Allison's 14th

Allison celebrated her 14th birthday with a great group of girls today!

She is lucky to have such sweet, respectful and fun friends around her.

 They relaxed and chatted it up in the hot tub

 while Matt grilled burgers and hot dogs for them to eat by the pool.

Once the sun went down, they came inside to change into comfy clothes and watch Daddy's Home.  

 I made them a candy bar and a bucket of popcorn to enjoy during the movie.

 Then it was on to a competitive game of Apples to Apples.  Allison was teamed with Emma and Kolby.

 Maddie, Lila, Maile and Sophie

 Emily and Carson

 Turbo, Zoey and Reanna

Isobel, Bella and Hallie 

 They were all super creative and generous with their gifts.  

Allison had a huge smile all night!  I loved seeing her so happy and I'm glad she had this fun night with her friends!!  Happy early birthday!

Donut Bar by the Bay/SDSU

We have been craving Donut Bar for months after seeing their daily posts on Instagram.  Since we were heading down to show Lauren, Morgen and Bailey around SDSU, we decided to pre-order online and enjoy breakfast on the bay before the tour.  I loved watching all of the girls get the perfect pic for Snapchat!

This was Taylor's!  Donuts and the Coronado Bridge…not a bad morning.

 Still can't believe all of these girls will start college applications in a few short months!

 It was a warm day at SDSU but we covered a lot of ground.  We saw the athletic complexes, the library, bookstore, Student Union, dorm and dining halls.  I'm not sure it is at the top of any of their lists, but it gave them a good idea of what a big campus is like.

NO MORE BRACES!

After 18 months of braces, this sweet girl has a beautiful smile to show off!  She sounds a little funny getting used to talking with her retainers, but the payoff is well worth it.  So pretty Allison!!

CASL

Taylor spent the weekend at CASL (California Association of Student Leaders) with several of her WSB classmates and friends.  It was held at Ontario Convention Center and students from all over the state were in attendance.  They shared creative leadership ideas from different schools and Taylor came home inspired by many of them. I think she has even adopted one as her own and hopes to implement it at Great Oak next year!  

"PromPosal"

 Andrew pulled off another great surprise with this year's PromPosal.  Taylor was at his house hanging out until we were meeting up for dinner.  It was kind of a rainy afternoon, but he was pretty pushy asking her to hike up to viewpoint.  With lots of hesitation, he was able to convince her to go.

Once at the top, his friend Carter had put out a blanket with flowers and this cute poster board.  He was also hiding in the bushes to take pictures :)

I can't believe it has already been a year since he asked her to Prom at Starbucks, but they are excited for this year's event.  Gone are the jitters and awkwardness of the first date.  They have their party bus and tickets paid for and Taylor loves the dress she found.  April 30th will be here quick!

IFLY

Matt cashed in his birthday present this morning with an indoor skydiving adventure in San Diego with the girls.  Looking good in their flight gear!

They got a short training with an instructor and then each got 2 1-minutes sessions inside the tube.  They said it was way more powerful than it looked, but super fun!

They were each able to find the right position to "take flight"and even posed a few times for me!

Matt can cross another item off of his bucket list!

After iFly, we went down to Banker's Hill for breakfast and Hash House A Go Go.  This is rated one of the best breakfast spots in SD and it was super crowded and delicious.  The portions are huge and everything was perfect!

College Road Trip Day #3

After spending the night in Capitola (too bad we didn't have time to see the town or the beach!), we were up early for a quick drive through UC Santa Cruz before driving home.

 This is one of the most unique campuses we have toured.  It sits high up on a hill overlooking the ocean, but feels like you are in a mountain ski village as you drive around.  It's like a forest on the water!

 We had quite a few laughs as Lauren started calling this wild turkey we spotted on campus.  He quickly ran towards the car, started circling and pecking at the car and would have probably jumped in if given the chance!

It was a cold morning and Lauren was the only one willing to get out for a picture.  We loved these cool bridges that we saw around campus, but didn't really see much else.  None of the girls seemed interested enough to investigate further.  It was a long 8 hour car ride home, but a successful few days!  I can't believe these girls will be starting the application process in just a few short months :(

College Road Trip Day #2

Leslie booked the guided tour at Cal Poly SLO for this morning.  We had already seen the campus, but were anxious to hear about it from a student's perspective.  This one was a big hit!  The school is surrounded by gorgeous green hillsides, the town is adorable and the campus has a lot of updated buildings and isn't too overwhelming.

 25% of  students study Engineering at Cal Poly, but they also have Nutrition, Kinesiology and Bio/Pre-Med.  Taylor and Lauren are both leaning towards something related to these sciences.  Reanna seemed interested in the Engineering though too!

 Who knows…maybe some of these girls will be future Mustangs!

 A few more hours in the car for an evening stop at Santa Clara University.  Wow!  What a gorgeous campus!  

 We all loved the clean, beautifully-landscaped buildings and the long walkways.  The gym is being redone, the soccer training complex is state of the art and 

the chapel was so pretty!

 Unfortunately the price tag for tuition is quite high and the cost of living in the Santa Clara/San Jose  is outrageous!  It may be extra incentive for scholarship applications!!

We ended our day with dinner and shopping at Valley Fair Mall while we waited for traffic to die down.  Taylor found her prom dress, so she was thrilled and that is one less thing we have to do once home!

College Road Trip Day #1

 I'm not sure we thought this through very well, but less than 24 hours after returning from Las Vegas, we were back on the road for a college trip up the coast with the Lebitski girls.  Luckily Leslie was "on it" enough to book hotels and we mapped our route the night before.  Who needs more planning than that?  It all worked out great!

After some unexpected traffic on the 101, we were starving so first stopped in Isla Vista for lunch.  The girls spotted this cool mural (which may actually lead to a business idea some day!).

 We found this cool spot on Yelp called Buddha Bowls.  Start with a sourdough bread bowl and fill it with whatever toppings you want.  We tried the Mediterranean, the Pizza, the BBQ chicken and Mac and Cheese.  Very good!

Then it was on to the UCSB campus on a gorgeous day.  Students were on spring break, but we were still able to visit the bookstore, student union and visitor center.

 

 The campus is huge and very bike friendly.  It is right on the water, but wasn't a hit with any of the girls.  The buildings didn't really follow a traditional feel and Taylor is looking for a bigger sports school,

 but you sure can't beat the location!

 Then it was back in the car for an hour or 2 for a quick stop at Pismo Beach.  We got an ice cream cone and walked down to the pier.  It was super windy,

 but a beautiful beach!

Our last stop of the day was San Luis Obispo.  We checked into our hotel and drove to town for dinner at CPK, a little prom dress shopping (no luck) and a stop at the famous gum wall.  We will tour campus tomorrow...