Every year, Ms. Sue Hontalas opens her classroom to staff and faculty of AHS to serve pumpkin pie…read moreand coffee to celebrate the season's holiday festivities. This year, the Giants baseball team is also one game away from the World Series. The double celebration is electric. Her students practice serving and entertaining friends and family, in this case, teachers and friends. They decorate their classroom with festive colors, orange and black to set the mood, and they welcome all visitors whom they have invited with pumpkin invitations they sent ahead of time. The pumpkin pie and kona macadamia nut coffee were incredible!

Spirit of '45 is a 1940's themed celebration, commemorating the end of WW2, taking place at History…read morePark in SJ annually. I was able to go back in time this past weekend to partake in the festivities which included a car show, parade, live music, swing dancing, trolley rides, re-creations of military camps with combat vehicles on site, a nurse station offering a nurses' training activity, as well as entry into the historical buildings at the venue. Various film screenings and exhibits on WW2 heroes and happenings were set up in a couple different buildings. The staff in the Mexican Expeditionary Air Force Museum was kind enough to give a brief guided tour sharing the history of events like the alliance of US and Mexico in the war. I took my time exploring the interesting items on display including evolving military uniforms, weapons, newspapers, cigarettes, and chocolates! There were several food trucks available. El Bombero offering a variety of mexican dishes, Smash n Dash with smash burgers, gilroy garlic fries, and milkshakes on their menu, and Quick Dog selling sausages and funnel cake fries. I snacked on a hot dog from the latter, while enjoying the live entertainment center stage. The Nick Rossi Trio featuring guest vocalist Halsey Varady from SF's Verdi Club, entertained the crowd on the keyboard, guitar, bass, and vocals. Their set was followed by Miss Lolli La Pop and the Swingtime Sweethearts, dressed in period attire, like pin-up girls, singing covers of songs like It Had To Be You by Frank Sinatra and Vera Lynn's We'll Meet Again. They even performed Lollipop by the Chordettes, not quite 1940's but still a fun number. Plenty of soldiers and Rosy the Riveters roaming the grounds, attendees wearing outfits matching the scenery and setting. Less than half the park was utilized, and the place wasn't crowded like during other events held here. I also appreciated that they had ample tables and seating in the stage area, much of it shaded by trees, as well as no lines for porta potties or restrooms. I even came early enough to snag free street parking on Phelan Avenue. Altogether a lovely event.

Music in the Glen this is put on by the Kiwanis club, it's a summer series where they invite bands…read moreto play live at no cost to the public at Willow St., Frank Bramhall Park. The concerts run during the summer months on Sundays starting at 4:pm and ending around 6:15 pm. The concerts are family friendly and children are encouraged to play. They have a couple of venders, raffles with great gifts, and free water for all. " donations are appreciated" They are now in Their 25th year of putting on concerts! There are only 2 concerts left for this year (July 26th, Aug 2nd 2026)

This is the first annual car show at Oak Hill Cemetery, what beautiful views at this cemetery and…read moregreat cars. Car started arriving at 5:30 in the morning.. it was a great turn out being the 1st show. They gave out trophies for best to show, etc. etc. there was plenty of free water bottles in buckets throughout the whole show area for people to drink, car show T-shirts, coffee, breakfast sandwiches, tri-tips, sandwiches, tacos, and hotdogs. Great views, great people , beautiful cars, and good food. What more can you ask for?

Review #106 - 2019…read more 10th International Children's Festival: I was quite hopeful when I saw this event pop up on Facebook as they made it seem like such a big ordeal with over 30K people showing up & such. Unfortunately, when we showed up around 1:45 PM on Saturday, April 27th, it wasn't as interesting as I'd expected. Luckily, a kind person who was leaving the parking lot gave us her parking pass so we didn't have to pay the $7 parking fee. Another kind family who was leaving the event also gave us five free tickets (valued at $1/each). Thank you kind strangers! My daughter was able to make use of four of the tickets to play in the bouncing house at two tickets for five minutes. We ended up giving the 5th ticket away to another kid. The kids got bored after only about half an hour of walking in the heat--so we decided to leave. I did manage to score a few cute Indian tunics at a reasonable price. One for myself, and two as gifts for my sisters. I handed our parking pass to the next person who took over our parking spot. Passing along that good karma!

Families and kids alike enjoy the blazing sun ( temp close to the 80's) in this festival where its…read moresurrounded bu tents offering food, games, prizes and food free m different countries. We came in late in the afternoon but there is still a good amount of people attending. Performances from different countries were shown at the main stage where kids show their ethic dances or played different types of music. This is a fun event for the whole family where the kids are focal point of the celebration.

Local holiday harvest festival. I saw a lot of the same local vendors that do all the holiday…read morefestivals and shows. The price for parking is more than the price of admission. $20 is extremely high considering the venue is small . It took less than half hour to walk through the whole hall. I recommend parking on a side street and saving some money.

Bono for the MOST part sounded right on cue vocally, however, the sound of the venue sounded like…read moreshit which heavily compromised the full potential of the tour and the sound technology that the band went through all the effort to create with this tour. The band were very tired and it showed in most parts of the performance. Bono was more comfortable in his own skin on this tour but there was a bit of an emotional disconnect. His vocals did crack at the most awkward of times like a pubescent boy. This was pretty obvious when the first song The Miracle busted out. There were moments in which he took the Morrissey short cut of "talking the lyrics" rather than singing them. This was pretty obvious at the last 30 minute mark. They played Out of Control which I am suspecting is now going to be a semi permanent staple on this tour. I heard it enough times in Vancouver rehearsed. Bono was very into this performance. He even gave a shout out to the name of the band before they called themselves U2 (The Hype). Watching Bono perform this song, I forgot that he is old. I saw a 17 year old boy inside him as he energetically pranced on stage. The same can be said with The Edge. Truthfully this was a better performance of Out of Control than what we got on opening night in Vancouver. The stage banter was more or less the same as opening day, especially during the introduction of the new songs. My heart and soul melted during Song For Someone, my favorite track from the new album. The echoes in the audience was the best sound ever heard to a U2 fan. This show made me appreciate Invisible a bit more both as a stand alone track from the new album and as how the song was presented live. A better performance of Every Breaking Wave. Bono was very self conscious about ensuring that he hit every note. Another song from the new album that made me melt inside. The only curveball songs of the evening was City of Blinding Lights. Pride I have heard on many tours, however, good to see it make a comeback even though it was an octave lower. Troubles was dropped from the set. The cool thing about the show is that they did a small tribute to the track The Wanderer from Zooropa.

If you are going to go to one convention in the next 12 months, and you are a fan of television…read moresuperhero and sci/fi, Heroes and Villains is the one to hit. Here are the reasons. 1) it is put on by the actors and writers and producers so it is more open and honest than the bigger conventions. 2) It draws a much smaller crowd, maybe a few thousand people which means the actors and guests will take time to actually speak with you while signing your autograph or posing for a photo and even remember you from one day to the next. 3) It is set up in one room so you can get your autographs and hear the panels at the same time. And only one panel occurs at a time. 4) because it is smaller, the actors are more relaxed. I could go on but suffice it to say that we had a better time here than Comic-Con and got to meet all of our favorites from Arrow, Shield, and more. One slight negative is the cost of photos and autographs seems a little high but it was worth it to see the sheer look of delight on my 12 year olds face.

First time at Heroes & Villains fanfest this past weekend and I had a really fun time! Being a big…read moreDC comics fan, mainly the TV shows like The Green Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow, this con was really meant for me. I am a Marvel fan as well and they had guests from The Punisher and The Gifted shows, but this convention was more towards shows like Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow. I haven't watched This Is Us (I'm now starting this show b/c of HVFF haha), but they had guests from that show as well. So if you're a big superheros fan then Heroes & Villains fanfest is for you! Honestly, HVFF isn't worth the full price for the whole weekend. Luckily I scored a deal from them when they had the Buy 1 GA weekend ticket, get 3 free deal. This was about 7 months prior to it. There are also Groupon/Living Social deals for this as well. I'd suggest finding a deal if you are interested in attending in the future unless you're a HUGE fan then you get the VIP tickets. It can also be a very expensive weekend if you plan to purchase photo ops and autographs with your favorite celebrities. Be ready to save up a LOT of money if you do! I know for sure I will have to next year! I had a photo op with the Original Team Arrow and that was worth an arm and leg, but it was worth every penny! I couldn't be any happier and it's still making me smile every time I look at that picture. It's the little things in life that makes you happy :). I love watching all the superheros shows and I would love the opportunity to meet them all in person so I plan to come back for as long as I can! I'm such a fangirl lol. Aside from seeing your favorite superheroes in person, they have panels almost every hour. These panels are more like Q&As where people from the audience gets to go up front and ask questions to the actors/actresses. These panels fill up quick, especially for the popular ones like the Original Team Arrow panel, so get in line at least an hour before to get a good seat. If you have VIP, you're automatically seated towards the front of the room. Since HVFF is a smaller con, the celebrities tend to fulfill more special requests. If you're a kid then you get special treatments! Nothing is more satisfying to see when the littlest fan gets to go up stage and hug their favorite superhero in person! Outside near the panels are the kid's play area. Adults can play too! They had a mechanical bull ride, inflatable archery, bungee trampoline, and video games. All are free and included in your weekend ticket. Just just have to sign a waiver. There are also a lot of vendors and merchandise booths. Since HVFF is a smaller con, it only took up one of the exhibit halls at the SJ Convention Center, whereas The Silicon Valley Comic Con took up a few exhibit halls. HVFF is fairly organized for the most part, but there are a few things it can be worked on. The signs aren't clear and can be bigger and more visible. Each ticket was suppose to come with badges, but UPS (or was it USPS?) was lost so everyone ended up with cheap wristbands. That was disappointing. Overall, it's a great con that's smaller in scale and less crowded. You get chances to really meet and talk to the celebrities.