630 Volleyball teams played over MLK weekend in the SoCal Cup in Los Angeles. Since I had to work it ended up being a guys trip. And thanks to winter snow storms here, they got to head out a day early to beat the weather delays....and then school was moved to asynchronous so William didn't end up missing any school!
While Lucy and I battled the snow, the guys were in beautiful, sunny SoCal. On their off day, Friday, they went to Universal Studios while I monitored the parents text thread for all of the travel delays. With that many families each arranging their own travel, there were a variety of airlines and travel times in play. One boy - whose family didn't have nonstop flights - didn't arrive until the middle of the first game on Saturday afternoon. Everyone else made it on time or early.
The 15s were afternoon wave on Saturday and Sunday, so the families had time for morning activities. On Saturday, they hiked the Hollywood Hills sign and on Sunday did The Grove Farmer's Market. In between, there was a lot of tough volleyball. They held their own in most matches, but the boys had a different lineup than usual, as their setter didn't make the trip due to family obligations. Grant, our libero, set last year, so he volunteered to do it. William and Aidan took turned at lib before figuring out the right rotation. It was a great team building exercise though, and they took it into their next tournament. And these Chicago kids and families were loving the LA sunshine. I did mention there was A LOT of snow at home, right?!
Also of note was that the JW Marriott where they stayed in LA was the host hotel for the Emmy's so the walk to/from the convention center was circuitous the last day due to street closures. And John got this photo of William in his volleyball kit (pink shorts in the very middle of the photo) with the "prom people." Or the B-listers as they said since it was mid-afternoon and none of the real stars had arrived to walk the red carpet. To be clear, this photo is taken on zoom from across the street through a construction fence barricade!
Finally, on their way back to the airport they made a detour at the USS Iowa for a quick photo and look about.
