PGF Tournament

 Whew, I am really behind on posting!    Lots of catch-up to do, we were gone for almost 3 weeks and have been very busy! Let's start at where I left off.....

The last week of July, Alaina's softball team played at the PGF national championship tournament in Orange County, California.   This is the premier tournament for girls' softball, and teams come from all over the country to play in it.  Some teams even had players from multiple states. The first three games were pool play, and Alaina's team went 1-1-1, and played solidly.    The coolest thing was they played in a small stadium, with real dugouts and tiered stadium seating.

 

One thing unique to the tournament was that at the beginning, all the teams got together to "trade pins".  I didn't really understand this until I was there, but basically, every team has custom pins that they trade around with other teams from across the country, and they collected pins go into a big book.   Kind of like a sticker book, but much more expensive.  A real hit with the girls, perhaps less so with the parents.

  

Anyhow, on Wednesday they started bracket play, which was double elimination.   Our teammates, some of who had been to the tournament last year, and some of whom had older siblings assured us we would not play past Thursday night because the tournament is so competitive.   This was good because we had a flight to Milan on Friday night from San Francisco.

Alaina's team lost a game early on Wednesday, so they ended up in the loser's bracket.   But their team, as it turned out, was much better than most of the other losers, and better than expected.   They continued to win, and beat a rival team, the Lady Sharks, from San Jose, who had beaten them twice in the past.   

So on Thursday night, I headed back to San Francisco with Ethan, and Jason stayed in Orange County with Alaina, with plans to take a later flight to Milan (luckily we had booked on frequent flier miles, so it was easy to change/cancel).   

In the end, Alaina's team was eliminated in their third game on Friday--going much further into the tournament than expected and coming in 13th out of 50 or so teams.   

When the last game ended, Jason grabbed her off the field and raced to the Santa Ana Airport where they caught a flight to SFO and met up for our flight to Milan....but more on that later!

Another tooth is lost.....finally

 Alaina is 11 and a half.   She is starting her growth spurt for sure.   This past week we were looking for new shoes for school and she is comfortable in a Women's 8.5 or 9--my size!

On the other hand, she seems to be a bit delayed with her dentition.   We went to the dentist a few weeks ago, and were told that she still has 10 teeth to lose!   10!  

Well, make that 9--this past week she finally lost another baby tooth when one just "popped out at night".  Alaina has always been one to march to her town timeline--remember she didn't walk until 18 months--so maybe now she will finally catch up to her peers who have all of their adult teeth and are starting with braces!

 

The Moon

 We have been busy, and in Sacramento again all last weekend for softball......Alaina's team continues to do well, they got second place in the tournament, playing some difficult teams.    The days were very hot (>100), and on both days she had games that started early, with a 6:45 arrival, meaning a 5am departure.  So, exhausting.   And I didn't even play 😂

A highlight of the weekend was the beautiful setting moon that we saw at 5am on Sunday morning as we drove to Sacramento from Tahoe.

 

 

Apparently it was not a "blood moon" but the way the rising sun refelected off of it, it sure looked like one.

Anyway, the little things.

The Chain

 Last weekend when we were in Tahoe, Ethan announced that he wanted a "chain". 

I was like, is that a necklace?   Or one of those big rapper chains?

Turns out the answer was yes, a necklace.   And turns out Jason has one from his teenage years.   A gold chain that he got from his Grandpa for his Bar Mitzvah when he turned 13.   It has been packed away for many years--I have never even seen Jason wear it.

Such a funny teenage thing.

But anyhow, Ethan absolutely loved it and was super excited to get to "borrow" it from his dad.  And he has not taken it off since he put it on last weekend.

Our little boy is growing up.

4th of July

 We were fortunate to have a 4 day weekend together over the 4th of July.   We headed up to the cabin and Jason's parents joined us.  

Unlike in some previous years, the weather was HOT!   Lucily it cooled down at night, since we do not have air conditioning.

On July 4, we saw the Serene Lakes parade and hung out at the beach.  Jason, as always enjoyed the chili cook-off, and this time Ethan tried it too.

Fireworks were back this year, and we were able to drive to the top of old highway 40 to see a great view of them over Donner Lake.   The easiest fireworks I ever went to!   And really nice too.

On Friday, we hung out and relaxed during the day, and then headed to Lake Tahoe for dinner at Sunnyside, one of our favorite restaurants in the area.   It was more croweded than we have ever seen, and we were not seated until almost 8pm, even though we had a 6:45 reservation.   That's was annoying, but they comped part of our bill, and the food was delicious.

On Saturday am, we hit up a coffee shop in Truckee that Jaosn used to go to as a kid, called the Wagon Train.   After stuffing ourselves we decided to check out a local swimming hole in the Yuba River.   The water was very cold, but it was refreshing.

Overall, a really nice weekend away.

Reunions

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.

On Saturday, we had a long-planned get together with the Cortez family (Like since winter!).   Sadly their daughter Whitney and Ethan could not make it--so hard to coordinate everyones schedules now adays.   But at least all fo the adults were there!   We took a hike up Montara mountain, outside of Moss Beach.   It was a good hike--almost 8 miles and 1600 ft elevation!  

We were super lucky with the weather which was clear and beautiful.  Fingers crossed that next time all 8 of us can get together.  

Weekends

 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!

Check out the Temperature on my watch at the end of the game: