Departure

Two boys, 2 girls, 2 adults, 2 suitcases to check, 2 carry-ons, 22 hours to get there, 22 days to explore Down Under…

…It’s meant TO be!

Come join us on our Voyage.

2012 Summer Vactaion

Well, the voting has closed. We know a few of you couldn't get to the poll on time. Thanks for trying. Jump to the Voyages page for all the details.  We'll post updates as things progress.  Thanks to all!!

Photo and Vote Update

We've added a link to Dave's TwitPic photos, on the Photo page.  In the majority of cases these are photos that are taken with an iPhone during Dave's globe hopping travel.


Only a few days left to Vote on our summer vacations plans...

Annual Trip - Vote!

Finally!  We've created a short list of countries and the theme this year is the Commonwealth countries. While there are 50+ Commonwealth countries, we needed this to be manageable, so you only have to chose from a short list of 5 countries. Go ahead and vote (visit "Voyages" page) and let us know what you're thinking. 

Hockey Night in Los Angeles!

We started off our New Year - January 2nd, 2012 with Alia's debut at the Staples Center, before the LA Kings took to the ice versus Colorado Avalanche. The annual GOALIE competition!

There were 22 goalies total and only 4 in Alia's age category (12 and under).  You know you're not in Canada when you live in a city with a population of 10 million people and ONLY 22 goalies show up for the skills competition!


Being the only girl, Alia received special treatment and was allowed to dress in the Referee's locker room.

Then, she joined the rest of the goalies in the tunnel as they waited to take the ice against LA King's Alumni shooters!  This was not an easy task...

She took to the ice against Daryl Evans, drafted in 1980 by the Los Angeles Kings and played Left Wing. Evans also played for the Washington Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs and retired in 1991. 

The images below show her against Daryl.  NOTE: the camera takes 5 pictures per second, so you can get an idea of how fast he was moving.  It was all over in just over 1/2 second (0.6 seconds)...so what happened.


Image 1: Daryl starts at center ice, builds up speed, and approaches from the right, moving quickly...he's going for the fake...(0.2 seconds)


Image 2: Daryl fakes and you can see Alia looking in the wrong direction...he has her beat!!!  (0.4 seconds)


Image 3: NO!  He was going to fast! He runs into Alia and loses control of the puck and misses the shot. She was playing aggressively at the top of the crease and he ran into her pad!  She was credited with the save. (0.6 seconds). It's over. Click on any image to enlarge

She had four more challenges and she stopped them all!  


Way to go Alia!!