A Karate Champ, Rallye Runner, Hunter, Godfather and More

‘Twas a weekend of insanity. I can’t think of the last time I’ve done so many diverse activities in the span of 3 days. On Friday, my volleyball team, ‘Junk in a Box’ managed to snare victory from the jaws of defeat, taking 2 of 3 games from first place ‘Cabo Wabo’ in our Hot Shots indoor beach league. We’re sneaking back into the playoff hunt after having a very up and down season.

Saturday morning it was off to Bayview YMCA Tiny Tigers Karate to see Mason get his first ‘tip’. He earns a tip (stripe of yellow tape on the end of his belt) for every session he completes. This was his first session in the new dojo, and he enjoyed Sensei Missy, and her assistant Kristen very much. The cool thing about this class was that the parents were asked to do all of the karate moves the kids learned. So, I did my first kata, consisting of a combo of blocks and punches. If I had time on my hands I think karate would be a terrific thing to learn.

Mason gets his first Shotokan Karate ‘tip’

Saturday night Tricia and I embarked on our first Halloween Rallye with Mom and Dad Rz. and the MG Car Club. It was a very cool event. We started by meeting at the Chili K-mart. About 20 participating cars lined up for a staggered start about 2 minutes apart. At the start we were given an instruction sheet for a car-based scavenger hunt, and an “escape envelope” in case we got hopelessly lost in the dark. The object is to complete the hunt with the most accurate answers to all of the trivia questions, and also get closest to the goal time. The goal time is determined by people who know all of the answers doing the speed limit and completing the hunt – so you aren’t supposed to speed. Adding to the excitement was doing the rallye in the dark in the back roads of Scottsville and Ogden. In all, the event took us on a 40 mile adventure to cemetaries, “haunted” barns, and even a gentlemen’s club. The event ended at Rohrbach Brewing Company for a Halloween themed after-party. At the party, Tricia and I were somehow voted best overall in the costume category, which won us a nice bottle of Vampire wine. It came in a great coffin-shaped box, spoooooky. Check out more pictures that Tricia posted.

The knight and his lady hold court

I woke up Sunday morning fully expecting to head to church at Browncroft before my date as the Godfather at Lily’s Baptism. Instead I got the news that Gary got a deer out of his stand at around 8am. He couldn’t get it out of the gully, so I drove to Victor to help him drag it out of the woods. All the effort is worth it since 80% of the meat ends up in my freezer anyways. It was a nice 5 point buck that he posted more pictures of here: Gary’s 2007 Deer pictures.

Gary’s 5 point buck

Then, the delight of the weekend was to become a Godfather for the first time. My Niece Lilyan Short became a member of God’s family on Sunday at noon. First, we went to Lindsey and Mike’s house for pre-event pictures. Then it was off to the church for the ceremony. Lily was wearing a dress that could have passed for a wedding gown – very pretty. It was great to be around the little one. She is so tiny and cute. It gets hard to remember my own kids being that small. Afterward Lindsey and Mike through a very nice party for the extended family at Keenan’s in Irondequoit. The food was good, and the company was even better. Congratulations Lindsey, Mike and little Lilyan!

Maureen Short (Godmother), Mike Short (Father), Lindsey Short (Mother), Kris Rzepkowski (Godfather), and Lilyan Short

This week was so busy with Halloween that it took me all week just to get a post up about LAST weekend. Now, it’s time to have some fun all over again.