WonderSpaces/Little Italy

WonderSpaces is a cool new art exhibition at the B Street Pier in San Diego.  Allison and I drove down with Tami and Kylee to check it out.  

 Each exhibit was split into separate rooms

 and provided some fun photo ops.

All made out of paper!

Adding their post-it notes to the display.  Allison's of course said "She believed she could, so she did!"

This was steel wool stapled to the walls and actually moved like it was breathing!

 A virtual reality dinner party

The balls lifted inside the tubes as I walked by!

Then we walked around Little Italy for dinner at Filippi's 

and ice cream at Salt & Straw.  We don't get all together often, but it's always a fun time when we do!

Surf Cup

 Allison had quite an eventful Surf Cup this weekend!  Her team played against some very tough competition which meant lots of action for our goalkeeper.  The timing was perfect as many colleges coaches were watching.  I didn't get to go to her first game on Saturday, but Matt said she had some amazing saves.  

Amazing enough that she get a call from the Kansas Wesleyan University college recruiter after the game saying he was impressed by Allison's play and had asked the head coach to drive down from the Silverlakes tournament to watch her 5:00pm game. After watching the 5:00pm game, they both agreed that they wanted to meet with her and provide some info on the school!

Michael watched her Sunday morning game as well and then we met after the game to talk.

Sunday night she received this email and is actively being recruited by KWU!  Coach Kat has since reached out to invite Allison on an official school visit and we hope to do that in October.  So proud of this girl!

It was also a great weekend meeting up with the Macias family and getting to watch Alyssa play too!

In the week following the tournament, Allison is now being recruited by 3 more schools...College of Wooster (Ohio), Agnes Scott College (Georgia) and Knox College (Illinois).  I think this is going to be an exciting year for our girl!  We can't wait to see if D1 and D2 schools show some interest when we hit the September 1st date that allows them to reach out...

Venice Beach

We feel like we are running out of summer days before school starts back for the girls.  We had a free Sunday and finally were able to cross Venice Beach off of our bucket list.

 We started with the super cute canals!  Some of the cutest houses, bridges and gardens just a block or two from the beach.  What a quaint neighborhood!

 We had a nice lunch, walk on the Venice pier

 and walk along Muscle Beach.  I guess this is where Arnold Schwarzenegger used to work out!

We finished with a walk up to the Venice sign and shopping and ice cream on Abbot Kinney.  And the best part...no traffic on the way up or back!

SD Beer and Pizza Festival

Matt and I attended the Beer and Pizza Festival at Liberty Station.

I'm not much of a beer drinker, but enjoyed trying some of the ciders.  Matt loved the Aftershock Brewery Peanut Butter Stout and sampled quite a few beers from different breweries from all over California.  Great weather and great company too!

Newsies

 We were back at Moonlight Amphitheatre for opening night our 2nd summer play...Newsies!

We packed a dinner picnic this time

 and absolutely loved this show!

So many great dance numbers!

Hawaii Day #8

Unfortunately, our vacation came to an end today.  It was a magical week and sad to say goodbye to this beautiful place.

 We did a little last minute shopping on Ali'i Drive before our flight.  I found a cute donut shop that ended up being a big disappointment.

 Holy Donuts was no good...super greasy and $5.73 for ONE donut!

 We filled our bellies with one final meal to hold us over on the flight.  Kona Brewing Co was wonderful!  Great food and beers and a fun location!

We met back up with the Lebitski's at the airport  and sure loved the memories made with them this week.  These are some lucky girls and are such sweet, grateful kids!  Cheers to another wonderful vacation!

Hawaii Day #7

It was our last full day on the island and we had a 2:30pm excursion planned for the Wai'pio Valley.  We got up early to cross one more thing off our list that we just couldn't fit in earlier. 

 We drove down a long, bumpy dirt road to the beach access to walk along until we found Queen's Bath.

 It is a spring-fed lava tube that opens up in 2 different spots.  

 It was super cold water but the girls were brave enough to take a dip and swim around a bit.  

 Yellow jackets seemed to enjoy this spot as much as humans, but they didn't bother us too much.

 Our last beach stop was Anaeho'omalu Beach in Waikoloa.  Another pretty swim beach with paddle boarders and water bikers

We truly saved the best for last!  We drove through the Waimea area and into the town of Kukuihaele to catch the van to our ATV excursion with Ride the Rim.

It was Matt and the all of us girls and we had so much fun!!  We all passed our driver's test and were ready for the 10 mile trek!

 Everyone drove ATV's except for Leslie and I.  We took turns driving a side-by-side buggy and had smiles the whole time!

Matt was like a kid in a candy store...racing through puddles, trying to slide along the side of the trail and so impressed by all of the girls adventurous spirit!

 We drove through tree lined trails, crazy huge mud puddles and some rocky terrain.

We made a few pit stops to see views of the valley

 and into a waterfall.  It was pouring rain when we arrived here and the rest of the group was scrambling to get ponchos on.  Not our group!

 We embraced the rain

and jumped in the waterfall pool with our bathing suits and tennis shoes!

 Our guide Savannah loved our girls and the girls had the best time!

Unfortunately, the cloud cover blocked our view of the big waterfall and some of the valley, but the ride was well worth the trip.  We got soaked and covered in mud, but couldn't stop talking about the adventure.  We all agreed it was our favorite excursion and we are lucky enough to say we have done quite a few!