Volleyball, Dana and family!
I am now back home! The last few days of the vacation were busy, but so much fun. On Friday before the game we drove up to the college (UC Irvine) to scope it out so we knew what we were doing before the game lol (it wasn't far from the hotel, maybe 10-15 minutes away). We bought tickets and found a couple geocaches and then checked out nearby Fashion Island, an indoor/outdoor mall/plaza type thing.it was huge! Most of the clothing stores were nothing I'd like, and amazingly, there was a Barnes and Noble there! I've never seen one in a mall before! I probably spent waaay too much time there, at least two hours LOL..oops. :P I was happy to see a lot of people shopping there <3
After that we relaxed at the hotel and then went back to UC Irvine for the game (and found a couple more caches lol). It was really surreal actually being there! I kept looking for Debbie (Scott's sister), and finally spotted her on the opposite side from us (I sent her a message saying I was coming too). The area was super loud, but it was SO MUCH FUN!! They did really, really well, and it was awesome seeing Scott's famous "Stadick Scream" in person haha. In the second set, they completely annihilated the other team..one player had 3 service aces in a row, and Scott had around 3 blocks as well. They won that set 25-12! (The team they played somehow won one set over Hawaii the week before..no idea how, considering how they played this night..Hawaii is REALLY good.) Before the third set started we went over to where Debbie and her three-year-old daughter Selah were sitting..she was COMPLETELY shocked when she saw us..she thought I was joking when I said I was coming to the game!! We haven't been a huge part of their lives (we first met in 2003), so I thought she'd be like "ehh" about a distant cousin (third cousin, according to my family tree lol) coming to visit, but no, she was very happy to see us! She was sitting in the first row behind where the team hangs out when they're not playing at the moment, and Scott spotted us and waved! (Yay, he remembered us lol.) It was even more fun being so close to the team and seeing their excitement, and it was cool watching with Debbie! Selah is totally adorable lol, I was glad to finally meet her! We also met her stepdaughter, Summer..she's 9 and really nice and mature. UC Irvine won 3-0..Debbie said we're good luck, because that's the best they've done in a long time..the guy that got injured was able to play again, and he wasted no time in amassing kills haha..he was so happy to play again. :P So glad I was at this one instead of Hawaii! After the game we talked to Scott for awhile (you have to look up to the ceiling pretty much to talk to him haha, at least if you're as short as me :P). I met David (the coach, and Debbie's wife) and a couple other team members (it would have been cool to meet the whole team, but Selah was definitely ready to go home P:). I told Dante (the setter) I was Scott's cousin, and he got so happy and hugged me! I wasn't expecting that lol. I also met Aaron, who is French and pretty cute hehe (pretty sure mom has a crush on him LOL). Debbie invited us over to her house after the game (yay!), so we talked and caught the fifth set of the Hawaii-Long Beach game! David was like "sorry to force more volleyball on you.." but mom and I were like, "are you kidding?? We've been dying to watch that!" That was really exciting to watch (those teams are on a whole different level of volleyball, they're incredibly good), especially because Long Beach BEAT HAWAII!! They're the ONLY team to have done that this year! We were blown away by the skill going on that night lol. Debbie invited us over the next night to watch (online) UC Irvine play the same team in Santa Barbara..heck yes! (And I thought I wouldn't get to see her much!) Eventually we left, and made our way back to the hotel. A fun evening! I will definitely have to come back next year for more games!
On Saturday, we met up with Dana! We were super lazy in bed most of the morning haha. It took Dana an hour and a half or so to drive up, so we found a couple geocaches before heading to the Cheesecake Factory at Fashion Island, where we were meeting her. Yay, it was so good to see her hehe. After eating yummy food we browsed different stores (I was banned from Barnes and Noble this time LOL), just to see how expensive the clothes were LOL. Yeahhh, I'm not paying over $1000 for shiny shirts and pants. O____o Another tanktop was "only" $300. O__o We looked in at Louis Vuitton (I'm pretty sure the greeter guy looked at me like I was insane LOL..I'm so not fashionable at all. :P There were heeled boot things that were over $1000, and regular hiking boots for at least $800. That just seems insane to me..if I had that kind of money, I'd rather donate it to an animal shelter or something beneficial like that. We browsed a fun kids store with interesting toys..I REALLY don't get the "sequins-on-everything" (stuffed animals, backpacks, etc) trend..it just seems ugly/tacky to me. After spending awhile there, we parted ways. *sniff* We shall meet again though!
After that, we went up to Debbie's house for the game! We also had been checking the tripod at Nenana obsessively for days haha (a lady does a livestream on Facebook too)..we showed Debbie and the others, who were fascinated lol. While watching the game, my friend messaged me that the tripod was going under! We all gathered around mom's phone watching the livestream (Debbie was like "I'M WATCHING HISTORY!!" haha!). The tripod moved downriver..only to get caught on a piece of ice! The wire connected to the clock had not tripped yet! The lady doing the stream was like "are you kidding me??!" She's spent an insane time this week at the river watching the tripod (good thing she lives close by!), she was getting impatient lol. UC Irvine didn't do as well as the night before (poor Scott kept serving the ball into the net D:), but they still won. Long Beach and Hawaii were playing again last night, and we caught the last two sets of their game..Long Beach beat Hawaii AGAIN!! They were blocking like crazy! Hawaii's coach just looked like he was dying inside during the fifth set. They really are incredible teams to watch..huge talent. Debbie and the others were going to a park at a church on Sunday, and they invited us to hang out with them again before they left! Awesome! We left after talking for awhile, and went back to the hotel, exhausted. Another fun evening though!
Yesterday we met Debbie, Scott and the others at this church with an INSANE piece of property..there was a restaurant, a playground, a pond, a baptism pool, etc..wow. Scott and David were pretty tired from getting back home late, so we appreciated them meeting us instead of sleeping in lol. The first thing Summer asked me was "did the tripod go out yet??" haha! It had, at at 12:21 AM! The earliest breakup on record! I feel bad the livestream lady missed it after all the time she spent there. :P We had breakfast and Selah and Summer played at the playground, until we all went our respective ways. *sniff* Selah was pretty sad to see us go, she seemed to like us lol..we told her we'd see her again though! It was so awesome to hang out with them again, they're all so nice! Debbie told us there's a UCI poster thing of Scott at Fashion Island, so before going to the airport mom and I HAD to find it (third day in a row! We were getting rather good at finding where we needed to go haha). It was so surreal seeing that poster..Scott came across it accidentally, that must have been even weirder! We had some gelato (we cut through Barnes and Noble..woohoo, ban lifted! LOL. Yes, I found another book :P) and then went to the airport. After seeing aerial pics of Newport Beach and Balboa Island, I know for sure now that we flew over them (more built up than the pics, but it was definitely them). I THINK I got a glimpse of Catalina Island before turning..there were lots of boats in the water, and we flew by Long Beach, so it must have been Catalina..cool! On the flights home I watched the rest of How to Train Your Dragon 2 (can't wait to see the third one!), Thor: The Dark World, Captain America (yeah, I love Marvel movies LOL), and some of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Professor Quirrell looks like turbaned Cherry!!!) since I didn't have time to watch something I hadn't seen yet. For once, dad wasn't grumpy when he picked us up..the last few months have definitely changed him
What a great trip! Exhausting, but fun lol. We had a big sale at work on Saturday, so there will probably be a lot of shelving to do :P
UC Irvine's mascot is an anteater, which apparently says "zot zot!" LOL (Selah knew right away what an anteater apparently says when I asked her, it was so cute :P)
Getting ready to play! 13 is Scott, 7 is Aaron, 3 is Joel (the guy who was injured), 16 is Karl, 2 is Dante and the guy behind him (17??) is Patrick
Yeah, that billboard behind them is really distracting
Dante setting the ball
Scott about to serve
Joel slamming down a kill lol..he was so happy to be back :P
This is a professional pic, and me and Debbie are in it, on the very left in the middle, behind the guy in white! Awesome haha. Yeah, Aaron (7) is pretty cute LOL
Aw yay, me and Debbie! <3
OMG I'm a midget compared to Scott haha!
Wow :P
Me and Selah! I absolutely love this picture <3
So many pretty flowers!
Me and Dana!
Selah handed me my phone and told me to take a picture of us, and when she saw us on the screen, she snuggled into me! Awwwww. <3 <3 I miss her lol
Scott holding Selah, awww
Yay! On the left is Debbie, Summer with her arms around Scott, David holding Selah, and me and mom in the front
Awesome :P
I have just now heard of the fire at Notre Dame at Paris, and now I want to cry. :( That is so sad!! My heart broke when I saw the video of the spire falling..omg :(
After that we relaxed at the hotel and then went back to UC Irvine for the game (and found a couple more caches lol). It was really surreal actually being there! I kept looking for Debbie (Scott's sister), and finally spotted her on the opposite side from us (I sent her a message saying I was coming too). The area was super loud, but it was SO MUCH FUN!! They did really, really well, and it was awesome seeing Scott's famous "Stadick Scream" in person haha. In the second set, they completely annihilated the other team..one player had 3 service aces in a row, and Scott had around 3 blocks as well. They won that set 25-12! (The team they played somehow won one set over Hawaii the week before..no idea how, considering how they played this night..Hawaii is REALLY good.) Before the third set started we went over to where Debbie and her three-year-old daughter Selah were sitting..she was COMPLETELY shocked when she saw us..she thought I was joking when I said I was coming to the game!! We haven't been a huge part of their lives (we first met in 2003), so I thought she'd be like "ehh" about a distant cousin (third cousin, according to my family tree lol) coming to visit, but no, she was very happy to see us! She was sitting in the first row behind where the team hangs out when they're not playing at the moment, and Scott spotted us and waved! (Yay, he remembered us lol.) It was even more fun being so close to the team and seeing their excitement, and it was cool watching with Debbie! Selah is totally adorable lol, I was glad to finally meet her! We also met her stepdaughter, Summer..she's 9 and really nice and mature. UC Irvine won 3-0..Debbie said we're good luck, because that's the best they've done in a long time..the guy that got injured was able to play again, and he wasted no time in amassing kills haha..he was so happy to play again. :P So glad I was at this one instead of Hawaii! After the game we talked to Scott for awhile (you have to look up to the ceiling pretty much to talk to him haha, at least if you're as short as me :P). I met David (the coach, and Debbie's wife) and a couple other team members (it would have been cool to meet the whole team, but Selah was definitely ready to go home P:). I told Dante (the setter) I was Scott's cousin, and he got so happy and hugged me! I wasn't expecting that lol. I also met Aaron, who is French and pretty cute hehe (pretty sure mom has a crush on him LOL). Debbie invited us over to her house after the game (yay!), so we talked and caught the fifth set of the Hawaii-Long Beach game! David was like "sorry to force more volleyball on you.." but mom and I were like, "are you kidding?? We've been dying to watch that!" That was really exciting to watch (those teams are on a whole different level of volleyball, they're incredibly good), especially because Long Beach BEAT HAWAII!! They're the ONLY team to have done that this year! We were blown away by the skill going on that night lol. Debbie invited us over the next night to watch (online) UC Irvine play the same team in Santa Barbara..heck yes! (And I thought I wouldn't get to see her much!) Eventually we left, and made our way back to the hotel. A fun evening! I will definitely have to come back next year for more games!
On Saturday, we met up with Dana! We were super lazy in bed most of the morning haha. It took Dana an hour and a half or so to drive up, so we found a couple geocaches before heading to the Cheesecake Factory at Fashion Island, where we were meeting her. Yay, it was so good to see her hehe. After eating yummy food we browsed different stores (I was banned from Barnes and Noble this time LOL), just to see how expensive the clothes were LOL. Yeahhh, I'm not paying over $1000 for shiny shirts and pants. O____o Another tanktop was "only" $300. O__o We looked in at Louis Vuitton (I'm pretty sure the greeter guy looked at me like I was insane LOL..I'm so not fashionable at all. :P There were heeled boot things that were over $1000, and regular hiking boots for at least $800. That just seems insane to me..if I had that kind of money, I'd rather donate it to an animal shelter or something beneficial like that. We browsed a fun kids store with interesting toys..I REALLY don't get the "sequins-on-everything" (stuffed animals, backpacks, etc) trend..it just seems ugly/tacky to me. After spending awhile there, we parted ways. *sniff* We shall meet again though!
After that, we went up to Debbie's house for the game! We also had been checking the tripod at Nenana obsessively for days haha (a lady does a livestream on Facebook too)..we showed Debbie and the others, who were fascinated lol. While watching the game, my friend messaged me that the tripod was going under! We all gathered around mom's phone watching the livestream (Debbie was like "I'M WATCHING HISTORY!!" haha!). The tripod moved downriver..only to get caught on a piece of ice! The wire connected to the clock had not tripped yet! The lady doing the stream was like "are you kidding me??!" She's spent an insane time this week at the river watching the tripod (good thing she lives close by!), she was getting impatient lol. UC Irvine didn't do as well as the night before (poor Scott kept serving the ball into the net D:), but they still won. Long Beach and Hawaii were playing again last night, and we caught the last two sets of their game..Long Beach beat Hawaii AGAIN!! They were blocking like crazy! Hawaii's coach just looked like he was dying inside during the fifth set. They really are incredible teams to watch..huge talent. Debbie and the others were going to a park at a church on Sunday, and they invited us to hang out with them again before they left! Awesome! We left after talking for awhile, and went back to the hotel, exhausted. Another fun evening though!
Yesterday we met Debbie, Scott and the others at this church with an INSANE piece of property..there was a restaurant, a playground, a pond, a baptism pool, etc..wow. Scott and David were pretty tired from getting back home late, so we appreciated them meeting us instead of sleeping in lol. The first thing Summer asked me was "did the tripod go out yet??" haha! It had, at at 12:21 AM! The earliest breakup on record! I feel bad the livestream lady missed it after all the time she spent there. :P We had breakfast and Selah and Summer played at the playground, until we all went our respective ways. *sniff* Selah was pretty sad to see us go, she seemed to like us lol..we told her we'd see her again though! It was so awesome to hang out with them again, they're all so nice! Debbie told us there's a UCI poster thing of Scott at Fashion Island, so before going to the airport mom and I HAD to find it (third day in a row! We were getting rather good at finding where we needed to go haha). It was so surreal seeing that poster..Scott came across it accidentally, that must have been even weirder! We had some gelato (we cut through Barnes and Noble..woohoo, ban lifted! LOL. Yes, I found another book :P) and then went to the airport. After seeing aerial pics of Newport Beach and Balboa Island, I know for sure now that we flew over them (more built up than the pics, but it was definitely them). I THINK I got a glimpse of Catalina Island before turning..there were lots of boats in the water, and we flew by Long Beach, so it must have been Catalina..cool! On the flights home I watched the rest of How to Train Your Dragon 2 (can't wait to see the third one!), Thor: The Dark World, Captain America (yeah, I love Marvel movies LOL), and some of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Professor Quirrell looks like turbaned Cherry!!!) since I didn't have time to watch something I hadn't seen yet. For once, dad wasn't grumpy when he picked us up..the last few months have definitely changed him
What a great trip! Exhausting, but fun lol. We had a big sale at work on Saturday, so there will probably be a lot of shelving to do :P
UC Irvine's mascot is an anteater, which apparently says "zot zot!" LOL (Selah knew right away what an anteater apparently says when I asked her, it was so cute :P)
Getting ready to play! 13 is Scott, 7 is Aaron, 3 is Joel (the guy who was injured), 16 is Karl, 2 is Dante and the guy behind him (17??) is Patrick
Yeah, that billboard behind them is really distracting
Dante setting the ball
Scott about to serve
Joel slamming down a kill lol..he was so happy to be back :P
This is a professional pic, and me and Debbie are in it, on the very left in the middle, behind the guy in white! Awesome haha. Yeah, Aaron (7) is pretty cute LOL
Aw yay, me and Debbie! <3
OMG I'm a midget compared to Scott haha!
Wow :P
Me and Selah! I absolutely love this picture <3
So many pretty flowers!
Me and Dana!
Selah handed me my phone and told me to take a picture of us, and when she saw us on the screen, she snuggled into me! Awwwww. <3 <3 I miss her lol
Scott holding Selah, awww
Yay! On the left is Debbie, Summer with her arms around Scott, David holding Selah, and me and mom in the front
Awesome :P
I have just now heard of the fire at Notre Dame at Paris, and now I want to cry. :( That is so sad!! My heart broke when I saw the video of the spire falling..omg :(