Home for the Holidays

So I have been in the US since Dec 17. I am officially enjoying an off season with no stress of training or touching a volleyball. But it is a short off season. After the new year, things will be back to normal. For Christmas, my entire family was in San Diego. My parents stayed at my sister's house, my brother, sister in law and nephews stayed in a beach house in Mission Beach. Drew and I stayed in our homes; however, we frequently congregated at the beach house. Over the course of the Christmas week, I rode the bumper cars at Belmont Park, played some catch with Ryan and Bil, opened a teddy bears belly to find a BEAUTIFUL sapphire and diamond necklace inside, played with Jensen and Jayden, got a game of Catchphrase in there, and spent some great time with my family. At the tail end of the week, my Hawaii grandmother surprised us all and came for a visit....on Friday, December 28 I decided I was going to drive to Colorado with my bro to help with Jayden........but it turned into a HUGE adventure...TBC

Home via Bangkok

Since the last match in Korat vs. Indonesia, I have obviously not kept up with the blogging. To be brief about it, we headed straight to Bangkok on a bus the morning after we lost. We stayed at the Alexander hotel for 3 nights and had a blast. Bankgok is certainly a busy, fast paced city. We shopped, ate tons, saw the Grand palace, and went to the floating Market..........We really experienced some things that no other place in the world could match. Then we headed back to Los Angeles. And, we were very ready to be home.

Heidi is 30!

We celebrated Heidi's 30th birthday in Nakhon Ratchasima...yes, that is where we are in the world. Last year we were in Doha, Qatar and the year before...Philippines. We went to a friend of Tony's, who has a beautiful home and played games, sang songs, ate a lot of Thai food, and cake.....it was fun!

Beat Vietnam

So...update on the games.....we lost to Thai 2 21-19 and 29-27.....big bummer. It was only preliminary so we can still win the gold, we just have to beat Indonesia 1,Thai 1 and Thai 2 to win the gold. The road is long, but we are ready.

Thailand Match today

Today is our toughest match. We played Laos yesterday. Yes, Laos has a beach volleyball team. We play Thai 2 which is really Thai 1. It is their country and their heat, but we have the ability to take em down. We are chillin in our AC dorm room until we go. We will have a huge cheering section since all the other sports know this is our biggest match. Not nervous, but excited. It should be a good game no matter what. Yesterday after Laos match we went to the mall and ate Sizzler for the second time, then we go the THE WORLD's BEST FOOT MASSAGE. It was an hour and 20 min, and we got tea afterward. I love this country for one reason....Thai Massage. Will let you know how we do.

Thailand Pics

Tourist Day!

Khao Yai National Park.......we saw a waterfall, a monkey, lots of elephant poop, and supposedly the grounds where Tiger roam. We strolled in the van for 1.5 hours to this national park. On the way out of the park we stopped for food and elephant rides....greatest thing I have done so far. After the elephants, we headed to Saveone market...basically a big swap meet with tons of junk and a few unique items.......lots of stinky food. I experienced using the squatter for second time....

SEAGAmes 2007

So it has been sometime since I have updated. But, I promise to be better. Heidi and I are in Korat (short for Nakhon Ratchasima). We have been here since December 5....arrival time 4:30am from the Bangkok airport. But every minute since the arrival has been exciting, fun-filled, adventurous, and entertaining. The crew we brought along includes The Ilustre family-Hedder, Erlinda, Herme, Steve, Wayne, Ryan, Drew, Lynn and Rod Pascua. Yes, we brought our own cheering section. On Dec 6, we checked out the Athlete's Village-where we sleep, got Thai massage, and shopped. On Dec 7, we played our first match vs. Malaysia 2. Won! Dec 8-Day off...so we rented a driver and van and headed to Khao Yai National Park......TBC