Martial Arts For Kids at the Agoura Hills Recreation Center

March 21, 2012 by Leave a Comment

My kids can count to 20 in Japanese.

Pretty rad, right?

Thanks to Sensei Laura Cox, who somehow manages to get through hours of martial arts instruction with kids as young as 4 twice a week, the boys are learning things like proper warming up and stretching, core-strengthening exercises, a foreign language, respect and politeness, and some basic Shotokan Karate moves.

My boys have taken two full sessions of classes with Sensei Laura at the Rec Center on Thousand Oaks Boulevard. I enjoy watching them during these classes, while also catching up on Words With Friends and my ever-growing pile of books.

Kid 2 takes a 30 minute “pre-karate” class in which the kids learn moves through games and exercise. Starting at 6 years old, kids learn “kata” – or specific sets of moves, and start sparring and perfecting their stances and basic moves. Kyle is in that first level class, and he just earned his yellow belt.

Here are some photos of the testing and the belt ceremony. He was so proud of himself.

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March Madness, Baseball Style

March 3, 2012 by 1 Comment
Agoura Shetland Giants uniform

Put me in, coach!

Today was the opening day of Agoura Pony Youth Baseball. There are 700 kids playing in this league across 6 divisions, and when they lined up along the track at Agoura Hills High School this morning, they were like a rainbow of little boy energy just waiting to burst through the ballon arch. Agoura Hills Dad took a picture of each team as the children marched in their little parade. Is your kid here?

Our younger son is in the youngest division – Shetland, in which they play what is referred to as “instructional baseball.” The second part of the slideshow above depicts his team’s first game, which was less a game than an exercise in futility as 18 four- and five-year-olds scampered about with varying degrees of paying attention to the action. The upside to this loosely organized sporting event was that each kid got to have his at-bat twice, and everybody hits. They get 5 pitches, and if the bat doesn’t connect that way, they get a chance to hit the ball off the tee.

I don’t know what the score was, but these kids had a great time, and everyone in the stands was laughing. Here’s to spring!

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Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

March 1, 2012 by 1 Comment

YB's Dr. Seuss Birthday CelebrationStudents, faculty, parents, and even LVUSD Superintendent of Schools Dr. Donald Zimring joined together at Yerba Buena Elementary Thursday evening for a reading celebration and birthday cake in honor of the beloved late children’s author, Theodore Geisel, a/k/a Dr. Seuss. The crowd gathered in the multi-purpose room for a charming musical number from the middle school’s cast of “Seussical the Musical.” Children were then separated into groups and then went on a round robin journey of three classrooms to listen to adults read stories by the famed writer. Afterwards, everyone met again to sing “Happy Birthday” and eat cake and run around screeching like mad.

Hopefully lots of YB students are sleeping soundly already, to be rested and alert on the actual birthday of Dr. Seuss, which is March 2.

*Yes, that IS a petition for a safer sidewalk you see in that there photo. And yes, oh yes, I will comment on this further at a later date.

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