Margot and her team played in a challenging tournament this weekend against higher ranked teams than they normally play. They did awesome. Lost every game, but played super well and held several games to much tighter games than expected.
Hazel had her first game with the school soccer team. She played super well, especially considering it’s been 4+ months since she played a game.
A good chunk of the island of Rarotonga is surrounded by a shallow lagoon, protected from waves by the reef. This makes for some great snorkeling, with much of it easily accessible from the beach. Just from the beach we saw tons of colorful reef
Aitutaki is a tiny island with a huge lagoon. There are a handful of small resorts, but the island is probably one of the least developed places we’ve been. For dinner, there are just a few places to eat (we did find one we loved),
We booked two full day private boat tours with T’s Tours Aitutaki. It was a bit of a splurge, but felt so worth it. We had an awesome time doing several extended snorkels, so time exploring the motus and islands. An absolute treat.
Although we spent much of our time on this trip in the water, we also enjoyed some great meals, an awesome fire show, fun markets, and just exploring.
I had hoped to do a couple days of diving on Rarotonga and on Aitutaki, but for various reasons we only ended up doing one. Was a super fun day, with Hazel and I doing two dives in the morning, and then Kim joining us
Girls had a day off for Cesar Chavez, so we headed to Big Bear for a day trip. Had the pleasure of having one of hazels good friends come with us. Conditions were pretty meh, but we had a great time regardless. With zero lift
Hazel’s big request for our trip this year was to revisit the Little Colorado, and her big wish was that we’d get the amazing blue colors. Lucky enough, there was no recent rain and we had a fun time swimming and exploring.
Lava Falls is one of the higher rated rapids on the Grand Canyon, and a clean line is normally celebrated. Hazel was nervous and rode with my friend Geno (who has an anti-flip device on his raft). But Kim and Margot braved it with me
A very fun couple days hanging out with and paddling the SF American with good friends. It was their first time paddle rafting!
We had some friends join us this year, which was super fun. Jr Guides Raft Camp is an incredible 3 day rafting experience for the kids. Although their is always an experienced instructor/guide in the raft, they truly put the kids in the drivers seat
In June 2024 I was able to help put together a trip for a 19 day journey down the Grand Canyon. It was my third time down, Hazel’s second, and the first for Kim and Margot. We had some excitement when I put the whole
Diana’s Throne is a fun slot canyon near Zion that requires some technical rope work. We had done it before, and I had read that there was little water, so I decided to take our friends down. With 8 people and me lowering everyone, it
I love Open Streets events, where roads are closed to cars, allowing people to come together and explore and enjoy parts of town without worrying about cars. We’ve ridden in and enjoyed many.
When I heard about the April 8, 2024 Eclipse, I knew we wanted to go. I’d never seen a total eclipse. The fact that it would go nearly straight over my brother’s place in Texas made it an even easier decision. When I checked the
We had a couple of great days skiing Copper Mountain and Arapaho Basin during our Spring break road trip to see the eclipse. These were some of the areas I grew up skiing, so I loved revisiting them and sharing them with Kim and the
This was a literal bucket list item for me, to swim with whale sharks. I’ve been thinking about it for decades. It was incredible. Hard to capture the size of these sharks. These are juvenile, but whale sharks are the largest fish around. These were
Super nice weekend at Catalina Island. Feel lucky to live where we do. Be sure to check out the videos from the Zipline and the
Congratulations to Hazel. She finished her PADI Open Water SCUBA course today and is now a certified diver. Millions of thanks to Michael Francisco for his skilled, patient and kind instruction. If anyone in SoCal wants to learn to dive, I can say he is
We all went to Catalina so that Hazel could get her scuba certification. Margot and Kim went to the Zipline, and I handed Margot my GoPro and asked her to film. She did an amazing job and produced just about the cutest video you can
Hazel had an assignment to write a “narrative story” for school. The teacher told her to focus more on making the story exciting than worrying about accuracy, so some of the details are off a bit. But I liked the story. By Hazel: My Narrative
After years of looking for a trip, I got an invite for myself plus one for a trip launching July 2023. Kim wasn’t available, so I asked Hazel. She was game and before long we were driving out to AZ. I was honestly pretty nervous
I had told Margot we could camp out to see the parade. My friend Joseph had an alternative that would have let us sleep at home tonight, but it wouldn’t be front row and Margot really really wanted to be front row. Plus she’s never
On our last day of our trip (sort of), we took a pretty neat swamp tour just outside New Orleans. We saw alligators, racoons, and wild hogs. The guide was great and we enjoyed the tour a lot. https://www.cajunencounters.com/
New Orleans. So far it’s mostly been an eating tour, but we also ran into a parade for the Sugarbowl, which Margot LOVED.
A quick to Texas to spend time with family, and then a road trip to other parts of Texas, Louisiana and then home just in time for the famous Rose Bowl Parade.
With our trip being extremely last minute, and Hawaii being busy, just about every activity I called about was booked solid. But I found a discover scuba for two people and signed Kim and Hazel up. When Hazel had gone to Catalina with me to
When our planned trip to the Philippines fell apart and we needed a last minute pivot, I had promised Margot Sea turtles, and that was part of what guided us to Hawaii. This spot delivered for sure.
