So, we went to San Francisco to take a little summer vacation time.  We spent the first night with Karen’s friend, Stacey.  She lives in Folsom.  We had a nice barbecue, and the kids spent some time with her bunny rabbits…

Next, we went to San Francisco to stay with my friend, Joe Russack.  He’s got a nice place on the outskirts of the city, near Silver and Mission.  Joe always knows how to entertain the kids, as he has a ginormous collection of Legos.  The kids really enjoyed messing around with his Lego collection.

We took the kids to the Exploratorium, which was a blast.  Lots of really cool hands-on science experiments to play with, so that was cool.  Karen went to the Museum of Modern Art, and saw the Frida Kahlo exhibition.  She had a great time there.  Joey and I went to the Metreon to hang out, and met her at the MoMA gift shop after she and Gracie finished the Kahlo exhibit.  I really enjoyed the gift shop, actually.  Picked up the “I Am Not A Paper Cup” coffee mug, which is  really cool.  Gracie got a nifty snow-globe superball, Joey got a lava lamp pen, and Karen got various Christmas gifts.  It’s a nice place for gifts, so check it out if you’d like.  They have an online store, too.

After that, we headed down to the wharf for some touristy walking around.  We had ice cream at Ghiradelli’s, then headed to the Aquatic Park beach down by the Maritime Museum.  The kids had fun splashing around, and then we headed back to Joe’s place.

We finished with dinner at Goat Hill Pizza, for their Monday Night pizza fest.  It’s pretty cool – they walk around with different kinds of pizza, and you just ask for any slice you like.  I even got a free drink during their pre-seating trivia contest.  Luckily, they had a soccer question, which I actually knew the answer to!  The question was, “Where was the first World Cup held, in 1930?”  The answer isn’t what you’d think (it wasn’t in Europe).  It was actually in Montevideo, Uruguay.  Free drink for Joe!  Woo hoo!

Finally, we headed back home.  We stopped at the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield on the way home, for their free factory tour.  That was actually really fun.  We watched Jelly Belly jellybeans being made, and everyone gets  a free sampler of beans at the end of the tour.  They have an awesome new flavor – birthday cake!  I bought a bag of sugar-free beans, and some birthday cake flavored beans, too.

That was it for our brief vacation.  Not enough time, so we’ll have to get back to San Francisco sometime to hang out some more.

Joe Griego

Joey and Gracie spent this week training at the AYSO soccer camp.  There were English players who conducted the training, and they both had a great time.  Gracie’s coach was Ryan, although everyone called him, “Shrek” because of his Scottish accent.

Joey’s coach was Rob, and he was great.  Joey said he learned more skills at our local AYSO camp than he did when he went to the David Beckham Academy in Los Angeles!  It’s going to be a great soccer season this fall.  I’ll be coaching Gracie again for sure, and I might be coaching Joey, if I can manage the time.  It’ll be pretty busy, though.  I’ll be coaching, serving on the AYSO board, and refereeing games.  Whew.

Anyway, click on the pictures to check out the full gallery of pics.

Joe Griego

This year, Gracie decided she wanted to try out the local swim team, the Bishop Stingrays.  It’s her first time in competitive swimming, and she’s having a great time.  I took photos from her very first swim meet, the Bishop Invitational.  Since this was her first time ever, each swim was her “best time.”  She swam the 50-freestyle, 25-yard freestyle, the 25-yard breaststroke, the 50 and 25-yard backstroke, and some relay events.  It’s great exercise, and as you’ll see in the photo gallery, she’s having a great time.  Click on the photo to visit the full gallery for her first swim meet.

She had her second swim meet, the “Duel in the Pool” versus the Mammoth Lakes Sharks swim club.  Those photos can be seen by clicking on the photo to the right.  She improved on her times, which was really great.  She’s definitely no expert swimmer yet, but she IS only eight years old, after all.  She’s having a ball, staying really fit, and spending time with her new swim team friends.  I hope she continues to enjoy swim team as much as I did when I was younger!

Joe Griego