18

With a soccer tournament scheduled this weekend, we celebrated 18 years a day early.  Matt suggested Corkfire Kitchen at the Temecula Creek Inn.  The patio sits right above the 9th and 18th greens and the cocktails and food were delicious. We had planned on going to the Pechanga Comedy Club after, but had such a nice time enjoying the peace and quiet outside that we didn't make it.  

We stayed until it got dark and stopped for a quick frozen yogurt before heading home for our early soccer tournament wake-up call.  

                                         Cheers to 18 years and looking forward to many more!

Copa Del Mar Finalists

 While Taylor was in Carlsbad, Allison was in Carmel Valley for the Copa Del Mar tournament.  She played with the combo team this weekend and they were so thrilled to have her since they are used to playing without an actual keeper.  Coach Heidi normally just puts a field player in the goal so they all did a "happy dance" when they learned Allison would be helping out.  It was a nice welcome!

On Saturday, the team won 1-0 and tied 0-0.  On Sunday, they won another close one 1-0 to advance to the championship game today.  They faced Murrieta Surf in a tough 3-1 loss, but Coach Heidi gave a very positive speech about team growth and leadership being more important than the win.

 She presented each girl with a medal as well.

 Allison played with a few of these girls on her Hawks team last year, but it was the first time she had played with several of the others.  They had a great showing this weekend

 and Allison especially loved her time spent with Zoey!

Great job Keeper and Arsenal Girls!

Carlsbad Cup Champions

 Taylor's team had a great weekend of soccer in the Carlsbad Cup.  On Saturday, they won their games 2-0 and 10-0.  Taylor had several assists and had a good showing in front of Coach Kevin. He is the varsity coach at GOHS and filled in for Coach Roy since he had a few teams playing.  Andrew even came for the 2nd game to cheer her on!

The girls won the Sunday morning game 2-0 to advance to the championship game. They won 2-1 and both goals were off of Taylor's set pieces.  The first was on her corner kick that was then headed in by Alexus and the 2nd was on her free kick outside the box that was kicked in right before the post!

Taylor is happy to have this new team this year but also happy to be reunited with old friends like Nene and Jenna.

 Coach Roy gave a nice speech to the team and I am thrilled that he has so much confidence in Taylor.  She is playing some really good soccer right now and having fun in the process!

Great job Arsenal girls!

South Beach

Matt was up early this morning and walked down to South Beach while the girls and I ate breakfast at the hotel and I worked out at the gym.  Then we all took a taxi back to Lincoln Road Mall for a little back-to-school shopping and lunch at Shake Shack.

 Instead of taking a taxi back,  we decided to brave the heat for the mile plus back to our hotel along the boardwalk.  It was hotter than blazes but the scenery was so worth it (At least to me.  We may have had a complainer or two!)

 This path runs for miles along the beach

 We spent some time in the afternoon lying out in the shade by the pool at our hotel before getting ready for dinner.

 For our last night of vacation, we wanted to check out the night life in South Beach and went to dinner at Kantina on Ocean Blvd.

 It was just like tv/movies portray it…lots of loud music, booty shaking, exposed bodies and fancy cars.    It has a very international feel and we rarely heard anyone speaking English.  There is so much Latin influence here.  Although fun to check out, I much prefer the laid back vibe of So Cal beaches.  This was a little too intense for me!

 The street is bumper to bumper both ways and there is tons of foot traffic.  

 There is a huge grass area and walking path along the beach and across the street from all of the restaurants and shops.

Apparently there was a huge party at this location for a large group of swimsuit models that were in town.  The line to get in was crazy! 

After 10 days away, we were all excited to get home to our puppy and our own beds, but not looking forward to work and the normal routine.  We were really hoping that our cruise cards would somehow work at home for all-you-can-eat food and drinks without any prep, but I'm betting that won't be the case.  Well, it was fun while it lasted!!

Back to Miami

 Matt and I went up to our final breakfast early so we could watch the sunrise over Miami. 

 We were sad that the cruise had come to an end, but happy that we had a few more days of vacation to enjoy.  We disembarked about 9:30am and took a taxi to our hotel on Miami Beach.

 We passed our ship one last time on our taxi ride over

 and checked into the Riu Plaza hotel.

 The beaches here are gorgeous…wide, white sand and warm, clear water!  I especially liked that each lifeguard stand is painted in a unique way.

My friend Wendy has been in Miami for the last few weeks while her daughter is attending a ballet intensive.  I was so happy we were able to connect on the East Coast!  She took the bus up from her apartment to meet us for a few hours at the beach.  Then she left to pick up Zoe and we got settled into our hotel for a few hours before meeting back up at Lincoln Road Mall for dinner.

 We had a fun time touring Dylan's Candy Bar

and had an authentic Cuban dinner at Abuela's Cuban Kitchen…empanadas, potato balls, roasted pork, tamales and rice and beans.

It was all so good! 

It has finally started cooling off a bit so we walked around the outdoor mall for some great people watching and a few treats.

 Wendy treated the girls to their first macaroon experience at the famous Laduree. They loved the Orange Blossom and Lemon!

I couldn't wait to try the Frieze ice cream that Wendy had raved about.

It didn't disappoint and mine tasted just like a Snickers bar!  I'm so glad we got this day together!

Great Stirrup Cay

Today was our last port of call.  Great Stirrup Cay is a private island owned by Norwegian Cruise Line.    We anchored and had to be taken to shore by tender boats.  

 Luckily, we were up early AGAIN and were on the first tender so we were able to rent clamshell lounge chairs for shade and take advantage of the island before it got too crowded.  We took some time to explore the many areas.

 A full rainbow right as we arrived!

 The island offered paddle boarding, snorkeling, rafts, jet skis, etc...

 There were fancy cabanas for rent, but they were all sold out by the time we tried to get one.

 We had a great time in the warm water again

 and cherished every minute of our last day.

 The Bahamas flag

 Along our walk we spotted tons of teeny tiny hermit crabs

 and found this awesome lagoon.  The water was like glass and we had it all to ourselves.  I talked to the lifeguard on duty and was fascinated to learn that 40-50 people live on the island 5 months at a time as technicians, maintenance workers and lifeguards/medical personnel.  Then they get 5 weeks off and return to do it again.  What a cool deal!

I swam out to the little island in the lagoon and convinced the girls to join me.  There was actually a ledge you could stand on and walk around. Taylor panicked a bit when trying to swim back (feared something would swim out from under the ledge), but we all made it safely!

The was great snorkeling here and we spotted huge schools of fish,

 some jellyfish and even this huge sun fish!

 By lunch time, the crowds were forming 

 so we took a break to stuff ourselves with a delicious BBQ buffet.  

After returning to the boat, we had a great final dinner at the back of the ship with a window view as we sailed away from Great Stirrup Cay and the girls and I had fun watching the final variety show at Stardust.