Thursday, September 29, 2016

California 2016: Day 4 (Redondo Beach/Torrance)

It's been a few days since my last post, but for once, I have a sort of valid excuse: work! I haven't added up all the hours yet, but I think I worked over 40 hours last week. It's taken some time to get used to doing that after not having a job for so long. As a result, I'm re-learning how to balance my life. My goal is to post at least once a week, most likely on an off-day from work.

Last time we talked about hockey, Lucas had just wrapped up his sortouts. We found out later that week that he made the B6 team so he'll be playing B level for the 3rd straight year. That was good news since it would be a bit demoralizing for him if he slid back.

None of his teammates from last year are on the team, but a kid he befriended in power skating last year as well as another kid he knows through Zach are on the team so he's happy about that. Actually, the power skating kid (Cole) was the top scorer in Novice B last year so that's a good sign for this team's scoring chances.

Speaking of the team, they have a name. An embarrassing one. Well, to me as an adult, I guess. The coach picked 3 kids names out of the hat after the first practice and told them they were responsible for coming up with a name by the next practice. I wasn't there due to work, but it sounds like they initially were going to go with the Fire Hawks, which is pretty decent. However, the name then devolved into the Emojis. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, emojis are the faces/pictures you create with keyboard symbols. The most popular example being the smiley face :)

Lucas wasn't too fond of the name so I gotta respect his opinion there, but I guess kids will be kids, and it's a whole new world. If that's what they want, so be it. Anyway, they have one more weekend of practices coming up, and then his first game will be Sunday, Oct 9. Can't wait!

Now, let's get back to California pictures.

When last we left the California posts, Day 3 was coming to an end, and we were in Escondido. On Day 4, we drove back up to Los Angeles with a quick pit stop at one of my favorite fast food places of all time, In-N-Out Burger. We then headed up to Redondo Beach, where we would be staying for the rest of the trip.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it previously, but the main purpose of our trip was to see my grandmother, who has recently moved into an assisted living facility. We haven't seen her since Lucas was a baby, and since she's in her mid-90s, we wanted to make sure we got to see her again just in case something happens with her health.

She's staying in a very nice place in Torrance, about 10-15 minutes from where we were staying so we got to see about 4 times during the trip. We took plenty of pictures with her, in just about every configuration of family members possible. Below are the highlights.




Afterwards, we headed back to the Redondo City pier, where we walked around the shops and people watched for a bit. After that, Lucas finally got a chance to play in the ocean. He met some other kid who was there on vacation and they had a good time together, so much so that we had to drag him away.





We ended our trip to the pier with yet one more visit to a brewery, this time the King Harbor Brewing Company, which is right on the boardwalk next to the pier. Marilu and I sampled their wares while Lucas had ice cream from a shop a few doors down.





After that, we headed back to the hotel and relaxed, in anticipation of the next day's activities. Day 5 will be up soon with pictures from the Dodgers game.

1 comment:

Mom/Grammy said...

Those were all nice pictures. Really good one of Grandma with all you boys. I'm happy that you were able to visit with her.