Vacation 2011

As 2011 draws closer, our plan to vacation in Italy is looking more appealing. We take suggestions...more details as time passes.

Final getaway 2010

It seems that it is becoming a tradition of the Leyva family to conclude our summer with a final getaway to Santa Barbara. We are drawn to S.B. for it's aesthetic appeal, the weather, the tranquility and the proximity to Los Angeles. Without traveling too far, we can escape and feel like we are hundreds of miles away. This past Sunday we drove to Santa Barbara and spent the night at the Miramonte Hotel (a recent acquisition of the Hyatt chain). It was nice to have been given an ocean view, however, it was so cloudy it was difficult to appreciate the view. Furthermore, there was a busy highway/street that divided the hotel and the beach, so the noise pollution made it difficult to perceive the wonderful sound of waves. Fortunately for us, we got to see the sun after a mostly cloudy/overcast morning. The highlight of our trip however, seems to have been (by consensus) our kite flying, what a relaxing truly wonderful experience! When the wind is just right and the place that you are flying the kite at is pleasing to the eye. Indeed we have been blessed this summer, amid most of our activities, we have always taken the time to thank God for the wonderful experiences and memories that we have once again created. Looking forward to another wonderful school year, so that we can be deserving of many more vacations to come.
Until 2011...Ciao

Huntington Beach Ca

A family does not have to travel far to enjoy a relaxing time away from the routine and the everyday dreaded chores. This entry consists of another little fragment of our summer vacation in 2010. For this we traveled south about an hour and a half and settled in Huntington Beach, CA. It was intended to be the vacation from the vacation. Our plans included spending most of the time by the pool/beach, and laying out in the sun and reading our favorite reads, however... it's early August and it has been in the low 70's high 60's this week in Orange county. Very nice weather to go bike ridding or walking on the beach, but too cold to dive in the cold pool or even colder ocean water. The only thing missing was rain! We had fog, we had cold breeze and some sunshine at times. We do what we can with what we are given. In this case it was relaxation with out heat.

The one good thing is the annual surfing competition was taking place so we got to sit and watch, the best surfers, BMX bikers and skateboarders compete for first place. Not our typical activity of interest, but fun without too much sun! ;-)

Final day in NYC

We have never really known why they call New York City "The Big Apple" (have not really taken the time to google it). After a few days stay we certainly know why it is also called"the city that never sleeps." Summer days last until close to 9:00 P.M. when the sun sets. We all know how difficult it is to go to sleep before the sun has set! Then there is the heat, who can sleep when the only time you can walk around without the concern of a sunburn is in the evening/night?
Our stay in NYC, has been mostly a whirlwind experience, we get up, get ready, go out see, explore and come back to our hotel room exhausted from all the running around. It has been a wonderful and enriching experience to explore a city with such broad and diverse history. Since we could not leave without having New York style pizza, we decided to go to a place that was recommended by a local, "John's Pizza" (not to be confused with Papa John's). It was right next to Times Square. Very good pizza indeed, although we are comparing with California pizza so it's a little different.
Since the day we arrived the weather forecasters predicted rain. We are truly grateful that for once it has not rained on us even when it was predicted. A nice way to bid a great city goodbye. We love NYC, we promise to be back someday!

Uptown New York

Today we have have had much better touring experience than we did yesterday in terms of the hop on hop off. We had a knowledgeable tour guide that took us to the uptown part of the city. Yesterday we went to the statue of liberty (liberty island) and through different parts of downtown New York with a tour guide that was humming songs almost the entire time. She did not know what to say(and she demanded tips)! We decided to get off and get on a different buss but all of them were overcrowded and we ended up sitting on the bottom (which is useless because we could not see anything). Today we got to see Harlem, and Central Park as well as the Upper East side. Rain was predicted for today, but so far we have been fortunate enough to only have cloudy skies in the morning and really great weather afterwards. Our day is not over but we hope to go to the other side of the Hudson river later tonight, where we will be able to get good pictures of the New York skyline. Until tomorrow...

The Big Red (Puffing) Apple

On Thursday we had a wonderful day touring the big apple. The following is our top ten list for the day.
Things (people) we miss from CA
1. Our Family
2. Our Friends
3. The weather (dry and comfortable).
4. Our Bed
5. Our kitchen
6. The banned smoking areas almost everywhere!
7. 7-8 Hours of Sleep (specially Alec!)
8. Spacious streets, homes and buildings in general
9. Our couch (Alec's favorite)
10. You.
Things (people) we don't miss from CA
1. Our Jobs
2. Our Schedule
3. The 405 freeway
4. Work related phone calls
5. Sales calls and telemarketing calls at home at 8:00 A.M.
6. The Pizza
7. The diversity of food choices
8. Bills to Pay
9. Returning Phone Calls
10. WORK!!!!!

Do's and Don'ts

On Wednesday July 7th, we headed towards New York City our final destination of our vacation. Here is a list of our do's and our Don'ts based on our experience:

Don't
1. Ever take the Amtrak from any destination in the east to another city. They will cancel the trip and squeeze everyone into one train. Stop at every possible stop and take literally twice as long than originally expected! A 2 1/2 hour trip will be 6 hours including wait time. Is it really worth your time, while on vacation?
2. Don't go wait for the train on an empty stomach, it can be hours or days until your next meal.
3. Don't take the train!
4. Don't buy tickets to the gray line company (red buses) of the Hop on Hop off in New York City. They are overcrowded and run a lot less often than the Blue sightseeing Hop on Hop Off.
5. Don't take Amtrak!!!

Do
1. Pay whatever necessary for a good night stay.
2. Stay in a location that is centrally located in town. Everything will take a lot less time to accomplish.
3. Bring good walking shoes or lots of money for cabs.
4. Bring a good Umbrella, even if it's summer and sunny.

Smithsonian Memories

Someday everything we did today will be all gone, all but a memory. The memories we will retain will be meaningful and unique for all three of us on different levels. Our first stop today was the museum (strategically planed since it was 105 f. outdoors today). The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History was were we spent most of our time. Viewing dinosaurs (guess who's idea that was?) . Then we scheduled an appointment to view over 60 species of butterflies in their natural habitat. Wow, we had never been so close and in such proximity to so many beautiful butterflies! The tour includes walking into a chamber where the butterflies flutter around you, while you walk around plants and greenery. In some cases they even land on you (which the guide said is good luck).
After our amazing butterfly tour we had a chance to visit the Ford theater where President Abraham Lincoln was shot (he lived across the street). Alec had never visited so he really enjoyed the experience. Finally he (Alec) wanted us to post the fact that he was on the radio today. It turns out that our rental car is a Ford and since it is fairly new it is still under the free trial satellite subscription. One of the many many radio stations that it has is a station for kids. As Alec was listening they urged the listener (kids) to call in, say their name, where they were from, why they liked the station and then announce the next song. Because we have spent so much time on the road and traveling Alec thought that it would be interesting to do something different then playing his D.S. so he called in...got through, said his name, where he was from and announced the next song. A special version of the song from the movie "Wizard of Oz" "Somewhere over the rainbow" What a thrill that was! He almost forgot how old he was! Maybe because these are the last few days of being 9 years old...
All that walking and all those memories are enough to get anyone tired, so we are done for the day. We are now at our hotel, packing up for our train ride tomorrow to New York City, our last stop on our vacation. We hope we can blog while in New York, there is a possibility they may not have computer access. If not, we will update our blog upon our return home, if so then we will be back tomorrow at about this time. Good Night.

Government For the People...

After a wonderful 4th of July we continued on our all American vacation in the capitol of our country, paying a visit to the Capitol Building. We had attempted to schedule a tour of the White House but that was not available so we were granted the opportunity to tour the Capitol Building. A unique and wonderful learning experience. The tour guide expressed it to Alec succinctly: "to travel is to learn and educate yourself" and learn we did. We stood in the exact room where presidents have been payed their last respects. We also got a chance to visit the Library of Congress. What a beautiful part of the building that is! (when we post pictures we will include some of that part of our tour) Everything that took place indoors was wonderful. Outside the thermometer was no lower than 95 f. all day! With humidity!!! Being the determined Americans that we are, we still walked up the stairs to the Lincoln Memorial monument and walked around the Korean war sculpture Monument. Our experience with the White House, was not as good because of all the possible threats, it is viewed from about 1/4 mile distance. The zoom of our lens was the only thing that made it possible to view it more distinctly. A significant difference from when we came in 1999 and were able to walk right up and get a tour of the inside without reservations! Times have changed without a doubt. We are still proud to be living in this country under God indivisible and justice for all.

Land of the Free

As suspected we were too tired to log on on Sunday July 4th. 2010. After the late fireworks and and some travel time to our hotel it was impossible to blog our day on Sunday. Monday we stayed at hotel that did not have a computer room so it was impossible to maintain our blog on that day as well, so here we are 2 days later, giving a delayed account of our holiday.

This fourth of July was one of the longest we have ever had. We got up at 4:00 a.m to get ready and be on time for our 7:30 a.m. flight out of Birmingham Alabama. Between returning our rental car and the shuttle from one place to the other and all the inspections at the airport, it was just enough time to catch our flight to Baltimore Maryland. We spent an hour and a half on the first part of the flight, an hour and a half in Charlotte N.C. (our layover) and another hour and a half from Charlotte to Baltimore, 4-5 hours for what should have been a 3 hour flight! Because the threat alert was high on the 4th, were searched intensely. Finally we arrived at 1:30 p.m. but because of the time change we lost an hour, again....despite all the time lost, we, all three of us concurred that it was one of the best 4th of July's we have ever spent. It was amazing to be sitting at the Washington D.C. Mall, looking out towards the Lincoln Memorial, right next to the Washington Monument commemorating the most American of holidays. Because the sun does not set until close to 9:00 p.m. the fireworks did not start until after 9:00 p.m., once again well worth it! We enjoyed the fireworks synchronized to music and would not exchange the experience regardless of all the idle time during the day. For us one of the best, we have ever had. There must of been hundreds of thousands of people in one place, with the liberty of doing whatever they wanted, yet respecting each other and their country! An amazing experience for anyone to be had.

A Different Kind of Saturday

Today was a very different kind of Saturday. We spent the night about a 20 min. drive from the Georgia Dome, which is where we had to be in the morning, but it was well worth it. Peace and quiet are worth every penny spent.
We arrived to find that it was full to capacity, parking and all! 75,000 people all under one roof! A significantly different experience from what we are used to on Saturday. The sermon was by Ted Wilson, the son of a former world church president. Very traditional, conservative, familiar in nature. The challenge came at the end...trying to exit the place with all those people! Well, we did and we even made it back in time to spend a few hours back there. Meeting up with old friends, and people we had not seen the first few days we were there. Once again we were happy to be able to see people we had not seen in 10-15 years, some even more.
We are now spending a few hours back in Birmingham, Alabama. We will be departing at 7:40 a.m. to Baltimore MD where we will drive to Washington D.C. for a very American, red white and blue 4Th of July.

Have a wonderful, safe, happy day tomorrow. Will be back (if not too tired) tomorrow night after the fireworks.

"Open Happiness"

Last night we stayed at a hotel with what seemed like the entire 75,000 attendees to the G.C. Not only was it crowded, but it was loud and not the usual quiet, clean, impeccable Hyatt that we are used to. We remained at the site because it was the only reservation that we had, but thank goodness we are at a new Hyatt tonight and very happy as usual.
We got up today and after our morning routine we headed to downtown Atlanta to meet up with our friends, the Sabot's. Little did we know that Atlanta has almost as much traffic as the 101, 405 or 10 freeway in Los Angeles. After a long trek we finally made it and met up to tour the Coca Cola museum (hence the title of our blog today). Although I am not a Coca Cola lover or drinker, we all had the opportunity today to sample over 60 different kinds of drinks made by Coca Cola (no we didn't drink full 8 oz. of all 60!). We also sampled, coke zero, cherry coke, diet coke, vanilla coke, etc etc (wow, we never knew so many existed!) finally an added bonus was watching a few movies in 3D and 4D (all relating to Coke of course).
Since we are here to attend the G.C., we did attend a little while after the Coke tour ;-)
We would say Good night at this time, but caffeine and sugar impaired our sleep, so we will keep writing until tomorrow morning ha-ha-ha just kidding
Goooooooooood NIIIIIIIIIIIGTT! (just a little hyper and O.D'ed today;-)

Reunited

We finally reached our destination for this portion of our trip. After a good lunch in downtown Atlanta(which is beautiful!), we headed to to the Georgia Dome, where we were able to meet a couple dozen friends that we had not seen. Some in a looooong time and others quite recently. Some from as close as Los Angeles, around the corner from where we live, and others as far as Africa! Some we missed and others we could not even remember their names! But all in all a wonderful fun experience. Alec got to see his good friends Nicole and Jeremy Sabot so everything else was not as boring :-)
Tomorrow we have agreed to meet our friends for a tour of the Coca Cola museum. We are still looking forward to the peaches, hopefully before we leave.
Good Night.

Peachy Day

Our entry today has nothing interesting, innovative or fun. All we did was get up, work out, get ready and travel about 2 hours to Atlanta. That's it! No pictures because we did not even get off the car at the downtown where the G.C. is taking place. We did notice that the city is very clean, not see a single hint of graffiti, trash or indigents asking for money at the downtown area. We guess why they have not scheduled the meeting in Los Angeles. Tomorrow we plan on actually attending the meeting that brought us here, AND eating a famous Georgia Peach.

Welcome to the Usual!

Today was a day of "usuals", we got up at 2:00 a.m. to get ready to leave our home at 3:00 a.m. so that we could take our shuttle to the airport so we could arrive on time for our 6:30 a.m. flight (our usual time to depart). Then we flew for what seemed an eternity and finally arrived in Dallas TX for a 3 hour layover (as usual for us). For some reason the flight arrived early and the departing flight to our destination (Birmingham Alabama) departed late, so we ended spending more time at our layover (as Usual). We finally arrived at exactly 5:30 p.m. to a TORRENTIAL, Xtreme, rain storm (as exponentially usual for us!). The rain was so intense that the water was ankle high within a few min. of the downpour. Know what else was usual? We rented a car for the next few days to travel to Atlanta Georgia and guess what we were given? A blue Honda Civic, exactly the same color and style as the one we left back home (another usual, except this one is 7 years newer). We are finally at our hotel (the usual) where we will spend only this night before heading out to Atlanta tomorrow. We will see if we are faced with another day of "usuals"... Have the usual Good Night!

Hours left.

In just eight and a half hours we depart from LAX to Birmingham Alabama and we are not done packing. We are hoping that we do not forget anything as it is a common occurrence in every trip. We just hope it is not anything major this time. Our next entry on this Blog we hope is in Birmingham Alabama, when we arrive at our first stop of our 14 day trip. Good night to all of you, since I know I won't be getting much shut eye tonight. Hasta manana...

One More Week

In just a week we will be in Birmingham Alabama, our first stop before we arrive at our destination of Atlanta GA. This week it's all about packing and running errands so that we can travel and spend 12 days in peace. Looking forward to a great time in the summer humidity of the east coast.

It's getting closer!

It's been close to a month since our last posting. Now we are 3 1/2 weeks from our departure to our next all American vacation. We anxiously await a fun red, white and blue patriotic experience.

Countdown Again...

Once again we start our countdown to our next vacation. This summer we are scheduled to visit a few places we (the adults) have been to before but look forward to nevertheless. We start out in Atlanta Georgia, attending a worldwide gathering, then head out to Washington D.C., from there we drive to New York City and spend a few days there, all that in a 12 day time frame. 6 weeks before we head out to the east coast.

Kayaking Adventure.

On the day before our departure from Kauai, we had the first time experience of Kayaking as a family. The company we chose for our adventure happened to have kayaks that fit 3 people which was perfect for us. What an experience it was! First we kayaked, then we hiked one of the most beautiful places we have ever hiked at, then we ended at the Wailua waterfall. Gorgeous to look at indeed. It was one of those places that you photograph in your brain and never forget. Although the weather changed for the worse on the last 2 days of our stay in Kauai, we were grateful that it wasn't as sunny and hot because we didn't get as sunburned as we could of, even with the sunblock. Alec is still relying on the Aloe for the sunburn on his shoulders, but it could of been worse. Although the worst part was not the sunburn, it was paddling against the wind! We were a little sore...OK a lot! The wind, the threat of rain and the mud along the way on the hike, was all worth it to see the wonderful Wailua fall, an experience we would definitely repeat given the chance.

In the evening we had a wonderful dinner at Casa di Amici in the little town in Poipu, an Italian eatery that our Friend Stephani recommended. Back at the hotel at the Regency Club we enjoyed dessert and the company of our friends that recommended everything about this vacation. One of our best with out a doubt! We are immensely grateful for the recommendation of one of the best hotels we have ever stayed at. A truly wonderful unforgettable Hawaiian experience that we look forward to repeating someday again. Mahalo!

Whales in the Horizon

We needed the rain for old times sake. It would not have been a true Leyva vacation without a little bit of downpour. Since we had been having such nice weather we decided to get up at the crack of dawn today to witness a Hawaiian sunrise. Much to our dismay as soon as we got comfortable at our spot to witness the sunrise, it started POURING! Not a few drops, not a steady drizzle, but buckets. Fortunately we had already taken the couple of pictures that we have included in today's blog. One of the wonderful perks of having an ocean front room during this time of year in Hawaii is that we captured glimpses of the migrating whales while sitting in our balcony. What amazing creatures; tons of weight airborne as if they were light as a bird. What a spectacular sight for the eye to capture and the brain to store it it's memory bank. Once again we are truly grateful for a blessed day. Alec says it's one of the best days of his life. He says that every time we are on vacation. Tomorrow we are scheduled to go on a 4 hour Kayak trip, part hike, part kayak, ending in a waterfall. We will see if that becomes the best day in his "long" 9 year life. Aloha again, until tomorrow.

Finally After 15 Years!

It took us 15 years to finally make it to the Island of Kauai. It had nothing to do with our method of transportation ;-) As some of our closest family and friends know; our original honeymoon destination was Maui and Kauai, but because of unfortunate circumstances we were unable to visit our original honeymoon destination and we ended in Oahu (which was not bad, had it not been raining the whole time). Fifteen years later as we were planning our 15th anniversary celebration, we decided to visit Kauai for the first time (we made it to Maui about 5 years ago). It was certainly a long wait but well worth it!

We are extremely fortunate to be staying at the Grand Hyatt resort in the Po'ipu area. An enormous, beautiful and magnificent resort on the island. As if that wasn't enough, our friend Stephani upgraded us to Diamond Status, which means that we have an ocean view room with Regency room access and truly amazing service.

Yesterday we decided to explore the island and we drove up to the north shore. While we were there we got to see very green and lush scenery as well as breathtaking views. We even got to visit an old lighthouse. Alec loved the opportunity to participate in a scavenger hunt.

Today we decided to go for a "nice" hike to the Waimea area. We didn't hike the Waimea canyon, because that would have taken all year (Waimea is the Grand Canyon of Kauai), but we hiked alright! It was about 7 miles round trip with treacherous inclines and terrain that was like no other place we had hiked. fortunately for us we had an awesome breakfast at our resort, so we were fueled with extra unleaded! God was good to us today, we woke up to a gorgeous view of the Pacific Ocean from our room, we had good food, a great workout, a magnificent sunset, absolutely perfect weather (about 74 F. and breezy) and the opportunity to view and to wake up to something similar tomorrow. With more next time... Aloha!

Kauai in less than 2 weeks!

We are closer and closer to our departure to Hawaii. These next few days will be for planning and getting the things we need to make this trip a memorable experience.

Four More Weeks

As we approach the date of our departure to Kauai we become more anxious to personally see the many wonders we have been reading about. Majestic sights, the fun hiking trails, and wonderful beaches, to name a few. In the recent past a friend at work heard we were headed to Kaui so she was kind enough to use one of her Hotel upgrades, she upgraded us to Ocean view! One more thing to look forward to... four more weeks and counting.

Aloha Time

In seven short weeks we will be flying out to Kauai, Hawaii. We don't don't usually travel in the spring, but since this is our 15th wedding anniversary we have decided to celebrate going back to the Island we intended to visit on our honeymoon 15 years ago.