TWO Taekwondo Athletes in the Family???

Yes, people, it seems that we have yet another taekwondo athlete in the family and his name is William Julian Vargas Hartman. It´s official. He had his first class yesterday and he loves it.

 






















On Monday we went to pick up Matthew from taekwondo and we arrived 5 minutes before the class had finished. As I looked around the group of parents I saw the father of one of Julian´s best Friends in school. So I looked out into the class and saw his friend Felipe and his other classmate Alyssa which happens to be the coach´s daughter. I immediately said, "Hey, Julian, there´s Felipe, look, he´s doing the class! And there´s Alyssa!" Julian got a huge grin on his face. We went over to the front and sat down on the ground to get a better look at the class and Julian was totally into watching it. When it finished he said in a very excited little voice, "Mama, I want to start taekwondo! I wanna start tomorrow!!" I was shocked.

A few months ago, Felipe had done the class as a trial to see if he wanted to and Alyssa was there as well. Julian "almost" joined that class but then he chickened out. Felipe never went back and actually Alyssa never really did it again either. He told me after that day that he wouldn´t do taekwondo until he was at least 6 or 7 years old. That Saturday he started soccer practice and has been a fanatic ever since. So I was quite shocked that all of the sudden he was SURE he wanted to start and start immediately tomorrow and there wasn´t even a class "tomorrow"..... So I told him he would have to wait until the day after tomorrow and he was so upset about that. Before he went to bed he was talking about taekwondo and the first thing he said when he opened his eyes in the morning was "Tomorrow is taekwondo!" Then, on Wednesday he woke up and the first thing out of his mouth after he opened his eyes was "TODAY is taekwondo!" He was very upset that he had to go to school first and wait all the way until the afternoon for taekwondo but he somehow managed. I told Julian´s other bestie Mariano´s mom about the class and they had been thinking about it anyway, so he showed up as well!

It was a great class and Julian is totally into it. We´ll see how long he stays into it but he says he´s going to eventually get the BLACK BELT.....

Combat Fighting

Last night Matthew had his Taekwondo exam to get his new blue and brown belt. The belts left after this one are brown, brown and red, red, red and black and then black. Supposedly you have the red one for about 3 years before you continue on so it´s not like he´s going to be a black belt in the next year or two. I think the coach said around 12 years old if he keeps going without stopping and passes all the tests he has to do for the black belt. I don´t know if we´ll get to that point or not, but it would be kind of cool if he did! I also wouldn´t be totally disappointed if he didn´t. He´s done great thus far and if he wants to go for the black then so be it!

At the beginning of the year, he took a 4 month break from it and decided he wanted to go back in April. This go around he had decided that he didn´t want to do combat fighting on Fridays or tournaments or anything. So I haven´t thought about that much at all this year. Well, I forgot that in the exams, there is a combat fighting part even though half the class doesn´t particpate in that part of the program. I had not taken his chest pad, helmet or forearm and shin protectors to the exam because I totally forgot about that. Since half the class doesn´t have those protectors, the coach has chest pads and helmets for them to use during these times. So I thought, oh well, no biggie, he´ll use the ones from the academy. HOWEVER, they don´t have forearm and shin protectors to loan and most of that is ok because the ones who don´t have them are lower level belts and younger, 4-6 years old. Well, Matthew is the most advanced belt in his class so obviously he was going to be put to fight with someone of his same age, size and level. Matthew hasn´t done combat fighting in almost 10 months. When I realized that, I was like, OH! I didn´t bring the protection pads and he´s going to be fighting with someone who A) has the pads, B) has been doing the combat fighting classes every Friday along with bigtime tournaments and C) is an EXCELLENT fighter! YIKES!!! I was so nervous! They do all their defending with their forearms and many a time, a kick goes wrong and hits a shin, etc. So, he was paired up with this boy named Orlando who is GOOD. I mean, he frequently wins gold medals in tournaments. His dad is super nice and we always talk so I went over to stand with him and telling him about my concern with Matthew´s lack of practice and lack of protection. I said how good Orlando was and his father said, "Yeah, and he kicks really hard! " (he said in a concerned voice) I said, " I know he does and that´s why I´m so nervous!" So, a minute later, the fight started and I was just praying the he didn´t get too many bruises with too much pain. I mean, I figured  he´d lose but that wasn´t my concern at all. Afterall, they´d still give him the belt for completing the exam.

After a few seconds the boy´s dad and I realized Matthew was really holding his own! In fact he was winning! Orlando´s dad was like tapping me saying, "Look, look! Look how well Matthew´s doing! He´s winning! He´s doing great!" I was practically at the point of tears because I just couldn´t believe what I was seeing! I was so proud....just so proud! At the end it was 6-6 and the coach said whoever gets the next point wins. The other boy finally got the point but it wasn´t easy! Matthew handled it like a total champ....I was just so impressed!!

Later at the end of the exam, he got the "best exam" award from his group (there are 4 different group levels in the exam) and got his first stripe on his new belt. So now, we have to think seriously if maybe he MIGHT want to go back to combat fighting Fridays but he has another obligation on Friday right now so it would have to be next year. If he´s that good without even practicing for 10 months, I can´t imagine how well he could do if he practiced the techniques and strategies they teach on Fridays.

Continuation to "Moments"

So, I posted the last one  before I put any pictures because I wasn´t sure if I was going to put pictures on it or not but I decided to do it! So here they are!!!

A "carnaval" parade for Montserrat´s birthday party!

Mother´s day lunch

Mother´s day lunch

Julian still doesn´t like pictures...but he knows everything...

A miracle we got Julian in so many pictures!

Moments

Ok, so I have a few "moments" to share that I jotted down to not forget. Well, actually aunt Lisa helped me put the list together when I couldn´t remember everthing.

1. A couple of weeks ago, Julian and I were talking about what happens after you die and I mentioned that after going to heaven and seeing all the people and animals that have passed on, you "might" be sent back down to earth as a baby to live on the earth again. Julian protested! "I don´t WANT to come back as a baby! No, no, no, I´m not going to come back as a baby, I won´t do it!" He was borderline crying about this. I then told him that "no, no, no YOU probably won´t come back as a baby because I´m sure God will want to keep you up there with him to be an angel, would you like that better?" So he calmed down and said that´s what he wanted to do. Then the other day he mentioned it again and said he didn´t want to come back as a baby, but he wanted to come back as a 3 year old, ha, ha, ha!

2. At some point Julian mentioned something about someone being a "chatterbox". I have never used that word before with them and seeing as they speak mostly Spanish at school, I asked "where did you learn that word chatterbox?" Julian told me on a show they watch called Peppa Pig. Then I said, "Julian, do you think you are a chatterbox?" and Matthew immediately yelled from across the room, "yes, he´s a CHATTERBOX!" which is seriously true these days. I mean, Julian is talking and talking and talking....about EVERYTHING! Sometimes I´m messaging on my phone or washing dishes or trying to talk to Matthew and I constantly here Julian in the background going on and on! Poor thing. I can´t listen to every single thing he says because it´s just so much and it´s all the time! He´s doing lots of math now out loud that he´s learned from Matthew. He says, "mama, 20+20 is 40, 40+40 is 80, 80+80 is 160, 160+160 is 320!" Then he starts in on the thousands....."2000+2000 is 4000, 4000+4000 is 8000, 8000+8000 is 16000, 16000+16000 is 32000." I mean it just goes on and on! I couldn´t be happier with both my boy´s math abilities though! It´s impressive! The other day Matthew´s stomach was upset at school and his teacher called me to tell me that he just wasn´t himself, he was complaining of stomach pains, was pale and sweating, that he wasn´t participating like he always does and she was surprised because it was math class and he loves math class! So she knew something MUST be wrong. Well, she was right!

3. The other night when I was putting Matthew to bed, we were laying there holding hands as we always do and he squeezed my hand REALLY tight! I was like, "Matthew! What was that about?" and he said, "it´s just that mama... I just LIKE you SO MUCH!!!" Ha, ha, ha! I said, that I loved him too and that I loved him more than anything. I also said, "I love you more than you love me, I´m sure of it!" He said there was no way that I loved him more than he loved me. Then I told him I would die for him if I had to. So he told me that if someone was going to shoot me with a gun that he would jump in front of me so the bullet would hit him and not me. Ahhhhh, the loving things you talk about right before going to sleep!

4. All of the sudden, Julian knows everything. Actually, he tells me very seriously, "Mama, I KNOW EVERYTHING...except how to read and write but that´s ok because I´m going to learn that next year. But I really do know EVERYTHING." He tells me this pretty often actually! And always mentions that he´ll learn to read and write next year. It´s adorable because he is completely serious and straight-faced when he says it.

5.  Julian has never been the best sleeper. It´s easy to get him to sleep, that´s not the problem. The problem is at some point in the night, he almost always wakes up and comes to sleep in our room. He doesn´t want to sleep in his room because he´s scared so I put him to sleep in our bed, and then move him to his bed so at least we´ll have maybe half the night with a little more space to spread out. Once he´s in our toom, he´s either on top of me or on top of Dani. Or maybe his head is on top of me and his legs on top of Dani. So the other day, I woke up and he wasn´t in our bed. When I went into the living room, he had just gotten in there on the sofa and he was waiting on me. He said, "mama, I won! I´m the winner because I got here before you or Matthew!" (Dani was on a night shift) I was like, "YES you did!! You´re the WINNER! That is so great that you beat Matthew and I and made it to the living room first!" I just  want to encourage him to win EVERY DAY and not come in my room and to just go to the living room when he wakes up. Not go to the living room at 3am, but to sleep all night in his room and then go to the living room when he wakes up. That is my wish...

Sports!

          He´s back!!

Back in December, Matthew, after doing Taekwondo for three years, decided he didn´t want it anymore. That was a serious decision because after that long of dedication mostly three days a week and trips to San Jose for tournaments, it´s a lot to give up. I knew he had really lost interest and it was never his FAVORITE thing to begin with. He started when he was 4 years old and at that age, just went because we said he was going and didn´t really have much of a voice or an opinion. When he was 6 years old he seemed to get more of a voice and it was usually a struggle to get him to the class. By the time he was 7, he was over it.  He said he wanted to play piano instead so we agreed. Well, 4 1/2 months later, while still playing piano and loving it, he decided he wanted back in to TKD. I was shocked! I thought we would for sure never go back to TKD. His coach does a little TKD class at Matthew´s school on Fridays for his grade and Matthew obviously participates in that but one class his coach couldn´t make it so he sent his assistant. His assistant is a younger more personable guy and he had told the class that Matthew had been just three belts away from a black belt. I think that got Matthew to thinking a little. Even though the coach has a belt system that includes dual color belts in between the solid belts to help motivate his students to feel advancement more quickly, it technically is three belts by the TKD Federation. For Matthew it is six, but still, he´s more than halfway there! Matthew started talking to the assistant about how exactly he could get back into the classes and what he would have to do and the guy assured him it was nothing more than just starting up again. So he did! This time we´re going to do only 2 days a week because the Friday class is only for the combat practice and Matthew doesn´t plan on doing tournaments this go around. I´m so proud of him and especially being as shy as he is, to go back into the classes and have all the kids ask what happened and why he left and then came back, was really brave of him. He was nervious but he got right back into it and everyone was happy to see him and welcomed him with open arms. Even me, with the parents, it was like a great reunion to sit with them and catch up on everything. What a great group of people.

Matthew selling watermelon at the school-wide farmers´
market they did on National Agriculture Day.

Preparing to set up his stand at the farmers´ market

Julian on the other hand is at the age that he can start TKD and wants nothing to do with it. Even though his classmate, the coach´s daughter is starting (and they´re close friends) and his other good friend is starting, he doesn´t want it. He sat there and watched the class with his friends starting and said, NOPE! So, that´s really fine with me because I personally think 4 is too young to start. Just maturity-wise, it´s young. BUT, during that TKD class, his other friend´s mom told me that he was starting soccer practices on Saturday. Julian heard this and said, "I want to do soccer!". So great! That´s the plan and he so far has had one soccer practice. When he first got there his friend wasn´t there so he didn´t know anybody. We told him that his friend would be there soon and to go on out to the field with the coach. So he did, all the while walking and looking back at me like he wasn´t too sure about his. I love how the coach started the class. He was talking to them sitting in a circle about why it´s important to eat healthy and take care of yourself and he started asking the kids what were some healthy foods they ate. The kids were saying different things like apples, bananas, broccoli, etc. Julian piped in with hard boiled eggs because that´s what he happened to have that day for breakfast. The coach agreed and then Julian said it´s important to drink lots of water and the coach told him that that was very important too. After that they huddled together and said the Lord´s Prayer together before beginning practice. Guess it´s time Julian learns that!  I think Julian felt like he was definitely part of the group and before you know it, these kids that he didn´t know were playing around with him and he was playing around with them too! His friend didn´t arrive until about 30 minutes later. It was a GREAT first day of soccer practice.

 

Obstacle course

Saying the prayer before practice

Talking about healthy foods

Disney World Vacation 2016 Part 2!

Mickey went over to try and coax Julian into the picture.

Day 4 of the parks was The Animal Kingdom with Papa, Glee, Dani, me and the kids. Our first fast pass was to meet and greet with Mickey and Minnie in their Safari outfits. Julian was supposedly excited about this but in the end since it involved picture taking, he stayed on the side while we got our hugs and pictures. Apparently I had told Julian that it was to meet Mickey and all his Friends (which I think I read somewhere but I guess it was another attraction) so Julian was mad that it was only Mickey and Minnie and Pluto and the rest of them weren´t there. Later that evening he was still telling me that "YOU said it was going to be with Mickey and ALL his friends and his friends weren´t there!". I guess  that was super important.....oops!

Later we went on a Jungle Safari where you ride in those big safari open air vehicles and we enjoyed that a lot. We saw lots of neat Safari animals....all the typical ones, giraffes, elephants, tigers, lions, hippos, crocodiles and rinos. It was pretty neat! We also went on a pretty neat Jurassic Park ride that I think scared Julian a little but he made it through! Matthew went on the Mt. Everest Rollercoaster ride with Dani and Papa while Glee and I took Julian to an area where they had smaller rides and also a really neat playground that was kind of like a treehouse setup. Matthew and the others arrived later and it was a little hard to get the kids out of there. I think they would have been happy to stay in that play area the rest of the day!







 

Day 5 of the parks was to Hollywood Studios where we met up with Scott, Meimi and Shelby a few times. LOTS of Star Wars stuff so it was very exciting! Light sabers were purchased of course. The Star Wars ride was great and we saw a Beauty and the Beast short musical that was really nice too. The last big show we went to was a stunt show that took place on a backlot to show us how action movies are made and it was very impressive! Cars were zipping back and forth on two side wheels and jumping ramps through fire with explosions all around.  All very exciting stuff! They filmed all the stunts in parts and then showed us on a big screen how the movie would look to viewers once it got in theaters and had been cut and edited the way it needed to be. There were fight scenes that included gun firing so this was all right up our boys´ alley!

 

 

 

This Storm Trooper was pointing at
my KID!

The last, most exciting part almost of the whole trip was when we were walking through a big courtyard area to get to a Star Wars attracion. We were walking near some Storm Troopers that were stopping and hassling some of the people.  We were almost to our destination and behind two storm troopers and as I was taking a picture of them, they turned around and pointed at Matthew! All of the sudden, they said, "This place is crawling with resistence fighters....sir, YOU, show me your identification!" I immediately put my phone down from taking the picture to see if they were talking to Dani or to Matthew and it was Matthew! He was just standing there looking blankly at them like he didn´t know what just happened. Then he looked at me and I said, "Matthew, give them your identification", and I reached into his jacket pocket and pretended to pull something out and put it in Matthew´s hand and he handed it to him. The Storm Trooper looked at it and said, "I´m going to have to report this to my superiors" (or commanding officer, I don´t remember exactly who he was going to report it to) and then he walked away! I think that was the icing on the cake for the whole trip!!

Definitely an unforgettable trip and who knows maybe we´ll get back there in about 10 years or so and see it again through teenagers´ eyes! Amazing, amazing trip and I love how our whole family was able to get together and meet up in Orlando to have such a wonderful experience.

Disney World Vacation 2016

Julian wouldn´t face the camera.....

Day two of our Disney World vacation consisted of heading to our first Disney park at the Magic Kingdom! We had our fast passes, map and plan ready to go! Mimi, Bobby, Dani, the kids and I took

Julian wouldn´t be in the picture.....

a ferry across to the park from the parking lots and it was chillier than it was supposed to be in Orlando in February! The first half of our week was definitely on the cold side and more for us being from Costa Rica. Luckily the excitement and adrenaline carried us through those rough breezy days.




Walking through Main Street America down the center of the Magic Kingdom with the view of the castle at the end was amazing. Of course we had to stop and take a picture with it behind us and of course Julian, 4 years old, is in a NO PICTURE phase of his life. Many of the pictures I got of him where you can see his face, were candids that he didn´t know about. We were headed to the Pirates of the Carribean ride when we passed the Aladin ride with almost no line and still time to spare so we got on it first. Part of our problem with the kids was that every ride they went on and they liked it (which was pretty much all of them), they immediately wanted to go again! So, we did that for the Aladin ride and then headed to the Pirates of the Carribean. I thought it was actually a little on the scary side for Julian but they both loved it and wanted to go again! So we did!

Julian caught me!

Even though we had a "plan" and fastpasses, it was really great to just be walking past a ride and see a short line and say, "Hey! Let´s go get on this one real fast!" The crowds were not too bad really. There were some of the big time rides that we had to wait maybe 40 minutes for but I would say the longest we really waited for a ride was 1 hour and that was Space Mountain, Splash Mountain and I think the Mt. Everest roller coaster in the Animal Kingdom.

Day three was a trip to Epcot that we planned on being a shorter day because we actually got one day free on a promotion they were having for buying a 4-day package. It was better than I thought it would be because I had heard that it wasn´t that great, kind of blah. When we got there I realized that there were really a lot of nice little activities and rides but we hadn´t planned to stay all that long. My brother Scott, his wife Meimi and daughter Shelby were to arrive later that day so we wanted to be home when they got there.



Once we got home, we decided to try out the outdoor heated pool to see just how "heated" it was! It was much warmer than I thought it would be and before we knew it, we were all in the water in early February and loving it! As soon as we got in, Scott arrived and Shelby immediately wanted in too! It was a nice icebreaker for the kids to play in the pool together since they hadn´t seen each other in about 2 1/2 years. They really seemed like they knew each other more then they really do so it was great to see 3 little cousins playing together. It was comfortable while in the warm water but getting out was TOUGH, but worth it!

Day four was a trip to the Magic Kingdom again with Scott and family, Papa, Glee, Dani, the kids and I and even though we weren´t able to stay together on many things based on fastpasses not being the same, it was still an amazing day. After lunch we had a GREAT surprise as we walked out of the restaurant that a huge parade was just getting started!  We got front row seats to a really exciting parade without even planning it or trying too! I really loved it. One thing that I really enjoyed about our Disney experience is that pretty much at every park, we were able to see REALLY neat 3D shows. I´m talking GOOD 3D quality that I haven´t seen in a really long time. There was one with Mickey Mouse in a lot of scenes and I´m not sure if Julian really thought he was real, but he kept calling out, "Miiiickeeeeyy!!.... Miiiiickeeeeyyy!!.... Mickey!!...." Like he wanted Mickey to wave at him or acknowlege him or come sit with him. It was so cute!!! They had special life-like qualities like feeling a real "mist" of wáter on us during a wáter scene or hot air being blown on you when it was a desert scene. It really made you feel like you were there. I was impressed.

 

 

 

 In the next day or so I´ll be sure to post the ending of our trip including The Animal Kingdom experiece and Hollywood Studios!!!