Vic Regional Karate Tournament

This weekend we had the Victorian Regional Karate Tournament. Our Dojo came away with quite a few medals.

Here are a few pictures of Jason fighting. He had a great day and came away with a bronze for Kumite (fighting) and a silver for Kata.

Busy Weekend

We had a busy busy weekend.

Saturday just flew by. We went to visit Mary in hospital after her operation on Thursday. The hospital were short of beds so Mary ended up going home so we all headed back to her house and picked up fish and chips for lunch.

Laureen, Joe and Pop stopped by to visit so it was lovely to catch up with them. We headed home late just in time to get Kady to work for the evening.

Sunday we were up bright and early and headed off to a karate tournament. It was an interdojo competition and Jason and I were both fighting. Poor J was so sick but still managed to win one fight and lose one. I lost both of mine but it was a lot of fun just competing. Here are a few pictures below from the day.

It was a long day and we were there for over 9 hours. Our dojo won a couple of trophies.

Beach Training

This Sunday we had karate training down at Torquay beach with our Dojo and another local Dojo that is also Kyokoshin. The weather was perfect. A beautiful morning. A shame I put my back out at work on Thursday night so I couldn't train. I had been looking forward to training on the beach all week.

We had a lovely BBQ afterwards and then the kids all had a quick swim before we headed home to do a few jobs around the house.

Karate

On May 31st after quite a few rescheduled dates Jason, Leah and I did our red belt senior grading. Kady missed out as she went to the Pink concert (these had been booked months in advance).

These photos were taken the following Friday. We had our normal class followed by the handing out of our new belts and then a bbq dinner.

Here's a group shot of most from our dojo. We had a few that didn't grade this time in the photo and a few who were absent.

Come & Try Night

Thursday night we attended the 'come and try' night in Geelong. Leah and Jason fought non-contact for the first time outside of our dojo. Leah fought 5 fights and won four and tied one. Jason fought three fights and won them all.

You are matched with someone of similar grade. Jason fought a blue belt (above him) and two white belts. Leah fought red belts and two white belts. It's a good way of getting some fighting experience in a more relaxed environment. Others get to practice their refereeing etc. We had a great night.

Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Thanks to the lovely person who left the comment on my last post. All I can say is you must have way too much time on your hands to search for my blog and leave a comment.

I thought about emailing you, thanks to the tracking on my blog that tells me where you came from, whether you came from a google search or from another website, how long you stayed on my site etc but really couldn't be bothered lowering myself to your standards.

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend.

The Last Few Weeks

So what's been happening around here the last few weeks.

Kady had a doctors appointment with her hearing specialist. Not the best news. He would like to rebreak her nose (it's been broken a few times as a toddler) and build up the cartlidge as it's all crooked and this is what is causing a lot of her recurring ear infections. He can't do the operation until she stops growing so for now she is on ear drops.

Jason continues working in Ballarat at Ballarat East Secondary. He is a little uncertain as to what job he will have after this one as at this stage there are no more contracts. Sadly a sign of the impeding recession.

I am still working as Lead Ambassador for Fiskars Australia. I love my role with Fiskars. I am also still working at Lake Dewar. The shifts vary, some weeks are a little busier than others.

We are all still loving Karate. Kady has missed a bit the last few months with her few health issues. A few weeks ago we attended Ballan Autumn Festival (28th March). Perfect weather. We took part in the parade and a demonstration.

Jason did his first board break and his second tile break.

Simon did a baseball bat break. Yes a real wooden baseball bat broken with his shin. A few demonstrations back he actually broke two of these.

Kady during the demo. Photos courtesy of Laurence (sorry I don't know his last name). Leah held the banner and I was on the drum during this demo as we were both sick.

Lastly for this post. Best wishes to Tzara (pictured above) who was hit by a car on the Thursday after this demonstration. Tzara is very lucky to be alive after hitting the windscreen of the car and suffering a broken leg and other injuries. Tzara had just recovered from a knee operation and was back training at Karate. Thinking of you.

This weekend we are taking part in the Blackwood Easter Festival

Yes I am Still Here

I have decided to do a major catchup. I am still here. I have just been taking things easy in some areas of my life.

I can't believe it's been so long since I blogged. Life is great and very busy these days. Cancer is beginning to slowly take a back seat and it better stay that way. It's been 2.5 years since I was diagnosed and my life is finally not ruled by doctors visits. It seems like a life time ago although daily I am reminded by my own body what I went through due to the treatment and the surgery.

Seven months ago I decided to reclaim my life. I wanted to feel fit and healthy again and most of all lose weight. I wanted to join Kady up in Karate and decided I may as well join her. Within a few days Jason and Leah joined. We are all totally addicted. These photos were taken when we first started. We are all much fitter and train a minimum of three times a week (4.5 hours). Obsessed or what lol. I have lost close to 20kg's of my chemo weight. I look at the photo below and can't believe it's me. I would still love to lose another 5 to 10 kg's.

On 23rd November we had our first grading for our red belt. Close to 3.5 halfs of a full on workout. We all survived and we all passed. It was hot and hard work. I must take some pics with us wearing our red belts. This week we received our Kyokushin membership cards.

We have our next grading coming up in March. Bring it on.

Karate Christmas Party

Our karate christmas party was held at the Ballan Dojo instead of Blackwood Reserve due to the weather. It had rained for a few days and it was bitterly cold. We lit the fire so it was lovely and warm. We had a great day with all the other dojo's in the area coming along.

The kids had a ball when Santa arrived on the fire truck.

Mid November

Where has the month gone? I can't believe we are already in mid November. Not long to go till Christmas. I haven't even started my Christmas shopping.

Ok point form to wrap up our last few weeks

-Leah had swimming lessons with the school for two weeks. She really needed a refresher. Her swimming had gone down hill due to lack of practice and after five years of swimming lessons, not a good thing.

-Kady has a boyfriend. His name is Dylan. He's a great guy.

-We have all been doing Karate now since the beginning of July. We are totally addicted and have been training three nights a week since we returned from holiday. Our level of fitness has increased considerably. I have dropped 5 notches on my belt, woo hoo. Have lost a heap of weight and plan on losing a lot more. Next week we have our first grading for our red belt. It's a three hour intense workout. I can't wait.

-We had our first Karate demonstration a few weeks ago at the Greendale Market. Lots of fun. Kady had a panic attack so sat it out. We didn't want to push her. Last Sunday we had our second demonstration at Gordon Festival. Kady took part and did really well. No sign of a panic attack. She has come a long way and has conquered the fear of getting up in front of people. We are so proud of her.

-Kady chose her subjects for school next year a while back. She is doing all maths (algebra etc) and science. She is still focusing on working in Forensics. Many of her friends have chosen easy subjects but she is determined to stay on track and only do the subjects that will get her into a science field.

-Kady had an orientation day this week at the senior campus. Next year they are merging the junior and senior campus's together. We can't wait. We are hoping the school improves. Kady was impressed just visiting.

-Tuesday night I did a demonstration for Fiskars at the Spotlight VIP night. A great night. We were very busy all night.

-Leah dressed up in her finery for Myrniong Cup in the Friday before Melbourne Cup. No pics :(

-Cup weekend we began painting the veranda on the house. A big job. It has needed doing for a while. We finally decided on using the same colour as the colourbond guttering. Jason had a week off work (boss insisted as he has too many holidays built up) so we spent time pottering around the house and garden catching up on jobs.

-Cup weekend Kady went to Colac show with Dylan and his Mum. Dylan's Mum has just returned from Korea showjumping with the Australian team. Kady had a great time watching them both compete and got to show their dog in a comp and won second for most lovable pet.

-Baby duck is sitting on eggs. We really didn't want ducklings this year but she was sitting before we realised. Less than two weeks and we may have little black ducklings running around the back yard. Reggie goose is being the protective Dad.

-Last weekend we spent Saturday digging and preparing the veggie patch. I have planted in the garden and greenhouse, zucchini, cucumber, peas, lettuce, snow peas, chilli's, pumpkin, carrots. In the greenhouse we already have dill, coriander, and parsley. I just need some tomato plants. I have been busy adding pea straw to the veggie garden and around all the fruit trees.

-Kady has been volunteering at the wildlife shelter for the last three weeks. She is loving it. I have been going to help out a few times when I can. There are two cute baby wombats there at the moment and lots of baby roos.

-Fire restrictions begin tomorrow. We have already had two fires in our street over the past two weeks. People burning and clearing without adequate water near them. Idiots.

- Last weekend we had a fatal car accident down the road from our house. Very sad. The roads were closed for over four hours.

-My good friend Erica had a baby girl last month. I have been slack and haven't had a chance to catch up with her yet.

-Our Girls Night In on the Fiskars blog was a great success. We raised around $1700. woo hoo

-The weather has started warming up here. We have had some lovely warm days and also had a great thunderstorm the other night. Not a lot of rain but the thunder was the loudest we have heard in a long time.

-I am so happy that J's cousin Graham and Michelle are expecting their third child.

-Over the last few months I have two new little cousins, Lucus and Skye and another little girl due next month.

-My sister in law Kathie is home from Argentina. She had a great time filming Wipeout. Well done Kath. We are so proud of you.

-J's sister Cassi and her partner Ash are coming over from New Zealand for Christmas. It will be great to catch up with them both.

-Wendy and Daryl moved into there new home.

-lots of Christmas parties are already being slotted into the calendar. December becomes so busy so fast.

-Loved that Obama won the election. Loved watching his speech on you tube. Awesome.

I think thats it for now. Been a busy few weeks. Off today to celebrate big Djudak's 83rd birthday.

Eleven Today

Another year has flown by. Eleven years old today.

Leah before Karate tonight.

Update

Well I have been quite slack at updating this blog lately. We have been very busy. I am still working for Fiskars as one of the two Australian Lead Ambassadors. I love this role. My focus is on media and creative development. I am also still working for the YMCA a few times a week. Mainly evenings and a day on the weekend. Love both jobs.

J is nearing the end of his job. Only another month or less and then he can take some time off before the next one begins. We would love to go away on a holiday. We Might head up to QLD via the Kidman (love this highway) to visit the family and then go off touring around. Would love to go and see Tony and Mim's place before they move. Tony and Mim sadly have had to sell their farm as Tony has to have a back op that will require him to take a year off work. I feel so sad for them selling their farm as they love living there. They have purchased another place with about ten acres.

This month marked my two year anniversary of my diagnosis of Breast Cancer. I feel grateful for these two years. I think differently and feel different. I am thankful for the doctors, family and friends that were there for me on my journey. It was a time of reflection this month not in a sad way but rather more thankful for being diagnosed. The alternative I would rather not think about. They told me I would have been lucky to have had six more months as my cancer was very aggressive. Check your boobs girls.

Ok happier thoughts...............

This week has flown by. I spent today going into head office in Melbourne to work. Love going into head office and catching up with everyone. Today I got to see many of the Summer CHA releases in real life. Man they are yummy. My favourite would have to be the new Kimberly Poloson range. Black, cream and white. Very nice.

About a month ago we (meaning J, myself, Kady and Leah) joined a local Karate group. So much fun. We are learning Kyokushin Karate.

Kyokushin kaikan (極真会館, Kyokushin kaikan?) is a style of stand-up, full contact karate, founded in 1964 by Masutatsu Oyama (大山倍達, Ōyama Masutatsu?) who was born under the name Choi Yong-I (최영의). Kyokushinkai is Japanese for "the society of the ultimate truth." Kyokushin is rooted in a philosophy of self-improvement, discipline and hard training. Its full contact style has had international appeal (practitioners have over the last 40+ years numbered more than 12 million]).
Kyokushin has influenced many of the "full-contact" schools of karate, emphasizing realistic combat, physical toughness, and practicality in its training curriculum.

This week we attended two classes on Wednesday night and then tonight. Classes go for 1.5 to nearly 2 hours. I was quite sore this week as we did a full on class on Wednesday and another not so intensive class tonight. We will feel it on sunday. Way too many sit ups and push ups that I care to count. Lots of punching, punching bags, kicking. In a month I can feel the difference already. I am hoping this will build up the strength on my left side that was lost from my breast cancer surgery. I can already feel where my muscles should be lol. Bring on feeling fitter. Tonight we all got our Gi's. It's great to be able to partake in a sport as a family. The instructor claims Leah is a natural as she is so flexible and can do a kick and turn that most black belts struggle with. He told her to practice and perfect it.

We came home tonight to see a large male roo in the back yard munching away on the grass. He didn't hop away until we went onto the verandah to open the back door. It's so nice seeing all the wildlife here. We seem to have two to three males here all the time.

During the week J was driving home from work and stopped for a roo knocked down by a car in front of him. He rang the local wildlife shelter and they sent someone out to shoot the roo. so sad that people don't stop. In the roo's pouch was a pinkie ( a baby without fur). J thought it was about 30 - 40 cm long. The babywas going to be taken to our local wildlife shelter where Mich helped out.

Ok all for now. I actually have a full weekend off. The first in many months. We have to go and cut firewood though. It's cold and damp so not looking forward to it. 4.2 degrees tonight. I started this post hours ago. Time to head off for bed. Night.