This winter was a busy season of sports for us! 

Joey went straight from his water polo season to basketball.

He made the JV team, but he was pulled up to the varsity team for the first half of the season. Our football team was doing so well in the playoffs that their season was extended. That meant that three of our varsity players were delayed starting basketball. 

Our football team ended up winning the state championship, so Joey played on Varsity through December.

He was a JV team co captain, so instead of just playing on Varsity, he actually went to both JV and Varsity practices and games. 

It was neat for him to have that experience, but it also meant that he wasn't home much.

At the end of the season, he got pulled up to Varsity again for the playoffs. 

His team ended up winning the CIF championship! 

Hannah and Ellie both joined a club volleyball team at the beginning of winter.

Hannah wants to play volleyball in high school, and our high school's program is very competitive so it will hopefully give her some extra practice and experience. 

The girls have practice once a week and then they each have a tournament one Saturday a month.

Ellie's team happens to be filled with all of her favorite friends from school.

It's so fun watching her because she's basically having the time of her life.

She also seems to be somewhat of a natural which is really random. The parents on the team were asking me why she's so good, and I told them that I had no idea because I tried out for my middle school volleyball team and didn't make it! Ha!

For her very first tournament (and game) ever, she won "Player of the Tournament." She was very excited!

The girls' soccer season was extended into winter because they both made their All Star teams.

For Hannah, it didn't really count as All Stars since there was only one team in her division so her regular team just became the All Star team.

Hannah likes playing soccer a lot so it was still a fun opportunity.

And I love watching her run around like a gazelle on the soccer field.

Ellie, on the other hand, was on a legit All Start team, and they were really good.

They actually won the regional championship tournament.

They got medals,

and a huge trophy!

The girls also played rec basketball this winter. Andy coached both of their teams. They love when Andy coaches them, and they both had really good seasons. Ellie had back to back high scoring games with twelve points in one game and eleven points in the other game. Hannah ended the season with her best game yet: fifteen points and a triple double (points, steals, and blocks). 

Then in January, Ellie started softball. At one point we realized that she was in five sports at one time: swim, volleyball, soccer, basketball and softball. Crazy! Thankfully now, soccer and basketball have ended. Still, I never would have thought we could manage having the kids in so many sports at a time. Thank goodness Joey can drive! (I say that all of the time!)

Every February, Andy's brother, sister-in-law, and kids come into town. This year we decided to meet up in San Luis Obispo to have a mini family reunion with Andy's dad's family. Andy's Uncle Frank lives in SLO, and he has one son (Andy's cousin) that lives nearby. His other son lives in DC and just happened to be in San Luis Obispo the weekend we were there. We also got to see Andy's Aunt Terry, who is no longer married to Frank, but they have remained good friends. 

Joey drove up with Papa J and Grandma first thing Saturday morning, but Andy, the girls, and I drove up Saturday night after the girls' basketball games (because Andy is the coach).

Timmy and Sarah found this amazing Airbnb called the Skyhouse. It was stunning. It was about a twenty minute drive from the main road up a twisty, dirt road up a mountain. Since we drove up at night, we saw how cool the house was, but then we woke up to this view! It was almost 360 degrees of beautiful, green mountains and then the ocean. We could see the big rock at Morro Bay in the distance.

We were at the Airbnb with Andy's parents and Timmy, Sarah, Hank, and Jane. The place was so big we had room to spare!

We had lots of fun just hanging out at the house. 

The pool wasn't heated, but the hot tub was, so the kids would go back and forth between the freezing cold pool and the lovely hot tub.

We had gorgeous weather the two days we were there!

This was my morning view while I had my quiet time.

There were so many cozy places to read. It was just hard not to be distracted by the view.

The whole property was hundreds of acres, and they had a herd of cows that pretty much roamed free. These guys were on the road when we were driving out for dinner Sunday night.

Sunday night the girls left early to go to Aunt Terry's house to look at her artwork. She's an amazing painter, and Peggie and I wanted to buy some of her artwork. I got this beautiful floral piece that's now in my bathroom.

Then we met up with the boys at a pub for happy hour. 

After happy hour, we went to an Italian restaurant in SLO. We had 18 Lanzones (including a former Lanzone) at our table. That's what happens when two brothers each have two boys...lots of Lanzones! Terry's husband was the only non-Lanzone.

The four cousins sat at one end of the table. They haven't been together since they were little kids. It was neat seeing them reconnect/getting to know each other.

I have no idea what's happening here, but it makes me laugh.

It was sweet seeing these two brothers back together. They are the two surviving siblings out of the original four. 

These second cousins were super cute together. They are just about a year apart.

On Monday we hung out around the house some more.

We also had a quick photo op with the five grandkids.

Then that afternoon the whole Lanzone crew came up to the Skyhouse to hang out and have dinner.

The two brothers had a great time telling stories from the childhood.

The Skyhouse had no problem fitting us all for dinner.

Frank turns 75 later this year, so Papa J got him an early birthday present.

We left San Luis Obispo late Tuesday morning. On our way home, we stopped by Solvang for lunch. The weather had cooled considerably and we were all anxious to get through LA traffic, so we didn't stay for long, but it is such a cute little town. The girls had fun exploring this darling "Fairy and Frog" store.

What a quick, but great trip!