Cal Coast Jam 3v3

The 3v3 Cal Coast Jam is a fun break from the regular soccer schedule.  The girls play in small teams and play 3 on the field at a time.  However, it was tough to call anything fun today. It was over 100 degrees for most of the day and I know for sure it at least reached 106...tough conditions for the parents in the shade.  I can't imagine how hot it was for the girls on the field! 

  

 These two were matching from head to toe and luckily were picked to be on the same team!

 Allison was on the Kick'n Cuties with Zoey, Jennifer, Reanna and Isabella.  

They won their first game against the Crazy Kickers and were quickly back in the shade.

A big thank you to Dan for coaching them today!

 Allison scored 3 goals and played well under these crazy conditions.

 There aren't keepers allowed in this set up so she got to play on the field the entire game!

 A lot of time was spent resting in the shade with wet washcloths on their necks, ice cubes in their mouths and very little movement.  I don't think I have ever been so hot!  Leslie and I only whined A LOT!

The girls played 4 games in all...winning the first and losing 3.  They had to face the other half of our team (Little Rascals) in the consolation game, but they were all such good sports about it.  Honestly, we were all just ready to pack up and get the heck out of there!  We all joked that maybe next year, they should host it in Palm Springs...

The Wave

Groupon had another deal for tickets to The Wave.  Although we were all pretty tired from our week in the sun, we decided to go with the group today and try to beat the heat. Taylor had CrossFit camp this morning so we got a late start, but the moms saved me a spot in the shade!

 It was pretty darn hot so the girls were in the water most of the day...

 either floating down the lazy river or going down the water slides.

Moonlight Beach

Well it is officially summer here and the heat has been relentless!  These girls have been in soccer camp from 10-12 each day this week and deserved a day at the beach after today's final camp day.

We didn't get to Moonlight until about 1:30, but the sun was out and the girls had a great afternoon playing in the waves, boogie boarding and playing volleyball.

We finished with dinner at Keilani's before caravanning home and were all wiped out after a long week in the sun!

Cooling Off After Camp

 Allison and 8 of her teammates are doing the 4-day Hawks soccer camp this week.  With each day, the weather is getting warmer, so today we invited them over to have lunch and swim after camp. They ate a quick lunch and were eager to get in the water.

 Reanna, Isabella, Olivia, Turbo, Anika, Hannah, Zoey, Aubree and Allison

Cannonball!!

These girls can sure make some noise and ate everything in my pantry, but they got along so well and had a great afternoon together!

Irvine Summer Classic

It was just me and Taylor for this weekend's Irvine Summer Classic.  The girls played all of their games at Laguna Hills High School. They played an age bracket up for more challenge and challenged they were.

They won 3-1 against a strong Beach FC team on Sat morning and tied a very skilled Strikers team 2-2 in the afternoon.  Taylor seemed a little timid and intimidated by their size and skill, but showed up with one of her best performances Sunday morning against Freedom FC. She played with a "fire" I haven't seen in a while and had some gorgeous shots on goal.  This team was very talented and beat us 2-0, eliminating our chance to advance to the finals.

With each game, the girls are improving and growing as a group.  They will take a 2 week break to rest and enjoy summer, but will be excited to get back together mid-July!

Not A Kid Anymore

One of the parents had the grand idea to have a kids vs. parents scrimmage tonight.  My soccer days are long over, but it was fun to get out there again and battle against the girls.  Although, they sure whooped up on us!

 Coach Charlie in his hamburger/fries shirt and soccer hat.

Of course, I was up against Allison to start!

She breezed right past me...I guess my reaction time isn't as good as it used to be.

I did get a break away or two, but the kids beat us 5-2.  Even worse, our only two goals came thanks to Taylor playing with the parents!

We all finished in one piece, although Dan M. re-injured his knee.  We don't ever seem to learn!

Luckily, we all brought dessert for an after-the-game treat.  Thank you to the girls for going easy on us!

Annual Fair Day

The SD County Fair was back in town and it is always on our Summer To-Do List.  Matt was working today and got us a few free tickets which made it the perfect day to go!

We always walk in with a hungry belly so we have room to try all of the tasty treats, although we always seem to stick with our favorites.

 Faith started off with a giant turkey leg, I got the BBQ'd corn on the cob and the rest got corn dogs.

 We still needed to satisfy our sweet tooth and treated ourselves to the mini donuts after walking through the exhibit halls.

 Lately, Allison has been fascinated by the history of the Titanic and the Holocaust and has read several books on the topics.  When I saw that there was a Holocaust tribute at the fair, we made sure to visit. It was such a tragic event and the pictures are so hard to view, but I'm glad we took the time to learn more about it.

 Then we were off to look at all of the 4H animals...cows, pigs, goats, rabbits, guinea pigs and sheep.

I'm still amazed by the price of the rides.  I bought 72 tickets for $50 and they were gone after each of the girls did 3 rides...what a rip-off!  They had lots of laughs though!

The people-watching at the fair is always fantastic.  This guy played the guitar while singing, playing the drums, playing the harmonica and walking around.  Now that's talent!

It was nice having Emily join us since we don't see her often. I can't believe these two have been friends since Taylor was in kindergarten and they are now both high schoolers!

Allison will be so sad when Faith moves away next week to North Carolina, but they are making the most of their time left.  They filled their bellies again with a chocolate-cupcake tower and funnel cake.

 These two went with frozen yogurt in a waffle cone and I got my favorite drumstick.  Good thing we did a lot of walking today!

Matt arrived at 4:30 to work his night shift.  We got to get a quick visit in before we headed out and the night got busy for him.  We left with tired feet and very full stomachs!

Surfs Up on Father's Day

Matt and I started the day off with a walk to Starbucks and the girls gave him some gift cards and a Time Bandit T-shirt.

 He really wanted a beach day to practice surfing and he didn't get any complaints from us!  Moonlight Beach has been renovated and it looks beautiful!

The weather was perfect, the waves were perfect and all 3 of them were able to ride some great ones.  We stopped at Flippin' Pizza on the way home for a nice dinner and really enjoyed a great family day.  Happy Father's Day Matt!  Thank you for being a provider, teacher, protector, soccer dad, comedian and mentor to our girls!!

Legends 3v3

 Today was the Legends 3v3 at Rancho Jurupa Regional Park.  Matt took Taylor while I was still in SD.  Her team of 15 was split up into 3 teams of 5.  She was on JEAH with Mallory, Miranda, Linze and Sarah. They even won BEST TEAM NAME!

 The other groups were the AVENGERS and ANGELS GONE BAD.

The girls played 4 games over the course of the day...winning twice and losing twice.  They didn't take home the trophy, but had a fun day as a group!

San Diego Shoulder

Several months ago, Leslie asked Wendy and I to help her work at the San Diego Shoulder Institute's 30th Annual Course.  Dr. Esch started the course as a meeting with a few doctors over pretzels and beer.  It has grown into the leading course for shoulder specialists and doctors from 23 countries travel to take part.  This year over 280 registrants attended, along with 100 faculty and hundreds of vendors.  We really had no idea what to expect, but jumped at the opportunity.  We have spent the last few weeks getting a little training and helping prep for the event.

We arrived Monday for our 6-day stay at the Hilton Bayfront...both our hotel for the week and the location of the course.

 We couldn't believe our view from our rooms, a perfect day from the 29th floor.  We could see Coronado, Cabrillo, Seaport Village...

 Petco Park and the Gaslamp Quarter, all from our window!

We spent much of the afternoon meeting with Larky (a retired RN, who now coordinates the course with Dr. Esch) and prepping registration materials and learning a little bit about the events of the week.

We were officially introduced to Dr. Esch (the founder of the course and a very well respected Orthopaedic Surgeon in SD and around the world).  He treated all of us to an amazing dinner at GreyStone on 5th Ave.

I had the filet with asparagus and shoestring potatoes, but also enjoyed some of Leslie's sea bass and Wendy's chicken. Not to mention, the onion rings, garlic mashed potatoes, mac and cheese and gelato for dessert. It was a fantastic meal and a wonderful night meeting Dr. Esch and getting to know our team.

 Tuesday morning, we were up bright and early to tour the facility

 and see our registration set up.

 We were pampered by the Institute with these fabulous gift baskets

 and treated like royalty by the hotel staff!  We had an over the top breakfast with them as they introduced themselves and

 went over all of the events for the week.  Early registration got underway from 3-6pm on Tuesday and was the perfect preparation to get us ready for the Wednesday start of the course.

After spending Monday and Tuesday in Temecula, the girls and Poppy joined us for the rest of the week. We took them to the Gaslamp when we were done working for dinner at Smash Burger and dessert and Chocolat Cremerie.

We finished the night with fireworks right out our room windows...what a treat!

6:45am came quickly on Wednesday morning, but we were excited to get registration complete and have the lectures and labs get underway.  Our team was organized and worked hard to make registration run smoothly.  We loved interacting with all of the doctors, while providing them with their course packets, signing them up for labs and workshops and answering their questions. It was a long, busy day but very successful and interesting.

Although exhausted, we were treated to another fabulous meal at Bayfront Park.  It was a fiesta-themed event and everything was delicious.  We had a spectacular view of the bay and Petco Park and the weather was perfect!

Our staff table!

Thursday and Friday were long days as well, with several lecture sessions, luncheon workshops and cadaver labs.  We had a long list of duties, but really enjoyed every moment.

Friday, 25 of the doctors got to go to a Shoulder Throwing workshop at Petco Park and work with the Padres' doctors.  We showed our Padres support and enjoyed wearing t-shirts, jeans and tennis shoes!

I even got stuck removing the "hazard" from one of the conference rooms so the hotel staff could prepare for the faculty dinner. 

Friday night was the faculty dinner and we had fun dressing up!  I don't get to do this very often so it was extra fun and I think we cleaned up pretty well!

Even in formal attire, we all matched!

Dr. Esch insisted on the this very cool martini luge for the cocktail hour. We each ordered a Cosmo and watched the bartender pour it from the top and into our glass!

While the many board members and colleagues of Dr. Esch "roasted" him, we dined on some delicious food.

After a refreshing salad, I devoured my filet, lobster, potato stack and vegetable medley.

I was sure to save room for this delectable array of chocolate desserts!

While we worked, the kids got a mini vacation at the hotel.  They spent time at the pool,

got photo-bombed by Poppy while out to dinner at Joe's Crab Shack,

took the ferry to Coronado

and took some time to shop and enjoy the beach

while on the island.  

Saturday morning was the last day of the course and we spent much of it "closing down shop", collecting evaluations and saying goodbye to the doctors.  However, we couldn't believe that Jenny Flake (a local food blogger and cookbook author that Wendy and I follow from Picky Palate) was staying at our hotel.  We snuck up on her in the lobby and she was sweet enough to pose for a picture with us. Of course, we were drab in our oatmeal shirts and she was adorably accessorized, but oh well.  It was the perfect ending to a very long, but fantastic week.  I really look forward to the opportunity again next year!!