Bradley signed up for a skate boarding competition today. I went along and enjoyed it (still like soccer and basketball tournaments better, though).
Bradley entered just one event, but just being there was good experience for him and I bet now that he knows how they are run and scored, he will be able to practice and enter more if there is ever another one any time soon. They only gave out prizes to the winners, but the winners got a new skate deck, a competition t shirt, and cash! I think they should have done like the cash for 1st place, the deck for 2nd, and the shirt for 3rd...or something like that....they had a tub of prizes, like parts, wheels, etc....plus, it was a sponsored event, so they organizers weren't really out much if they gave away more prizes to more than just the winners! But it was also a free event, so maybe that explains the prize situation??!?!!!!
Bradley went a half hour early to warm up and the event started late, so we were there for a LONG TIME. That's ok, but it is Andrew's birthday, so I felt bad leaving him home alone (he didn't want to come).
In this first picture you can see the eventual winner (white t shirt) of the S.K.A.T.E. event. (it's like H.O.R.S.E in basketball....one person does a trick, then everyone else tries to do it too, if they miss they get the first letter, etc.). Also in this photo, you can see a kid that really annoyed me....he was about 10 years old and he was smoking marijuana while skating!!!! And he had a girlfriend!!! And she was only like 12 and she was also smoking his joint! Gross!!!! And he just skated around like he owned the place, cutting in front of people and stuff. Kids like him give skaters a bad name.
Here is the SKATE group. They are in order of age, so Bradley as the 4th youngest. -
Bradley came close to landing every trick...he wasn't "terrible" but a few of the skaters were REALLY GOOD....way more experienced and talented. That's how it is in every competition, though, so Bradley is just going to have to skate more, work harder, etc.....but I don't think he skates to be a champion skater, he just skates for fun, so he was happy with him performance. I am really proud of him for even trying. All of his skate friends are out of town snowboarding right now, so he really went alone and did something he had never done before. That takes courage. And to skate in front of judges in a competition, that's got to be nerve wracking and hard! He did really well!!!
People sometimes have bad views of skaters....but they aren't all bad....the bad ones give them all a bad name, as with any group. I don't get why so many of them smoke, though.....and NONE of them wore helmets (my big skate pet peeve, the pros wear them, why cant everyone???? I think helmets should have been required to participate. (and Bradley had his, so he would have won because NO ONE ELSE did.))
We called Melanee and Dax and they sang the "Hooning birthday song" along with us....then William got them on Facetime and they watched Andrew open his presents!
I wrapped the presents in scrapbook paper instead of Christmas wrapping paper. 
I baked a cake and made real frosting....counting both recipes, I used OVER a pound of butter!!!! ewwwwwww, thinking about it....but YUMMMMMMMMMMM eating it!!!!
Here is the SKATE group. They are in order of age, so Bradley as the 4th youngest. -
Bradley came close to landing every trick...he wasn't "terrible" but a few of the skaters were REALLY GOOD....way more experienced and talented. That's how it is in every competition, though, so Bradley is just going to have to skate more, work harder, etc.....but I don't think he skates to be a champion skater, he just skates for fun, so he was happy with him performance. I am really proud of him for even trying. All of his skate friends are out of town snowboarding right now, so he really went alone and did something he had never done before. That takes courage. And to skate in front of judges in a competition, that's got to be nerve wracking and hard! He did really well!!!
I think we now have a Christmas Morning cinnamon roll tradition. These were really easy to make, so I think I should make them more often than just Christmas morning.
Andrew played Santa and handed out the gifts from under the tree. 
You can maybe be able to read what the gift is....it's a letter saying that I can go to the Sharks vs. Penguins game and enclosed was a $100 dollar bill to cover the cost. Santa knows me well!
Bradley gave Andrew one of his sweatshirts that Andrew loves to wear-
Each time the kids got an odd shaped gift (which was just about EVERY time), they would say, "I think it's an IPhone 6"--- yep, he said it for this package-
A lot of the presents were dusty. The kids kept commenting on that. At one point William said, "Looks like ash, where did you wrap these? ON A VOLCANO?"
this is just a joke gift....we HATE the commercial for this cup, so I always tease Andrew that he wants one....it has a compartment for snacks at the top-
skittles (or according to Andrew "those M and M's that aren't chocolate)-
