Kayda's Vegas Tournament

Kayda's team signed up as a "national" team which gave them the opportunity to go to Las Vegas for the national championship.  Kayda, Carson, Dad, and I flew down (Dillon went to South Dakota with Grandma and Papa G).  Grandma and Papa H actually met us there!  

She had 4 games each day between 3 and 9 Friday-Monday.  Then she went to the am wave the last day.  Her team won one set of one match ... It was rough.  However, Kayda was on the court the entire set of all but two sets (there are 2-3 sets in a match).  One of those she was put back in shortly to replace someone that was struggling. Another she was pulled out briefly.  She was quickly sent back in though because she was AMAZING.  She was everywhere she needed to be.  Passing well, serving well, hitting well.  She was the best player on the court (no this was not just our opinion).  She absolutely rocked it.  She had the 4 day clinic just before the tournament so she also had all that growth.  If we had more of her they would have won MANY more games.

We spent off time playing at the arcade, riding the rollercoaster, swimming, and trying to rest because of the late evenings and long stretches of time at the court.

Papa rode the rollercoaster with Carson and Daddy.  

Papa and Grandma got us tickets to see the blue man group.  It. Was. Amazing.   We had fun at the beginning under the blue lights, we all looked like part of the group until it started.  It was funny and loud!  There was one point Kayda and Grandma counted 35 marshmallows (only dropping one), caught in the mouth of ONE guy without obviously spitting them out.  Kayda thought maybe it was an illusion.  I personally think he swallowed some until he needed them to make "art" later.  They had a lot of really cool effects.  So glad we went!

Left to right, back: Lucy, Kaelyn, Reese, Kennedy, Emily, Kiera, Kaitlyn, Kayda

Left to right, front: Reba, Lauren, Sabrina

One of the moms has "tiny hands" she keeps in her purse, she let Carson borrow them.  It kept him very entertained.  He'd give high fives, cheer, wave, played catch with a mini-volleyball and managed to open a sucker... It was pretty entertaining to watch.

Kayda and Lauren

Daddy decided to use a buck in the slot machines... He managed to get 12 cents back... Not extra... Back.

Dinner at the Irish restaurant (do not recommend by the way).  

Side note: Vegas is NOT my bag of beans.  Smoke everywhere, casino lights, loud music and lots of people.  I kept getting lost in the casinos despite the signs (they suck) and it's just stressful watching the kids to and from the venue in that environment.   The only reason I'll go back is for kids sports or to visit Kayda's best friend that moved there... But we'd stay at their house and not go to the strip.

Spring Break in Mexico

Washington's covid restrictions have really made us eager to visit ANYWHERE that doesn't require masks.  Thanks to Austin and Darcy again (Darcy's dad in particular) we were able to go to Mexico.  He owns a couple of condos in Puerto Penasco.  So we flew to Phoenix, stayed one night, then drove the four hours. The border crossing was easy and the drive was part of a safety corridor.  The condo complex was really nice and had security everywhere.  All around the common areas and even along the beach.  You had to have a resort bracelet to be on the property.  The resort and beach were beautiful.  

We went into the city to eat dinner the first night... Driving in Mexico is terrifying.  The area wasn't bad, it wasn't scary that way.  It was scary because roads aren't marked, stop signs are infrequent and often hard to see and it seems like no rules apply!  

We spent most of our time at the pool and on the beach. It really was beautiful.  Just the warmth and sunshine we needed to give us a break from the dreary grey skies.  

This is a HUGE photo dump... In no particular order.  Good luck!

We tried snorkeling, unfortunately the jet skis and boats all rode right over the top of the reef so it wasn't safe to go out to it.

The infinity pool was a really cool space. It even had a swim up bar where we were able to get soda and virgin daiquiris (kind of like strawberry slushies).

The best sunset of the trip.  The tide went WAY out (400ish yards) so you could see the reef and huge pools would be left on the very flat beach.

Kayda and I had a great time photographing it.  It was stunning.

We were getting Beckett introduced to hermit crabs, they were everywhere.  Kayda, Dillon and Carson had a blast.  They tried really hard to get Beckett to be comfortable with all the critters.

Dad, Austin, Landon and Dillon went golfing two days.

Carson decided to join in on the water aerobics they did during the day.

Austin and Tucker are on the right.  They all went for a ride on the banana boat pulled behind a boat.

We explored the reef tide pools.  It was strange not to see sea anemones and starfish everywhere.  

We heard another family yelling about an octopus so Carson and I hustled over. It was just a baby, Carson wasn't interested in holding it...

Another trip on the banana boat.

The water was gorgeous

We all decided to do the henna tattoos.  They lasted less than a week but the kids had fun. 

One of the many tiny hermit crabs

I guess they were working on a cruise ship doc so they were creating a jetty out of huge pier blocks.  The project fell through but the remnants were a lot of fun to climb on.

Dillon and Landon were entertained by a crab for a while 

Here's the whole crew!  Tucker, Beckett, Darcy, Austin, Landon, and of course us.

We crossed the border coming home at the perfect time.  It took two minutes to get through.