I liked this wall in the athletic building of their logo and mascot, the lion. At the top of the wall it said, "Pursuit of academic excellence, athletic distinction, and Christian values."
They had a very nice pool and aquatic facility, which I took a few pictures of.
Scanning from my seat, from right to left:
We stayed at Oaks Christian and practiced for about two hours. It was the second practice of the day for the team.
After that, we drove to our hotel in Irvine. The next day we would be practicing early in the morning and then spending the rest of the day at Dissneyland.
The hotel we stayed at had only been open for 3 months! I normally do not take pictures of hotel rooms, but I was quite impressed with how "new" the hotel was, and the more, modern decor/features that were in the room.
Apple's new iPad [pictured on the desk] came out less than a week before our trip... it turned out to be the perfect device to have while on the bus or hanging out, or for whenever I had a minute to surf around the internet.
I had a hotel room all to myself, but was graced with two beds!
A nice little coffee maker, fridge and microwave set-up. I think the hotel is mostly a business hotel during the week.
There were two separate bathrooms... one with a shower/tub and sink, and another with a toilet and sink.
Toilet & sink bathroom:
Shower & sink bathroom:
There was a light in the center of the mirror, which was an interesting design.
A picture of the whole room.
I got up very early the next morning in order to beat the crowds at breakfast - after all, I was traveling with a team of about 35 high school kids. I was surprised to find a few boys actually beat me to the breakfast room around 6:00am (we weren't leaving until 7:00am)... turns out they had the same ideas as me! After breakfast, we piled into the bus and headed off to morning swim practice. We held this practice in Newport Beach at Newport Harbor High School from 8am-10am. I took the opportunity to take a morning walk around the campus and enjoy the beautiful weather.
The campus was very nice. The buildings reminded me a bit of the buildings at my college, LMU.
Of course, I had to take a couple pictures of this huge statue of their mascot, the sailor!
This cute logo was on most of the trash bins.
Along one of the walls surrounding the pool area, there was a big mural of tiles. It included tiles of the swimmers and water polo players who went to Newport Harbor High and went onto become Olympians and All-American Athletes. Other tiles included sponsers from local business or families. I took pictures of some of the tiles because I thought they would be neat to show to my FMIL [future-mother-in-law], who was an Olympic Gold Medalist for swimming.
And, some pictures of their pool:
After practice finished, we were off to Disneyland! It was quite a fun day. One of the swim coaches had not been there since he was a very young kid, so it was basically his first trip where he would be able to truly remember the experience. The other coach and I made sure to take him on all the big rides and highlights of going to Disneyland. For both lunch and dinner, we left the park and went to eat at Downtown Disney, which was fun.
Whenever I ride on Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters, I compete with my past scores, and try to set new personal bests. [You are able to email the picture of yourself with your score to anyone you want after the ride... in true geek-style, I have a saved folder of all of my pictures on my computer.] Well, as luck would have it, this trip was a new high record! When I realized how high my final score was, I quickly whipped out my camera to record it in fear that the computers would be broken when we exited the ride. Turns out, the computer worked just fine when I went to email myself the picture.. but, better safe, than sorry!
In the late-afternoon, we hung out at Walt and Mickey's statue in front of the castle so that all of the students could come check in with us. We hung out there for about a half an hour, and I noticed all these fun statues along the fence surrounding that area.
And last, but not least... Walt & Mickey!
A little love for the castle...
I seemed to be the only who was taking a picture from this angle... but I like it!
In the morning, our first stop was to pick up a Fastpass for Space Mountain. Later that evening, it was our turn to ride it!
We also rode on the Monorail.. in the front car! I had not ridden in the front car in a long time, so this was a nice treat!
We stayed until just after the fireworks, and then headed back to the hotel. The next day would be another early wake-up for the swim meet. The next morning, I got up early, finished up packing and went downstairs to eat.
Each time I stay in a hotel that provides a breakfast, I am always impressed when they have a nice waffle maker where you can make your own waffles. It is so easy to use, and the waffle comes out perfect! I've decided that this product will have to be a "must-add" to Zac's and my wedding registry when we register!
Alrighty, 7:15am... and we were off to Santa Margarita Catholic High School for the swim meet! The swim meet warm-ups were to be from 8-9, with the swim meet "kick-off" at 9:00am. Kicking off? Well, I guess it wasn't soccer.. but I still had a great time! I sat at the coaches bench with Kevin and Sidd. It was fun watching our swimmers compete with the other two schools [there ended up being only 3 schools there, when Kevin had expected nearly a dozen!] For each "event" I would write down how fast our swimmers did, just so I could keep involved.. with lots of cheering of course! Toward the end, I made sure to take some pictures of the pool [since I had taken pictures at each of the other schools we visited].
Needless to say, it was a great trip! The swimmers were a great group of kids, and I'd be more than happy to help them out whenever they may need it again! [And if they happen to be going to Disneyland again, all the better!]
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