Happy Halloween!

 Matthew was a zombie skeleton and James was spooky pumpkin (although without his mask on he looks sort of like a monk or a ninja).  They had fun at their class Halloween parties (although James's was just crafts and snacks, rather than the more active activities in Mattie's class), and also enjoyed trick or treating with their friends (and new friends, triplets in kindergarten).

Fall Colors

 We didn't get to see much of Syracuse when we were there, but we did have some nice scenery on the way home!

Skater Boi

 The gymnastics clinic was held in what our team coordinator called a dying mall.  A lot of the stores were closed, or had been taken over by things like the gym or other activity-based businesses (tae kwon do, an inflatable place for kids' parties, etc.). Matthew and Mike went exploring, and came across a skate store/skate park.  Mattie decided he wanted to take a skateboarding lesson (two hours).  As you can see, he did very well for a first-timer!  (His teacher told him he had natural talent for it.)

At the end he tried to learn a drop (standing at the edge and starting a run).  He was super-close to getting it, but couldn't quite stay on his feet.  We were impressed at all the things he was willing to try!  (And the pads were extremely effective -- he took a lot of falls, but just popped right up and tried again. I think the only actual injury was one time when his knee pad hit his cheek, and he had a little scratch, which didn't bother him.)

(Mike also managed to find the stereo equipment store -- something for everyone!)

Gymnastics Clinic

 We spent the day at James's gymnastics clinic in Syracuse.  It was a fun time!  (We drove up last night and had dinner with some of the other families from the team, and then the kids had a great time playing in the hotel pool and hot tub.)  A clinic is sort of an extended workout with lots of different coaches, as an extra way to help get the kids ready for the routines they'll be doing in competition.

It was funny -- the head coach from our gym (who was also running the clinic) asked the kids to all wear black shirts (or Stumpf's shirts) so that he could easily find his gymnasts.  Well, it turned out that all of the teams were wearing black shirts!  Great minds think alike. :)

(I asked James what his favorite part of the day was, and he said, "Lunch!"  It was pizza and meatballs.)

At the end of the clinic, each coach got to give an award to the boy who they thought had been a hard worker/the hardest worker on their event. James won an award for parallel bars!  (It was from a coach from another gym, who we didn't know, which kind of made it even better.)  His prize was a pair of grips, which he'll have to grow into. :)

(James also won the leg-lift contest at practice the other day, for which boy could do 21 leg lifts in the fastest time.  He was very pleased!)

Yellow Belt!

 Matthew earned his yellow belt in karate today!  He was a little nervous about the belt test, but it turned out that they did all of it in groups -- lots of it as a large group, and then divided up by belt color.  Mattie knew all of the karate stuff -- the hardest part was the strength exercises!  (They had to do 100 crunches!)

He was very happy, and we are proud of him.

Dancing Gourds

 We made a very quick stop back at Kelkenberg on Sunday after ninjas (Mike had found a baby hat in the pumpkin patch but had forgotten to give it to the staff).  The boys ended up with a couple more little pumpkins, and Mike ended up with a couple more doughnuts!

(Matthew enjoyed dancing around with the gourds that looked like maracas.)