Ben and Alonna » soccer

Goodbye Idaho

Alonna — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 12:25:52 +0000

Unfortunately, moving on in life means leaving something behind. Here’s a few things that Ben and I will miss the most about Idaho:

Goodbye Boise, we'll miss you

Thursday Night Mountain Biking
For 7 years we’ve been mountain biking on Thursday nights with a fun group of friends, usually followed by pizza and beer. Thursday night will never be the same again…

HP Lunch Volleyball
Summer at HP means volleyball! During lunch I ducked out of work to play sand and grass volleyball. Any volleyball skills I may have, I owe to these guys. They’re awesome players and friends, and I will never forget them.

Friends and Coworkers
Ben and I have gotten to know a lot of really great people here in Boise. The hardest part of saying goodbye is knowing that we’re losing the potential of spending more time with them. To all of our friends and coworkers – we will miss you!

Alonna’s Soccer Team
I’ve had a blast playing on a women’s soccer team in Boise. Anything we lack in skills we’ve more than made up for by running our butts off and never giving up. Go Bombers!

Ridges to Rivers trail system
They just keep getting better – the hiking and biking trails in the Boise foothills are awesome. I don’t think we’ll have any trouble finding great mountain biking in Colorado, but having nice trails within biking distance of our house is a huge benefit of living here.

Beautiful Stanley

Stanley, Idaho
Idaho has it’s share of gorgeous scenery, and our favorite by far is the Sawtooth Mountains. Stanley is a small quiet town with beautiful views and home of the famous Fisher-Williams epic bike trail.

Boise Greenbelt
Our house is within walking distance of a 25-mile long paved path along the Boise River, called the greenbelt. It’s perfect for jogging, walking, or biking through town.

Society of Women Engineers – Southwest Idaho Section
I’ve been lucky to work with a group of women engineers dedicated to encouraging girls to pursue math and science careers. I’ve learned a lot by being a part of this group and made some great friends along the way. Keep it up ladies!

Living 5 Minutes from the Airport
I don’t think this concept exists in Colorado.

Clear skies and long summer days
Boise weather is perfect – it’s almost always sunny and clear, with dry desert heat. Also, being situated on the edge of Mountain Time Zone, Boise gets sunlight well past 9pm in the summer.

Off to our Next Adventure

Fútbol in Quito

Alonna — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:38:55 +0000

Here is proof that I played soccer with a group of guys a couple weeks ago in Ecuador. Thanks to Troy for the photos!

Alonna - Soccer in Quito

A Great Day in Quito

Alonna — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:27:20 +0000

My favorite day in Quito was probably Tuesday, January 19th. Here’s a run-down of events…

7:00 am	Woke up to my alarm
7:30 am	Breakfast with Pancho & Ignacio. Coffee, scrambled eggs, bread, cheese, jam, and yogurt.
8:00 am	Private Spanish lessons for 2.5 hours
10:30 am	30 minute break, sat outside in the warm sun with Stephanie, Jaime & Gareth to discuss our travel plans for the following week.
11:00 am	Final hour of Spanish lessons
12:30 pm	Lunch with Pancho & Ignacio. Mushroom soup, Chicken with white rice, veggies, and Sprite.
1:30 pm	Met Stephanie and Troy to explore the Old Town in Quito. Stephanie is a friend I met in Spanish school from DC. Troy is a fellow travel blogger and photographer who currently lives in Quito – check out his site: FOGGOdyssey.com
3:00 pm	The three of us visit the Basillica (a gothic church on a hill in Quito) and climb precarious stairs and ladders to get to the top of two of the towers. The sun was out, the city was beautiful, and we had fun climbing around and taking photos.
5:00 pm	Returned to Spanish school for what I thought was a friendly soccer match with schoolmates. I happily joined two guys from the school and headed to the “field” (a patch of uneven grass near a stadium). Some other guys showed up that they knew, and a bunch of random people at the park wanted to join in. This turned into a 8 vs. 8 match of 15 guys and me. It was great fun and an even better workout, but playing with these guys was rough. I was completely exhausted after an hour and a half. Have I mentioned that Quito is at 9,000 feet?
8:30 pm	Dinner with Dolores, Pancho & Ignacio
9:30 pm	Spanish Homework & journal
10:30 pm	Falling asleep as my head hits the pillow…

San Francisco

Basilica at the top of the hill

The Basilica in Quito

Basilica

View of Quito

Stephanie and Troy in action

Ladder to the top of Tower 1

Alonna

Stairs/Ladder

Condor (S. America version of a gargole!)

Stephanie, Me, Troy

View from Tower 1

Troy

View from a Basilica window

Stephanie - ladders to Tower 2

The tower in the back is the first one we climbed

Cool view from the Basilica

View of Quito

Looking North in Quito

Soccer Tournament – 1st Place!

Alonna — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:15:15 +0000

Last weekend I played in a soccer tournament in Boise. My team is the Royal Bombers and we’ve been playing together for about 4 years. We play outdoor soccer in the Fall and Spring, and indoor soccer during the winter. We’re in Division 1 of the Southern Idaho Soccer League (there are 3 divisions, we’re in the middle but are moving up next year). The playoffs for our division ended in a 3-way tie, so to make it to the championship game we had to do a 3-way shoot-out (penalty kicks). We had 6 people take penalty kicks before we won the shoot-out, and I was one of them – and I made it! Then we went on to win the division title in the championship game. It was a fun weekend, but 4 games in 2 days is completely exhausting!