This weekend we had the opportunity to catch up with a couple of people that we have not seen for awhile!
On Friday, my brother was in town for a conference. He ditched out a bit early and came over for dinner with my dad. It was nice to catch up.
We were super lucky with the weather which was clear and beautiful. Fingers crossed that next time all 8 of us can get together.
Well, it has been busy since Alaina and I returned from our trip. I had a bit of extra work to make up for my absence, and we have spent the last 2 weekends at Softball tournaments.
Two weekends ago, we went to Stockton. Stockton is a rough city with lots of homelessness and dilapidated areas. We also were rear-ended when driving in our new car. Very minor damage, but still annoying since our car is so new we don't even have license plates yet!!
On Saturday, Alaina's team went 4-0, and they thought they had a good chance at the championship. Unfortunately, they lost in the semi-finals. It was also Father's Day, and not much of a day for Jason because he had a 6pm flight out of SFO for work. So no Father's Day dinner or anything. And my Dad was in Chicago, so no celebrating with him either!
This past weekend, we were in Sacramento. Unfortunately it was unbearably hot, with highs above 100 both Saturday and Sunday. Fortunately, Alaina's team did much better, and won their first Gold championship! Alaina didn't have a great championship game, but she did get the game-winning out with the tying runs on 2nd and 3rd base.
The team and the coaches were pretty excited to celebrate the victory, though, of course, also melting in the heat!
Last weekend, Alaina and I took an amazing girls' trip as an early birthday present--we headed there to see Taylor Swift!
Alaina can be descibed as a Swiftie--and I am rapidly becoming one. I thought it would be fun to take her to one of the concerts--so I started looking around for tickets. Of course, they are only available via resale--and the remaining concerts in the US are super expensive. Resale in Europe was much cheaper--and so I thought, why not make a trip out of it and check out a city I have not been to before? I did some rearranging of my work schedule and booked us to go to Edinburgh from Thursday-Tuesday.
While this type of spontaneous trip is not something I usually do, I knew that it would be a special memory for us. Alaina is at the cusp of adolescence--but she still enjoys hanging out with me, though I know that won't last too much longer. So it seemed like the perfect window to go.
We headed out on Thursday night, flying through LA and London--and despite a tight connection in LA, we and our bags all made it to Edinburgh as scheduled. We spent Friday night at an airport hotel, as we landed quite late and, of course, were exhausted.
On Saturday, we took the bus into the city, dropped our bags at our hotel, and started exploring.
We enjoyed walking High Street in the Old City and then joined a mid-day Harry Potter tour. JK Rowling wrote all of the Harry Potter books in Edinburgh, and many sites served as her inspirations for characters and settings, including Victoria Street, which resembles Diagon Alley, and a private school, which looks like Hogwarts. She also pulled a lot of character's names from an old cemetery. It was fascinating to learn about it all.
We enjoyed a nice lunch and then checked into our hotel. The hotel was absolutely packed with fellow concert-goers, and it was fun to see the group with tickets to the Saturday night show head out to the concert. When we were walking home from dinner, we could even hear her playing!
Sunday was concert day, but we had some time to kill in the morning, so we took a walk to Kincaid's Court, which is the dorm that Jason lived in when he studied abroad at the University of Edinburgh in 1999. The dorm looked a bit shabby, like it had not been kept up much in the last 30 years. Student living, I guess!
We also took a tour of the "Real Mary King's Close", which a friend recommended. Hundreds of years ago, small alleyways, or "closes" came off the high street and were filled with apartments. The tour went through some of these original apartments and provided some historical perspective on the city. I found it to be a bit cheesy, but it was informative, and Alaina really enjoyed it. We then headed back to the hotel for a pre-concert nap.
Finally, it was concert time. Being advised before we left to wear something sparkly, Alaina and I bought matching bedazzled sweaters for the concert.
Alaina also had a pair of shimmery silver leggings--though I stuck to jeans. We took the bus to the venue, where we were greeted by thousands of fans awaiting entry--most dressed much more elaborately than us.
The tickets I purchased were special "hospitality" tickets, which meant that we got access to a lounge pre and post-concert with "free" food and drinks." It was a great perk--since the tickets were the same price as the non-hospitality tickets. So Alaina and I got dinner, as well a a chance to make some friendship bracelets pre-performace.
Alaina also got a sweatshirt, which, for unclear reasons, did not come in youth sizes and will probably fit her even when pregnant someday. She loves it though!
Our seats were great--not too close, but we still had a very good view. After the opening act, Paramore, Taylor Swift came out right on time and basically sang non-stop for 3 hours and 15 minutes. It was an amazing show--as good if not better than expected. She has so much energy and enthusiasm on stage--and, of course, all of her songs are such great hits!
When the concert was done, we headed back to the lounge to refresh before walking back to our hotel, bubbling with energy!
Monday was our final day in Scotland. We slept in a bit and then headed out to hike to the top of Arthur's seat--a 800-ft hill that overlooks the city. The walk was beautiful and refreshing.
Afterward, we had tickets to see Edinburg Castle. Unfortunately, it was oppressively crowded (it seemed like most Swift fans had left town, and the castle was overrun with tour groups, who had probably all planned to avoid the city during the concert!). Plus it started to rain, and we were tired from the night before, so we truncated our visit a bit to go back to the hotel to nap.
When we arrived at the hotel, the other Taylor Swift guests almost completely cleared out, with mounds of glittery sheets lining the the hallways as the only evidence of the concert.
After our nap, we headed to the "New City" which is not really new at all, being butil in the late 1700s. We ate dinner at a restaurant recommended by a friend called "The Dome", which was an old club for physicians back in the day. It was a beautiful setting and the food was fantastic! A great last dinner for sure.
The next day, it was sadly time to go. We made it back home in time for dinner on Tuesday, exhausted but so excited about our trip. I feel like we were so fortunate to get to go together--I am very lucky to have a daughter to share these memories with! What a wonderful birthday present.
Alaina is taking her required "Life skills" class in 5th grade this year. One of the life skills she has to do is cook a meal for the family. Ethan did this 4 years ago.
Alaina decided to team up with her classmate and good friend Trishla, to make a meal for both families. Somehow, between our busy schedules, we managed to squeeze it in last Friday night.
The girls prepared salad, pasta with red sauce, garlic bread, and blondies.
I have to say it was pretty good, and definitely fun to hang out with Trishla's family.
Check out the video they made of the process!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMaIYJ7FLEE
We spent the majority of our Memorial Day weekend in Sacramento, like last year, with a softball tournament for Alaina. Their team won the "silver" aka "loser" bracket.
We also got a new car--the lease was up for my car--a Hyundai ionic 3--and so we upgraded to a Hyundai ionic 5--which is bigger and has more miles per charge. I really like it so far!
Sunday night we headed up to the cabin and spent Monday getting it ready for summer--putting the snowblowers away, and putting out the deck furniture and bbq. I wish we could have had another day to stay and enjoy--but it was back to work for Tuesday!
