Aliso Niguel High - Class of 2029 and 2032

Look out for these two........go Wolverines!!

The high school track was open so we let them do a lap. Ellie with a strong kick to finish the 400. Em pooped out after about 100 meters.

Chillin Line A Villain

Last week Ellie attended musical theatre camp at the Performer's Academy. They had one week to learn a theatrical performance of Disney's Descendants 2 (Chillin' like a Villain) and put on a performance Friday evening. 

If you are not familiar with the Descendants series it tells the story of the teenage children of some of the evil Disney characters - Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty), the Evil Queen (Snow White), Jafar (Aladdin), and Cruella De Vil (101 Dalmatians). The plot is a little confusing but has to do with these teenagers trying to adjust to life outside of some island prison, where their parents are still be held captive. Beyond that I am lost. 

Ellie landed a minor role as Jane, the daughter of the Fairy God Mother, and as some sort of pirate cheerleader. 

You can actually download the entire performance if you want at this link, it makes for a riveting hour!! 
         https://vimeo.com/album/5235677/video/276627895 


Ellie appears in the opening song and dance number - around 40 seconds (blue dress). Her main speaking role begins in the scene that starts at around 6:40 and ends at 9:30 minutes but you will have to turn the volume WAY up.  Her next appearance is at around 27 minutes, this time she is playing some sort of pirate cheerleader - left side towards the back on a riser. The action really heats up at about 29 minutes with some sort of epic sword fight - cue the cheerleading!! She comes back on stage at around 31:30 in a non-speaking role as the action heats up between some of the main characters. A song and dance number ensues at around 36:40 but by this point I am hopelessly lost on the plot. At 39:30 Ellie does a dance move that Darcy tells me is called the "coffee grounder" and it finishes shortly after.  At 40:45 Ellie does her curtain call.  

If you stick around all the way to the end, around 42:50, you will see one of those very touching moments when a parent in the armed services surprise his kid by being in the audience. That was pretty cool to see. 

All in all pretty amazing what these kids learn in one week. 
If you don't have an hour to watch the entire thing here are some still shots - also provided by the Performers Acadamy. Really cool that they provide a link to the video and take hundreds of still shots so that crazy parents can put down there cameras and phones and just enjoy it. 

Ellie's friend Julie and her little sister Lizzy were also in the play. Ellie is especially close to Julie (they both go to school and after school care together). In a few days Julia's family is relocating to Chicago for work. Ellie got Julia a friendship necklace and a picture of them together framed as a goodbye gift. 

Emily Reads!

The past few months Emily has really been working on sight words and reading - its starting to click!

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A Catalina Getaway

With the kids in PHX for the week Darcy and hopped the Catalina Express ferry in Long beach for a 36 hour island getaway / 9 year wedding anniversary trip. 


The Long beach skyline fading away. 

Santa Catalina rising out of the Pacific. 

Really the only thing on the island is a tiny little town, called Avalon, with some good restaurants, touristy little shops, beaches and hiking (and buffalo left behind from a movie production in the 20's). 

Thursday night we had a great sunset! 

The next day we hiked out to the Wriggly Botanical Gardens and then straight up to a summit where you can see the Pacific on both sides. Turns out the Wriggly family (yes, the gum magnate from Chicago) had a long history on the island and even brought the Cubbies out for spring training during the ~20s / 30s / 40s. 

Toward the back of the garden is the William Wrigley Memorial. 

At the top there is a nice perch that D found with a view looking east back toward Avalon.

William Wrigley was interned here for some amount of time before being moved, presumably back to Chicago.

From there we did a STEEP hike up to the summit. We literally went from sea level up to 1,800 to 2,000 feet, I reckon. 

Looking west, very steep down to the ocean on the back side of the island. 

Looking east back towards the city, if you look close you can see some boats coming into port. 

We lingered for a bit enjoying the silence at the summit, then the clouds moved in and we decided to head back. If younger, we probably would have kept going. 

The afternoon was all lounging in the courtyard / garden at our hotel, the Pavilion, walking around the harbor, and relaxing at the Descanso beach club. 

Heres to 9 exciting years - next year is 10!! Where should we go.......

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Irvine Summertime Classic (update 2)

Played under the lights tonight! Lost to S. Huntington Beach 11 to 1 but it was actually the girls best game of the season. Some good hits and some good fielding. 

Ellie saw action at 2nd, catcher, and left center. 

One at bat tonight w/ a K - but she at least fouled one off.  

Ellie kept the game moving along behind the dish. 

Ellie's friend Jacob Weitzman back from Child Time was there with watching her sister. So great that they stayed and cheered Ellie on! 

Next game Saturday at 3:00 against Scripps Ranch!

******* 

In the Saturday game the Ladies in Tiel lost a nail bitter 6 to 5 to Scripps Ranch. They actually had the lead, for the first time all season, but just couldn't hang on. They had a couple opportunities that could have won them the game but just couldn't capitalize at a few key moment. 


Ellie striking out with the bases jammed..........

Ellie working hard behind the plate:

Next game Sunday morning at 8:00 - against Carlsbad. 


******* 

Early start today as we arrived at the ballpark around quarter to 7 to face-off against Carlsbad. Lost something on the order of 10 to 5 but the Blades made it interesting. Probably Ellie's best game as she FINALLY made contact (was thrown out at first) but got two RBIs. 

The next girl was hit by a pitch and so they brought Ellie in to pinch run and was able to steal second. 

Once again she was behind the plate - for a girl who had never caught she was the teams best catcher. 

Thanks GJ for making it to all three games this weekend!!! 

Well that is a wrap on softball folks. The blades didn't win a game but they made some real progress and sure had a lot of spirit. 

Not sure what we are going to do with all our free time now. 

Until next season! 

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