Taekwondo Party for #9

We are having a birthday month celebration for my nine year old son, partly because the dates closer to his real birthday were full, and partly because spreading out the celebration is always fun! Today we celebrated with friends and family at the Taekwondo school that my son attends to honor my sweet boy.

The school my son attends has two locations; the one we attend is the smaller school and down the street from us, the other is a few extra minutes away and acts as the main headquarters for birthday celebrations. Although we went to the other school to celebrate, the assistant who helps in my son's weekly classes came to help conduct the party, so it added an extra coolness factor for my son (because that assistant is a second degree black belt and a teen, which is really important and cool to any nine year old boy!).
Master Geoffry and Master Luis conducted a fabulous two hour party that was nonstop fun and sweat for our fourteen participants. Except for the actual consumption of cake and juice, the kids were on full speed.

An obstacle course was set and in full swing as guests arrived. Master Geoffry held plastic pre-broken boards as one of the activities in the course that the party goers could kick in two.
Games were played like Duck and Hunter and Ant Kill ~ games nobody had ever played but were a huge hit.The faux sword fighting lead the fun factor because it turned out that siblings (my son and daughter) and their cousins (two sisters and a brother) happened to land in rotation to "fight" each other. Loaded up with padding on the head, the kids got to whack away with foam noodles. If your arm was struck, you had to pretend it fell off and switch your sword to the other hand. If a leg was struck, hop on the other foot. Two legs? Yep, down on your knees. If all the body parts were struck during the match, or if you got a blow to the stomach, then you were dead and out. You could tell the kids who had plastic light sabers at home, versus those who did not.The Masters also gave a 20-minute-mini Taekwondo lesson for the kids to copy and it was fun to see them all on the same level having a lot of fun. The highlight during this time of the party was that the birthday boy got to break a real board. He had never done this before, but he was given the choice, and thankfully said yes. He broke it in half on his second Ax Kick. He was so proud and had the Master's sign the board. What a fantastic Birthday Gift to take home!The cake was cut with a real Samaria sword owned by Master Geoffry. That was great; I didn't have to cut or serve the cake! They took care of every thing.The party ended with a few rounds of tug-of-war ... boys vs. girls (aka: boys vs. all his girl cousins and sister), dads vs. kids, dads vs. moms (which women WON but Master Geoffry called a tie). We also played parents vs. kids with glow in the dark dodge ball.To sum up the excitement and pure adrenaline exposed during the party ... Auntie to her nephew (my son) ... "I love you (insert hug) and Eww, you're sweaty!" A perfect party for my son!Happy 9th Birthday, dear Son!!
xoxoxoxoxo