The all inclusive weekend.
At first glance you may be thinking - ohhh where did they go? Was it exotic? Did they have drinks with little umbrellas in them? Well, it was neither of those things, however eventful and memorable that it was.
We headed out to Quebec City in April, my youngest, Robert, competed in his first bigger karate competition called the Quebec Open. It brings together competitors from different countries, youngest are 4-5 years of age, oldest - no one really knows, there is no age limit. We had planned this weekend for months, there was excitement, his first on the road competition for him, and for us adults - well a little get me out of town, and fun things were planned. Only, illness has a way to damper the mood. Béla woke up on the day we left feeling achy and crummy, but onward he said, we are not ruining the kid’s weekend. Needless to say I drove the whole way, Béla tried to distract himself with taking pictures, and videos, while staring at the eerie scenery. We have had a lot of rain, and on the way what should have been fields, were now lakes. The birds loved it, not too sure about the farmers.
We stopped in Trois Rivières to have a quick bite at a Tim Horton’s, Robi gave us a little history lesson on why it is called “3 rivers” mostly for our American passengers benefit ;) Onward we went, past Quebec City to cross over to île D’orléans to do some light exploring. I did not realize how large that island is. One could spend an entire weekend, or even a week, simply driving around or biking. It is breathtakingly beautiful, with many vineyards, historical houses, and when the season will start, roadside kiosks where one can stop and try the local delicacies. However being April - none of these fun things were open - and there was still snow on the ground! We did find the observation tower on the part of the island called Saint François de l’Île D’orléans. It is a lookout, free to climb up, the view from above is phenomenal and we had clear skies, making it ideal.
On our way back, we popped in to take a few pictures at Chute Montmorency - it was still very windy, but it is always spectacular and very much worth the visit. Plan a day or at least half a day. The information centre at the base will guide you to how to go about it. By now Béla was deteriorating, we went and checked into our hotel, - we had booked through hotels.com and our dwellings for the next two nights would be at Motel le Gîte. Nothing fancy, but for the price and the size of room, cleanliness, and breakfast included, worth every penny. During the summer there is an outside heated pool and they have family suites with little kitchens for those who want to stay a little longer and save some $$. We dropped off our things, and headed over to Le Vieux Duluth and grabbed a bite to eat. I will say, I was not overly impressed. It was not bad, but for the money I was expecting something more. Nevertheless, we ate, the food was decent, and the service was good too.
We headed over to the Université de Laval - the venue hosting the Quebec Open to pick up our bracelets to avoid standing in line the next morning. On weekends there is free indoor parking including Friday evenings. A big perk, if you are with kids. Our plans to stay and watch changed, we headed out to find some over the counter meds for Béla, and called it a night.
My son is usually slow in getting up int the morning. But kids never cease to amaze…. he set an alarm and was persistent in hauling me out of bed and getting downstairs to go get some breakfast!!! So we let Béla rest, and we headed down to the breakfast area. For a motel, they had a lot of choice. Bagels, croissant, toast, cereal, coffee, tea, juice, and a bunch ofbreakfast condiments for your breads. We got ready, and headed over to the venue. The whole event is in one big gym, and divided into sections or rings. So many people…. This was our first time, so we were really there to just take it in, no pressure. We took walks around, we had time to kill, Béla meanwhile found himself a spot and tried to rest as much as possible. He was looking a little better, but not great. Robi and I went to check out the merchandise (pricey - 60$ for a kids hoodie….) they also had food for sale. Robi beelined to where they were selling gelato…. but not before his routine!! After the comp? You can eat what you want, but being an athlete is not only about exercise, diet plays an important role. There are foods to avoid eating and drinking before a competition. We have tried this the last two competitions and it has worked in his favour. The wait was getting long, out came the DS, and Robi tuned out for a while. Every now and then I would bring him back to reality, make him do some jumping jacks, squats and practice his Kata once since he tends to go through them too fast. Practicing before he has to do it reminds him to slow down. Finally, it was his turn. There were 7 other boys in his category, age 11 intermediate / blue belt and he was set up to pass third. As a parent you check out the competition and the more of these competitions you partake in, the more people you recognize, and sometimes you can call the results before they even start. This time I recognized one boy, the others not so much. I watched the first two boys, they were ok, then he was up…I stand where he can see me, we usually do the eye contact thing before he goes on. Which one of us is more nervous at this point, is anyone’s guess. My job of course is not to show it :P I flagged down his instructor Michel as he was just walking by. Deep inhale…ok mom don’t panic, he’s got this …..off he goes, introduces himself to the judges like nobody’s business - ok good - ok routine - he looks focused - he’s doing the movements, in the right sequence - and…. done ! BIG smile on his face as he bows, he knows he did it as best he could, the rest is up to the judges. Coach gives him a thumbs up and scurries off to another ring to coach another one of our teammates. We waited for the other four kids to do their routines - one kid who we have met in past competitions, excelled, even Robi knows this. Then its time for their individual marks. They walk out, judges hold up numbers. I was too nervous to do the math this time, plus everything is computerized and I was taking pictures of his face on the screen. Finally all the kids have their results, and I turn around to see the results and I see his name IN 3RD PLACE !!!! I turn to Robi and motion you are 3rd!!! He looks at me and motions back - nah I think I’m 4th …. LOLOL So I wait for them to get in line for the judges to call it. Well….. he is called for 3rd place! The look of shock on his little face - and they hand him a token - another look of shock mixed with - “what am I supposed to do with this”…. LOL hand shakes happen, he bounces over, hugs and high fives all around happen and I ask him, “Didn’t you notice on the way in? There is a table with all the medals.” At this competition you have to go trade token for medal (this also saves time in the rings) We could barely keep up with him as he bolted out the door to go redeem his medal. We then went to find his coaches, and when we found them they started with “so all good ? oh hey you won a MEDAL“ !!!! Happiness all around. Robi started this whole process with very little self esteem and competitions are especially hard, he is alone presenting in front of 3 strangers, in French (his third language) there is pressure to perform. Never did we imagine he would do this well in his first year (3rd bronze in 3 comps back to back) well it was time to celebrate, chocolate-hazelnut gelato it is !!!
We stayed and watched other teammates compete (its what you do, team spirit is very important) We belong to Studis Unis Laval, run by Michel Turpin, and we are a small, relatively new school in our area, where the parents know each other too by the end of the season. These competitions bring the kids and parents closer together too, creating a family atmosphere, where you are away from home. However, Béla was once again starting to feel weak, so we headed back, stopped to eat at Normandin this time, much more variety on their menu, price wise very reasonable, they had both English and French menus (this is sometimes a big deal in Québec - I could write a whole other blog on the language phenomenon) and then went to our motel and spent the afternoon relaxing and napping. We needed to be well enough to attend the show at night where the best of the best compete for Grand Champion Titles.
The show is just amazing ! With our weekend fee, it also included the Saturday show. They started it off with a choreographed routine, and then it continues with all the different categories, and whoever gets the highest marks is named Grand Champion, an esteemed title. There were some pretty exciting numbers, and I will post videos in another blog for your viewing pleasure in the near future. It does run late, it was around eleven by the time it ended, and we headed back to out motel to get some shut eye before the trip back.
The night was alright, except for Béla not feeling well and having a fever. By the time we got down to breakfast he had no appetite, and the drive back was anything but fun for him. Terrible nausea, sinus pain, fever, and just totally misery. His plan to travel back to Chicago grew dimmer by the hour, and we argued over it, he was insistent that he was going to return, and I was insisting he was in no condition to fly. Meanwhile his flight was getting more and more delayed (a sign if you ask me) so we decided to stop at home so he could rest. By the time I pulled into the driveway, he was so unwell he could barely get out of the car, and he conceded that I may be right, and he was not flying anywhere that day. I called American Airlines to switch his flight, to Tuesday (even though I thought that was a little soon, he was really sick by now) and they were very accommodating and switched it no problem, no cost since the flight was already really delayed. Béla took more meds, I got Robi to bed, and called it a night. Was this weekend what we expected it to be? Definitely not! There were ups and downs, surprises good and bad, but that is the way life is. This story however does not end here, because what came after, changed many things for the next four weeks. TBC, but for now, enjoy the pictures!
