Paige Lee Hoyt

If you are watching Paige progress through her belts, there is an certain unspoken importance about her blue belt. It is kind of like going from a sophomore to a junior in high school or college. There's a certain degree of respect that it demands from the underclassmen. It shows a degree of dedication, and that chances are that you now have your sights set on the black belt. That is certainly true of Paige.

The demands on Paige's ability to perform only get tougher from here on out, but she is certain that she is up to the challenge.

Paige has been wanting a minivan for a new car for some time now, so we rented a Toyota Sienna for the trip, complete with automatic doors. This thrilled Paige to no end, and she did fantastic on the trip.

Something we did differently this trip was to stay not at a hotel, but at a "Vacation Rental By Owner" or VRBO. This is in essence homes that people own, but do not live at full time. In order to make some money from the vacant property, they rent it out at a cost comparable (slightly higher) to a hotel. We stayed at an old row house in downtown Omaha, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

For one of the days during the trip we connected with Grandma Patty and went over to the Henry Doorly Zoo. This is easily among my favorite zoos. They are always expanding and working on interesting new habitats. And having grown up watching Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom on television, the sponsor of the zoo, there's a sentimental value to going. For Paige the special treat was a ten day old baby giraffe. It was already taller than me.

While things were cooking, I hid about fifty (50) eggs in the backyard for Paige and Darrian. Grandma Patty took the kids to the park to give me the opportunity to stash the eggs. When I was done, the kids came back to the house and the hunt began in earnest. So far as we can tell at this point, all fifty eggs were found, but it took some time and a few hints. Then dinner was served.

After spending the afternoon relaxing around the house, it was time to pack Grandma Patty and Darrian back up and get them back to the Amtrack station. Around 8 PM that night they were back off to Omaha. For being so short, it was a really fun weekend. It also made Marna and I consider some train travel of our own in the future. Seems like it'd be a great way for Paige to see more places and learn about them along the way.

This competition, Paige competed in three different activities. The first was for her form. The form had changed recently and she was slow to master the new moves. She had earned her stripe (a piece of tape at the end of her belt showing achievement within the rank) for her form just a week earlier. But when it comes to her form, Paige is meticulous. She is conscious of every nuance. And in the end, she brought her "A Game" and earned a gold medal.

For sparring, Paige was a very strong competitor. Perhaps too strong. In her traditional approach to sparring, Paige went full throttle against her challengers. This works sometimes, but she has yet to learn to wait and be patient for the right striking opportunity. One of her opponents merely stood with one of her legs extended, and Paige would walk into it every time while attacking. This is a point, and in the end Paige did not get a medal for sparring.

The third part of the competition Paige competed in was board breaking. At one time, this had been a strong area for Paige. Perhaps because she didn't know any better. "You want me to hit that board and break it? Cool." Over time however she has learned that executing the techniques incorrectly can be particularly painful. We were hoping that she'd regain her confidence in the competition setting, but in the end she couldn't break the board, and didn't earn a medal.

So only one medal for this competition - a gold medal though, in Paige's favorite part, technical form.

Paige remembers having gone to the Melting Pot when she was younger, but other than that she didn't recall much detail. When our appetizers arrived, she wasn't really sure what to do with them at first. Apples in cheese? Gross! Or, as it turns out, she really liked them as well as the other items. Credit where credit is due, Paige is really good about trying anything at least once. And she gives it an honest taste too.

When the appetizers came out, raw, Paige was thoroughly grossed out. She had no idea what to make of the different things she was seeing. The lobster tail in particular really threw her, as did the shrimp. After cooking them up in the fondue bowl however, she found a liking for both. In the end she stayed more towards her customary chicken, but she did make the rounds.

When dessert finally came Paige got a few bites in, but was so full, that she could only manage a few bites.

At CoCo Key there were three water slides. All three were enclosed. Two of them you could chose to use a tube or not. Of these two, one was made of plastic that allowed light through, while the other was pitch dark. The third slide was was also pitch dark, and it was designed to be used without a tube. What do you think Paige likes the most? If she's not on a tube with dad (which means going very fast), then Paige would much rather go down the pitch dark slide on her butt. No fear.

After swimming, sliding and floating ourselves silly, we had dinner at the water park with family.

Paige continues to progress in her taekwondo skills, and she's actually become really good at informally helping and coaching other kids in her class. At the blue belt level you are allowed to start learning how to formally teach. At this point, that is something that Paige thinks she'd be interested in doing. You know, on her way to "becoming a master." She's got goals!

As it turns out, earlier in the day Wednesday, while in Physical Education class at school, Paige sprained her ankle. She did quite the number on it too. Getting the belt was worth enduring the pain of walking however, so Marna wrapped her up, I gave her some ibuprofen, and off we went. Two days on now (it's Friday as I type this), and while she's still got some bruising on her ankle, she back to bouncing around the house like normal.

Unlike the alpine slide, which gets snowed over during the Winter and becomes unusable, the coaster is built on a set of elevated steel tubing, and is open year round. The sleds are still wheeled, but they are attached to the track itself. This gives you the ability to really hit top speeds without the danger of rolling. And for added security, there's even a seat belt.

You hop on the sled and buckle in, enjoy a five minute pull to the top of the hill, and then are on your own to coast down as fast, or slow, as you might want. You control your speed via two handles on either side of the sled. Push forward to get more speed, pull back to slow down. The default position is all the way back, so if you just freak out (which does happen) and let go the controls, you simply come to a stop.

As you might image, being the adrenaline junkie that she is, Paige was thrilled with this ride. Due to weight constraints she rode with Marna, and while top speeds are somewhere in the 25 mph - 30 mph range, it just wasn't fast enough for her. She has to be eight (8) years old and 54 inches tall to drive her own sled. The anticipation is already building. We managed to complete the ride about twelve (12) times. Apparently the record is 37 times in one day. We are already planning a trip to beat the record.

While fascinated by the mechanics of the gondola itself, the heights, swaying and speed had no effect on Paige. If anything, it made her more excited to ride it. This picture was taken on our way back from a busy day of activities as the base of Peak 8. As I am sure you can tell, she is just horribly nervous. Er, wait. That is to say that her mentality was that of "I own this place." And indeed, that's about how she gets around the whole town. It's really fun to watch her openness towards embracing new experiences and adventures.