Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Egypt takes Karate

We were looking to add a healthy activity to Egypt's schedule. Not many places have programs for 2 year olds, but Lisa talked our way into a karate school. They don't accept anyone younger than 4 years old, but Lisa explained that Egypt was big for her age. Karate kids also need a certain level of understanding and maturity which is rare to find in a 2 year old. Probably to humor Lisa, they agreed to meet Egypt.

On Friday, February 3, 2012 we took Egypt to the karate school for an evaluation. They were impressed with Egypt and agreed to let her take a trial class with 4-6 year old beginners the next morning.

Lining up by height (2.4.12):


Egypt's first karate moves:


Egypt passed her trial class and was allowed to enroll in the "tiny tigers" program. Egypt is the first 2 year old accepted in the program for 4-6 year olds. If she sticks with the 3 classes a week schedule, she will be a 1st degree black belt in three years, which will be the youngest ever for this school. That means Egypt could be a 5 1/2 year old black belt in kindergarten.

Egypt's first official class (2.6.12):


Egypt earning her white belt during her second official class (2.8.12):


Egypt is very proud back at home:





Manatee Viewing Center

Manatee Viewing Center
Apollo Beach, FL

January 2012

Wanting to be fair, it was time to include Egypt in a father-daughter trip. We started with a simple day trip to the Tampa area. Egypt pointing to the plane that we would take to Tampa:


The highlight of the trip was a visit to The Manatee Viewing Center in Apollo Beach, FL, just outside of Tampa: