Happy 16th birthday!

Today this amazing human turned 16 years old!  So thankful for all that she has given us and we look forward to all the adventures that await her!  Happiest of birthdays Anna!

Fun staycation!

This weekend we enjoyed a fun staycation!  Our Saturday kicked off with honors band practice for the boys and a great ride at the barn for Anna!

In the mid afternoon we went to the Madonna Inn!  We had a room for the night and since the weather was so great (in the low 80's both days!) we enjoyed the great pool!  It was a lot of fun to ply tourist!  We went to the cafe and had a great meal and super sized deserts!  Yum!  Anna got some good photos of our room!  

Check out the couch!  

Today we went back to the gazebo by the pool and took a photo.  It was a cool V formation!  

We also explored other parts of the property.  What a stunning view!  

And the kids were willing to humor me on this photo 

It is a redo of this photo from December 2016!  The have changed just a bit!  

It was nice to have some time to have fun but without the stress of traveling! 

Rainy weekend

This weekend we have gotten some rain but thankfully it hasn't interfered with our plans because it has mostly happened overnight.  It has been nice to get the rain and see the hills turning green!  So beautiful!

At the end of the week I attended an event that was held at Ragged Point and got to soak in the beautiful location and somehow it was even more magical in the rain.  

And I want to give Olivier a bit of a kudos!  All 8th graders work in teams and do a science presentation.  The groups that do exceptionally well get a chance to compete for a school wide award. He and his teammates did very well and got a chance to compete at the school wide level!  It is a lot of work, especially given they originally presented in Spanish and had to present the second time in English.  It was a great project and we are very proud of his hard work!

Speaking of hard work, yesterday the kids auditioned for the County Honors band.  We are excited for the hard work they are putting in as they are seeing the fruits of that effort!  Well done!

 

A sea of volleyball!

This weekend we went to the SoCalVolleyball Tournament in Los Angeles.  We did some quick math and given the number of courts where games were going (53) we had a rough count of 2,500 in the building, and during the crossover time of the morning wave with the afternoon wave, it was more than 3,500.  Wild!  And there were other sites where teams were playing for a total of 500 teams!  

They played three games on Saturday and Matt was there to cheer the team on.  It was a tough day of three losses but they were able to push some sets a bit tighter on the score.  I was home Saturday morning with Anna and Olivier for their normal activities, including a band activity for Anna.  We then headed south to join Matt and Mason.  On Sunday we headed back to the LA Convention Center and cheered the team on.  They were able to push and did win one set but did lose three games again.  We tied to take a variety of photos.  

And today it was back to the convention center.  This time for elimination games.  After a two late days to be followed by a somewhat early morning, the team struggled and unfortunately lost their game.   

We are very proud of all the work they have put into the team and themselves to learn and grow as volleyball players.  It is hard work but they have held their heads high, as they should!

Back in the swing of things

This week the kids enjoyed some extra sleep and just hanging out.  After a fairly normal weekend of activities, they all seem to be ready to head back to the normal routine tomorrow.  It always feels weird getting into a normal routine, even though they haven't been off that long.  We will see what the first week back has in store with one thing being sure - it won't be crazy rainy with school getting cancelled like last year!

Nice time ringing in the new year!

This weekend we had a nice time just relaxing a bit.  On Saturday afternoon the kids used their gift certificates for a local candy shop and we visiting with my cousin and her family that were in town.  On Sunday Matt went for a bike ride and for 2023 he got more than 4,000 miles!  Yes, you read that right, 4,000!  Very cool!  Sunday afternoon we played a new game and Sunday night we rang in the new year with a LOT of poppers!  After ringing in the new year we watched fireworks shows from around the world.  It was a nice evening for all of us to hang out!  

Here are the various piles of poppers.  Anna did not want a cannon one, they were loud!!

Here is a fun slo-mo video Matt got of them as they exploded!  (Watch for a very startled Star running from behind the couch about 16 seconds into the video.)

And this is the confetti just those two had!

Then the fun continued with the rest of the pile.  Here a a few fun photos!

And the full after effect!  It looks a lot like a whole mess of Legos!

4th Stripe!

 Today Olivier earned his 4th stripe on his grey belt at jiu jitsu!  Way to go Olivier!