October 25 - 31, 2004

There was no swimming practice on Tuesday because of a high school swim meet in the pool.

Mom bought a new bookcase she put next to the fireplace. It is so large Dad has given it the name "The Monster":-)

Master Kim continues to teach sparring to his class, here is Kostas about to put a move on another kid:


Master Kim (sitting on the right side of the pic) teaching the kids, he takes no crap from them, discipline is his midlle name:-)


On Thursday, Kostas took part in his first swim meet for the Ypsilanti Otters Swim Club against Chelsea. He was very excited, he participated in two events, a freestyle and a relay. We believe he got third in freestyle but we are not sure.
Here he is about to go in (first from the left):

and there he goes swimming like Michael Phelps:-)


By now, Kostas knows how to swim very well. Our goal for him was to teach him how to swim and he has surpassed this goal by many miles. We are leaning towards not continuing his swimming since the next level is the Developmental Level I and it's where they start swimming laps nonstop four times a week minimum. We need a break and so does Kostas. Besides, Sophia will be starting the Otters Pups class sometime next year.

On Friday at Perry they had a Haloween parade. Kostas went as a TaeKwon Do dude, it was his idea. Here he is Friday morning in the front yard (yep, it is leaves time of the year again, one of these days they will get picked up...maybe tomorrow). Sophia is dressed like a little tiger, she will be going with Barb's kids in another Haloween parade at the Eastbrook Elementary school.




Lunchtime at Perry on Friday. Dad stopped by and picked up Kostas to take him to the foot doctor to check his foot inserts (everything was OK). All kids were in the gym working on an art project:


On Friday night Dad took the kids treat or tricking to downtown Ypsilanti. By this time Kostas had changed to his Spider man costume from last year, I guess the Tae kwon do was not original enough:-)


On Saturday morning Dad took Kostas to the last soccer game of the season with his Thunder team. Undefeated so far, they faced the Wildcats who, for crying out loud, reappeared with three much bigger kids who went on to spank Thunder 8-5, therefore ending Thunder's chance to go undefeated. Oh well, good fun was had by all. All kids got medals at the end. Here are some pics of the kids and coach Sam (Montres was missing today, if he was present the game would have a different result most likely) .





Kostas with Pete:


After taking Kostas back home, Dad left to go to Canton High School where he officiated a Michigan High School Division 1 Regional Final between Saline (lost in the State final last year) and Livonia Stevenson (soccer superpower, currently rated No. 3 in the state). It was a beautiful day with a very strong wind. The game was dramatic with both teams missing several chances to score. It went into overtime and then the game had to end in a penalty shootout with Saline coming barely on top. In comments made at mlive.com the consensus was that the officiating was top notch with one poster saying that it was the best officiating performance he had ever seen!!!Obviously, Dad along with Brent and Tom (pic below), clicked very well and it is very rare that the yelling/booing against us was so minimal (of course, there will always be some hotheads booing us regardless and this is part of the game...and the beauty of being of an official).



On Saturday night mom and dad went to a movie after dropping off the kids at May's house. It was a splendid date, we saw the romance Wimbledon.

On Sunday we had some friends over for dinner and then took the kids around the neighborhood trick or treating. Not that many kids around as the two prior years, not sure why, it was very nice, not cold at all! Sophia is developing an addiction to candy and chocolate!!