Right, so, our first tournament as black belts

Went well. Mostly. Justin wasn't there, as he was camping, and I was kinda glad about that. He gets so into it, and wants so much to win, that when he doesn't it's devastating to him. I walk around with a lump of dread in my stomach until his matches are over :(

• By far the coolest thing ever in the tournament was Daniel's sparring, his first time as a black belt. He got silver. Not just silver, but a match that made us so incredibly proud I just can't even.
  
  So he starts, and it's going pretty well, and then I start to notice he's getting in there and blocking and scoring and the other kid has the reach on him but Daniel's just hanging in there, go go go go, and at one point he does this amazing double kick and from the black belt teens table I hear a "Whoa! Daniel!" from our star sparrers, and oh, wow, and the senior black belts are paying attention to a match that nobody expected would be this good...
  
  Halftime comes, he gets some advice from one of our senior black belts, and then he goes back and the second half is very very good, but not as spectacular as the first.
  
  And then the judges are gonna give their decision, and I'm so incredibly proud of Daniel because that's the best he's ever sparred but the other kid just got more points, and I prepare to tell Daniel that even though he lost he did really, really well, and then it's unanimous Blue, which is too bad because I thought it was pretty close so I hoped the judges wouldn't be unanimous and it would've been so nice to see even one Red flag but oh well --
  
  Wait. The ref just held up Daniel's hand. Was Daniel Blue?
  
  He was. He won!
  
  "You're kidding!" I blurt out, and then clap my hand over my mouth.
  
  Happily, Daniel didn't hear me. Some of the other black belts did, though, and laughed at my lack of maternal confidence.
  
  Daniel ended up losing the gold medal round, but holy crap. First time as a black belt, and he wins silver. Wow. Wow.
  
  Quite a few of the higher-ranking black belts came to talk to us afterwards, and to congratulate him. The common thread was, "I've never seen you do that well. That was excellent. Keep it up!" The head of our branch even pointed out how awesome he'd been to the first class back after the tournament. OMGsoproudofmykid.
  
  
• ( Not as exciting )