had to find the child some ice cream,

and Lolo thought she deserved a little something special
for traveling so well the past two days.
And I'm a sucker for Tinker Belle!

I also couldn't let her leave the Disney area
without a pair of Independence Day Ears!

Waiting for our taxi.

Thursday was a day of work!
We found a place to keep the doodle bugs resting for a while,
even if we did have to use a table cloth as a blanket!

It was time to get that trailer unloaded,and start stacking everything in the building.
Larry and Don found some fans to start drying out all the bricks.
Love the rain, but it sure made for some extra work.

This is what it looked like as we first walked in,

but it didn't take long for us to fill our area!

We spent the rest of Thursday setting up and
getting everything ready for Friday.
Late that evening we had the little girls go through
their creative programs,
just run through,
no breaking.
Then it was off to get these kids fed
and into bed.
Friday was going to be a long day!

Back to Coronado Springs Resort at
7:30 Friday morning.
I don't have a lot of pictures of this day,
I just can't explain how busy
we were.

Frank giving Mattie May a pep talk before her Tiny Tots creative.

Now I have to do some explaining here. We (the adults) didn't read the rules quite right and thought that the Tiny Tots was a power division, so neither Mattie May or Rayven had a creative routine for this division. It took Don about two minutes to get our team together, tell them what break they would be holding for and run through it with Mattie May. So for something done on the fly, I must admit, I was very proud of her.

Tiny Tots Creative, Wood only

What can I say? Not bad to win 4Th place!

Don explaining to the girls what happened and
how proud we are of them for doing their best.
That's all we ever ask!

Then it was Frank's turn.
Mattie May giving some encouragement to Grumpy
before his first break.

Frank's first event was Power Side Kick Wood.
He had practiced for this,
oh,
let me think,

THE NIGHT BEFORE!
That's right! The first time he had ever tried this technique was
on Thursday night!
Getting set up

He really didn't want me to show this, but when have I ever listened to what he said!

His first attempt

Yes ouch! He hit the bar that was holding the boards!
But I am so proud of him! He won second place in this events.

As with any tournament we go to,
there is a lot of waiting.
Mattie May passes the time playing games on my iPhone,
or listening to music,

and if we are really lucky,
we get her to take a nap!

It will eventually take more than two chairs for her,
but she slept here for about two hours!
Never moved!
Even with all the noise around her!
Wish I could sleep like that!

Frank and I had to wait too!

We didn't think we were ever going to get to our events.

Finally it was time for Mattie May's creative open.
Again, I don't have many pictures.
Why?
Because it takes the entire team to set up,
then I walk Mattie May through and we check all
her stations to make sure they're right,
then when she starts,
I get excited and end up with fuzzy pictures!
What can I say?
I want her to do good!

Double Hammer Fist

with a great horse stance I might add!

The remains of her skull!

I'm telling ya!
The boys better watch out!

She only missed one break to put her in second place!

So proud!

Here's a shot that's not quite as blurry!

Now to keep her occupied while Frank and I compete.

My first event was Power Concrete Foot.
Before this competition,
I had only broken concrete once,

at the dojo,

about two weeks earlier,

and I broke three.

I really didn't think Larry had entered me in any foot breaks,
but he did,
in wood,
but he changed me when we got there
because he liked the bricks.
He said they were "sweet"!
Yeah,
OK,
You're the boss Shihan!

I only set up six caps,
thinking if I could break
half of them I would be OK.

Drake giving me a few tips.
I had not used a step before.
Thanks, Drake!

Rachel went before me,
and broke 7 of 7.
I would have to break 8 to win.

Frank and I decided when we agreed to this,
that we were going to win.
Why try for anything else?
I think some of his competitiveness is finally rubbing off on me!
So I added two caps,
got a wink from Frank,
and went for it!

Sorry, but this is the best photo I can give you!
Frank got a bit excited when I broke
EIGHT OF EIGHT!

That's right!
I won a world title!
Never in my wildest dreams was this one of them!
Not for breaking anyway!

Then it was on to
Power Wood Hand.
Again,
Rachel went in front of me and broke
5 of 5.
That meant I had to break
6 of 6.

Thanks Candy for the great shot of my break,

just wish I would have broken them all.
5 of 6.
Second place.

Then I had power wood elbow and I think I broke
5 of 6 again.
I just don't remember.
Rachel again won 1st and I won 2ND.
Not bad for my first time!
Then we got to concentrate on Frank.
Power Wood Hand

All set and ready to break

In mid break
(Yes, I know it's fuzzy!)

and the results

Six of Six
for 1st place and a
World Title
of his own!

Then he had
Power Wood Elbow
He had to break
9 of 9 for the win.

8 of 9 for
second place!

Not bad for a days work!
For our house
Two World Titles
Five Seconds
One Forth!
We are ready to start working towards next year!

Saturday was all about Larry.
His competition started early Saturday morning
and went to about the middle of the afternoon.

Setting up one of his concrete breaks.

Multi Directional Break - Wood

Larry did great himself!
First Place Power Concrete Elbow
Won the Ultimate Breaker
Set record for most baseball bats broken with elbow in 10 seconds

Total
Team Abilene brought home 23 World Titles
and numerous other trophies.
We have just over a year to get ready for next years open!

The rest of the trip was all about relaxing!
Sunday we headed to Cocoa Beach and Melbourne.
Frank and "all his girls"
stayed in Melbourne.

Not a bad view to have made the reservation just
five minutes before we arrived!

Everyone enjoyed our time at the beach.

I think Mattie May really enjoyed having others there to play with
besides Grumpy and Lolo!

Making sand angles!

They are growling at me for some reason!
LOL

We really blew Katie away
when we told her Mattie May was
playing with the jellyfish!

I'm sure this guy is who she had pictured in her head.

He is a big no no to touch.
You can tell by the red!

But she was just playing with these little guys.

Harmless.
They have no tentacles.
I don't know why.
If you do,
please,
do tell!

Monday morning,
I got up early to do something I have always
wanted to do.
I made my way down to the beach
by myself
and took some pictures of the sunrise.

God is so gracious to allow me
to enjoy His handiwork!
Stunning!

We then headed to Cocoa Beach to meet up with
the others for a breakfast cooked by Shihan!
Very yummy!

Frank, the man of my dreams!

Mattie May ready to hang ten!

Grumpy and Mattie May enjoying the waves.

And Frank's trophy wife!

We could not get her out of the water as usual!

This kid loves the beach!

Back at the hotel,
the girls and I watched fireworks from
the balcony in our room.
They were great and went on for hours.
Some professional,
others amateur,
but all were fantastic!

Tuesday was time to head back to Texas!
We loved the trip,
But just like Dorthy says
"There is no place like home!"

Mattie May traveled like this for quite a bit of the trip.

She deserved it.
Both the doodle bugs were troopers
on this long trip.

But when she was awake,
She was her normal silly self!

Showing me her milk mustache!

When we pulled into the dojo
this was my GPS!

Notice the totals of moving and stopped time!
Long trip!

It was a great trip.
We had some fantastic times,
learned a lot,
and are ready to do it all again next year,
with a few changes!
Next year I'm flying!

Until next time, God Bless!