Hermosa Beach AVP - Saturday

We had so much fun yesterday at the AVP that when T asked me what I wanted to do on Saturday, I said I wanted to come back!

I told Ian to get in the car and when I went to check on him this was what greeted me. He's looking too cool in those glasses. He won them yesterday by spinning a prize wheel, and he's determined to win another pair for his sister today.

Everything starts off at 9:15am today. Parking was pretty nuts again, so we ended up parking 6 blocks away and hauling everything to our spot. Yesterday we set up by Court 1 on the Men's court. Today we're at Court 2 on the Women's court.
And the setup today is quite improved. A taller umbrella, real beach chairs tall enough to see over barriers, and lots of sand toys.

By 8:45am we were set up, so we headed out to visit all the sponsor tents and see what we could collect. At the Sparkling Ice tent they were giving out full-size bottles of their carbonated drinks, plus if you did a dare you could pick the prizes. One of them happened to be these pineapple sunglasses. We performed a dare, which was to dance like you just won something, and got her these sunglasses. Yay!

Lookout! It's the start of Shark Week!

Let's watch some volleyball.

Loved the effort out of Sasha Karelov.

In between matches, either Theresa or I would take the kids out for snacks.

And since it's Saturday it's been a lot more crowded than yesterday.

Glad we got here early and got everything set up.

I can still stand on my chair and see what's going on on Court 1.

Some pretty good rallies in this match.

Do you think Tory Paranagua is a little excited when they win a hard fought rally?

We found another tasty snack. The people at the Hippeas booth got to know the kids well, giving out chickpea puff white cheddar snacks.

When you're standing on a chair, you're usually the tallest person around. Here that's not always the case. At least I've still got a good view of the men's court between rounds.

Enjoying the time in the shade underneath the umbrella and eating snacks all day.

The kids have been waiting for this water booth to open up and their beanbag toss to open up.

Spinning another prize wheel for LA Galaxy gear. Ian pointed at the table and asked how they could get those prizes. Worker - Which prizes? Ian - Those iPads.

This next match we watched was fantastic.

I've never seen Zana Muno play before and she was amazing. She was so quick around the court, and was able to get so many balls up and keep the play alive.

Ian, you have to watch them play. Look how she's never giving up on any of the balls.

And in the end, 24th ranked Muno/Jones took down 4th ranked Hochevar/Salgado. What a fantastic game.

Watching the McKibbin brothers on Court 1.

Saturday starts wrapping everything up, so sometimes the courts change up. Court 2 which has been a Women's Court all tournament changed over to a Men's court. Here we got to see Stafford Slick and Billy Allen take on Maarek/Palm.
There was one point where Slick missed a block and it was right in front of us. He let out a loud "SSSHHHH..." (and at this point I'm cringing) "SHOOOOOOT!" Whew. I commented that I was not expecting that, and got a chuckle out of a few people who were surrounding us.

Wow, what an amazing serve. And beautiful form.

The kids would cheer "Let's go Slick!" "Let's go Billy!". After the match they got high-fives.

That green beetle that we saw at Disneyland last week was out here today too. I guess they like doing the same things we do. A little Disneyland and a little beach volleyball.

Every once in a while a ball would bounce into our area. Ian would get to be a "ball boy" and throw it back. He's seeing the other kids with the volunteer shirts being official ball boys and he really wants to be one. Just have to wait until you're 12 to officially volunteer buddy.

It's a beautiful day in Hermosa today. Can't get much better hanging out on the beach in the shade, watching volleyball, and eating snacks.

On Court 2, I was happy that we were going to be seeing more of Zana Muno and her Casey Jones, this time taking on the 8th seeded team.

Zana is everywhere! I'm inspired to hustle more when I play now.

Diving for a ball.

And landing hard.

And sometimes after a long rally...

You just need to take a minute on the sand.

And there's no quit on the other side either. When a ball is close to the barrier...

You just go right through it.

And after a hard fought 3 matches, Muno/Jones won! Great games!

They played really well and made it to the semi-finals, eventually losing to the 1st seeded team who ended up winning it all.

We've enjoyed a great couple days here in Hermosa while the AVP was in town. Tomorrow is the finals, but we've got other plans. And honestly, I like these lead-up days to the finals even more than the finals. The finals are in the stadium where it's more crowded, in bench seats, and further from the action. These lead-up days where you can sit right next to the court are better.