Cabo Vacation

Merry Christmas from all of us here in Cabo. Yes, we're in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The weather....well, what can I say, it's gorgeous. It's actually been a relaxing vacation.
On Monday, the kids played the Compestra Golf Course. They did pretty well.
Tuesday, Scott and Jack went deep sea fishing. They caught a Blue Marlin and Mahi Mahi. Jack was so excited to see the Marlin jump out of the water....."3 TIMES". We have it all on video. The resort prepared the Mahi Mahi and we had a great dinner with a family we met here. The Cato's. They were having a family reunion and came from New York, Northern California and Southern California. They were fantastic. Alisa had a great time playing with Paige and enjoyed Jeff and Lindsay's little baby, Talan; he was only 16 months old. He was a cutie.
The kids swam with the dolphins on Wednesday. It was nice but they didn't let me video tape or take pictures. But they were willing to charge $25 for a picture. How nice. We had to get one.
For Christmas we relaxed during the day playing on the beach and by the pool. In the evening we went to Mi Casa with the Cato Family and had a wonderful time. The food was just awesome.
The kids also took a banana boat ride and parasailing. They're such deprived kids. The kids also played one more round of golf at Palmilla Golf Club. One word.....AMAZING. It was right on the beach and the course was just beautiful. The kids did great. We played with another couple, David and Davida (sorry for the spelling) from Canada. Very nice. Hopefully this should prepare them for the upcoming tournament at the Wigwam this Sunday.
For me, relaxing on a lounge chair by the pool was my form of a vacation.
Scott had a wonderful massage, which helped work out all the knots in his legs and back.
Our last evening at the resort we had dinner at the neighboring resort, Villa del Arco, and had a elegant dinner. The kids got their first taste of first class.
We did receive some awful news while in Cabo; our little yorkie, Skyler passed away while we were gone. It was tough on everyone, especially Scott. We will miss her dearly.

2008 Fall Events

Well, we had a very busy fall, as you can tell I haven't updated the blog since August.
Jack played football, as running back, from August until October. Jack just loves running that ball. Football puts him in great shape; it's amazing the 6-pack he has for 10 years old. Jack's team, The Rams, didn't do as well this year as last. They lost their first play-off game which ended their season earlier than normal. But, this allowed Jack to get back into his golf tournaments. Jack missed a couple of golf tournaments due to football games.
Alisa was doing great with her golf this season. She won first place at every tournament. She even shot one under par, a 35, at one tournament; her best game ever. Of course, if you ask Scott it was due much to the caddy....yup, him. Alisa's point standings for this year provides her the season win of Player of the Year. Typically, Alisa's age group is very small (her and another girl) but this season she had 5 other girls to play with. After football, it took a couple of tournaments for Jack's golf game to get into synch, but he came on strong his last three tournaments. Jack placed in the top three positions the last few tournaments and at the last tournament he took 1st - the first time ever!!! Jack's age group is very competitive so we were all very happy with his accomplishments. Unfortunately, by completely missing two tournaments it hurt his overall placing in the point standings for the year. By placing in the top three and receiving first place at the most recent tournament pulled him up to 5th out of 16 in overall point standings. Another misfortune regarding golf........neither Jack or Alisa can play the last tournament on December 20th. We will be heading to Cabo San Lucas on that Saturday (more on this below). This is the Championship Tournament, where points are doubled. With the amount of points Alisa has it won't affect her 1st place standing. However, with Jack it will pull him down and, more than likely, will lose his 5th place standing. In order to receive a trophy, you need to be in the top 5. Since the kids think trophies are the best thing next to Playstation 3, Jack's a bit disappointed and Alisa is upset she won't be there for the award ceremony. I'm sure they'll forget all about it when they're playing on the beach.....IN CABO!!
Did you notice I mentioned Cabo San Lucas, TWICE.....yes, we're heading there this Saturday, the 20th. We'll be staying at the beautiful resort of Villa del Palmar. This all-inclusive resort has 3 pools, a spa, fitness center, children's play area and a small 9 hole golf course. I am just picturing Jack waking us up at 7 AM to go and play. That will work well because they'll need to stay in tune for the Southwest Regional Tournament they'll be playing when we get back. We'll be at the resort through Christmas and returning on the 27th.
Golf isn't over so easily for the season. Both the kids qualified for the Southwest Regional Tournament being played here in Phoenix at the Wigwam Resort. It's a 3-day tournament beginning the day after we get back. Scott will caddy for Jack and Sheri Kirkpatrick (the kids short game coach) will caddy for Alisa. Jack will be playing 18 holes and Alisa will play only 9. Neither of the kids know they're playing the tournament; we thought we'd surprise them in Cabo. Jack wants to play the tournament so bad and thinks he's not. He was even more disappointed when Scott told him the boys 9, 10 and 11 year-old age groups were all filled. We are mean parents....I know.

Finally Home!!

After a VERY busy two weeks of a so-called vacation, we are home. Of course, you can't just stop there.

Alisa had an appointment to get her long hair cut off for Locks of Love. She needed 10 inches of hair in order to donate it to Locks of Love, at which point they'll make her hair into a wig for a child with cancer. She's been growing her hair for over a year and has been looking forward to cutting it for over a month. As you can see, the end result is very cute.

School starts on Monday for the kids and they go right back into their schedule of going to the golf course after school and practicing.

Jack also starts football on Monday, so he'll be going to practice everyday. Oh well, no time for TV.

Washington DC

After Pinehurst we took a few days relaxing in Washington DC.......NOT!! What a whirlwind, we walked everywhere, from the State Capitol to the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial. It was a busy trip.

The kids had the most fun on the flight simulator at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. They were able to re-enact barrel rolls on the simulator for the F-18. You could hear Alisa giggle everytime they flipped over. Jack was flying. He only crashed twice. I'm sure glad he's planning on sticking with golf.

We also got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We were able to sit in the House Chambers. Although, Congress was not in session, the republicans were holding a sit-in to get the President's attention regarding the energy bill. So, they were allowing the general public to sit in during these meetings in the House. What an experience. Of course, no camera's were allowed in so I have no proof but our word. They confiscated the camera's, not trusting any of us.

The last day in Washington we went on a tour of the Bureau of Printing and Engraving. It just made me sick seeing all those $100 dollar bills coming off those presses. All I wanted was one sheet; one sheet has 32 bills on it. There were STACKS of those sheets as tall as me (5'8"). Now you know why I was sick just seeing those stacks.

We didn't want to stop at Washington DC, we decided to drive to Virginia Beach on our way back to Raleigh, NC (where I flight leaves from on Saturday). Virginia Beach is beautiful. We decided next year after Pinehurst we'll spend a few days in VA Beach and REALLY relax.

3rd Round at Pinehurst

Again, the kids did amazingly well for their first time at a World Championship. Scott and I are extremely proud of Jack and Alisa and are very grateful to Ben Weir (the kids coach from Las Sendas CC who caddied for Jack) and Dick Robbins, who caddied for Alisa.

Jack had a 7:30 AM tee time for the final round, so he and Ben were up early and Jack was perky and excited. Ben needed a little coaxing to get up and now wants to add a few clauses to his contract about getting up before 6:30 AM. Too late, that's all for next year. Jack and Ben were on the same wavelength and were working well together. Jack played with another boy who was the European Champion for 9 year-olds and Jack hung with him very well and ended up beating him. Jack scored an 82 for 18 holes on his 3rd round which put him in 73rd place out of 135 boys in his group (40 for the front 9 and 42 for the back 9). The picture above with Jack jumping in the air was a 40 foot putt he sunk.

Alisa had a tee time at 8:44 AM, so mom watched her while dad watched Jack. We were also very happy that the kids Grandma & Grandpa Snyder and great-Aunt Shirley and great-uncle Bob Black drove all the way down from Ohio to watch them play. Unfortunately, since the kids had similar tee times for the 3rd round they had to pick one and this time it was Jack. They watched Alisa the first 2 rounds.

Anyhow, Alisa also did great for her 3rd round shooting a 45 for 9 holes. Overall, Alisa ranked 38 out of 68 girls in her age group. By the way, that's 38 WORLD WIDE!!!!!

The US Kids Golf World Championship was a very impressive event. Very professionally organized and the golf courses were immaculate. Jack's course, Pinehurst #6, was an extremely difficult course and most of the time the boys played from the red tees or farther. What's even more amazing is Jack and Alisa each played with one ball the entire three rounds. That means no balls were lost. I challenge anyone to do that on courses like that.

After the kids round we finally had time to go to Pinehurst #2 clubhouse and buy a few sourvenirs. Did I say a few???? Not sure what I'm thinking. We walked out with 4 bags full.

By the way, the condo we stayed at in Pinehurst was gorgeous. It was right across the street from the Pinehurst #6 clubhouse, so the kids were able to walk across and practice putting, chipping and their drives. We're going to have a hard time transitioning to a hotel when we head-off to Washington D.C. for the next week.

Watch for the update on the D.C. trip.