All the cool kids are doing it!

While we didn’t do so hot at the GAB, there were a few new members of the team who did.

Every so often my wife Jammie and I invite her cousin’s boys to come and stay the weekend with us. They are a great bunch of kids and we really enjoy them. Even though they are Jammie’s cousin’s kids, it just easier to call them our nephews. Saves a lot of time and words.

Last year our “nephews” Luke and Kyle came down one weekend and it happened to be the same weekend as the Lenexa BBQ contest. Chris and I already had plans to go visit friends of ours at the event and Luke (the older of the two) came along. He had a great time at the contest, eating until he was stuffed, asking lots of questions about cookers and BBQ, and making plenty of new friends.

A few months later Luke and Kyle visited us in Excelsior Springs and once again enjoyed themselves. I knew then that I wanted to get them into a Kids Q contest if they opportunity ever popped up. That turned out to be at the GAB. While time of the contest presented us with some challenges (it happened on Saturday morning, during the Invitational), Chris held down the fort and I helped the boys with their entries.

Kyle (who is 8) competed in the younger age group, cooking a pork chop, and Luke (11) in the older group cooking steak. We practiced our techniques on Friday night, before the contest the next day and both of the boys were really in to it.

On Saturday morning both Luke and Kyle cooking their entries and turned them in. I was proud of them and they were proud of themselves. It was a lot of fun.

I prepared them both before the awards that they may not win anything, but to my surprise Kyle won 4th place for his pork chop! Luke didn’t finish in any of the top spots with his steak (a somewhat shabby piece of beef if you ask me – but that is neither here nor there), but he was just as happy when his name was called for a consolation prize drawing and he quickly hopped up from his seat and ran to the stage to claim four tickets to renaissance festival. Hazzah!

I really had a great time and both of the boys did too. I can see why they do these Kids contests now. It really is a great way to get boys & girls interested in something other than all of the garbage out there that can pollute a kid’s mind.

When Luke told me that he wanted to go home and cook a steak for his Mom, I was pretty happy – for him because he learned something new and exciting, and for his Mom because that boy can grill a pretty damn good steak!