We Went to Grand Cayman BWI.....WOW!

Our "El Cheapo" view!

So I'm kind of catching up here from June. Earlier this year we decided to take the kids to Maui. Well the day we were to book the trip our Subaru decided it didn't want to be turbocharged anymore and well the bill to repair it (so we could unload it) consumed a great portion of our budget. Shortly thereafter I began to look for other destinations that would have a similar WOW factor, but would be cheaper for the family. After debating south Florida vs. the Caribbean I decided the kids would really like to get their passports stamped and I picked Grand Cayman. I am so glad I did!

Grand Cayman is the largest of the 3 island chain and while its not Maui it is pretty awesome in its own right. Travel for us entailed a 6am departure from CMH and a connection barely 2 hours later in ATL where we boarded an old MD-80 for the 2:30 flight into Grand Cayman. We used Delta Air Lines (who else) and collected lots of Skymiles and bonus miles swelling my account to about 150k miles. We booked thru Delta Vacations and got a killer package on flights and hotel and transportation in Cayman. While we booked the "el cheapo" rate consisting of no balcony no view we did in fact get a great room with both the balcony and the water view. We stayed in the Marriott Grand Cayman Resort and it was everything we hoped it would be. The only issue we could come up with was the lack of cold water in the shower and the air conditioner working so well that it got too cool at night. To me those are not issues but expectations. While technically it was the start of hurricane season the chance of a big storm in June is almost non-existant. The weather for us was great. The beach.....Seven Mile Beach lived up to its reputation of one of the best beaches in the world. Our end was so quiet and the snorkeling was amazing on the artificial reef that have been created just off shore at the Marriott.


The Reef Balls artificial reef at the Marriott

The downside to the trip is eating. It's not cheap anywhere-even fast food was $35 for a family of 4. A sit down meal at a family place is going to cost you roughly $75-100 and a nice meal for 2 is about $150 or more. We knew this going in and just considered it part of the expense of a trip. There are so many cool things to do there, but the number 1 attraction (for non scuba divers) is Stingray City. This sand bar about 4 miles out is super cool. A chance to get in the water and play with hundreds of wild Southern Stingrays in their environment. I will never forget holding a wild female stingray as long as I live. This 7 foot across and 180 pounder was the highlight of my trip. We went there with Red Sail Sports and they took great care of us on their catamaran with a great sail home after some awesome snorkeling in water that ranged from 12 feet to 6000 feet. So neat to do.

The money shot
Flying home was the reverse of the trip down with the exception that our departure was much later at around 1:30pm and that put us into ATL at the busy hour. Our MD80 was again old, but this time it was empty and allowed us to have full rows to stretch out. We also got a chance to see Cuba as we flew over. We also said to heck with carry on's and checked our luggage since it was free for AMEX/Delta cards and this made it much easier to travel and end our journey on a relaxed note. After the fun of the trip I even managed to get a bottle of Dom Perignon home from the Duty Free shop without hacking off the US Customs people.

Swimming with the Stingray

Why we ONLY use EAGLE Hockey Gloves!

One question I frequently get from other parents is: Where did you get those gloves for your son/daughter? The brand is EAGLE if you haven't noticed from the many hockey pictures. A quick short answer is they are the best gloves made for hockey. This is a pretty bold statement when you consider the massive numbers of pro hockey players using gloves from other manufacturers such as Reebok, Easton and Bauer just to name a few. Unfortunately the Eagle gloves you can buy today are NOT the ones we use. EAGLE was bought out by Vaughn a couple years ago and while the logo is the same the product isn't quite exactly the same. I'm lucky in that I stocked up with LOTS of gloves and I also am willing to buy custom versions of the old ones that EAGLE will still make (for a price$$$$$$$).

Eagle today is now chipping at the market in more than just gloves. They've recently launched a new stick line as well as hockey accessories in addition to new models of gloves. I'll reserve judgement on those as we see how they work. Eagle was built originally on a mission of uncompromising excellence in a hockey glove and based on the 7 pairs we have here thing are great. I may just buy a new pair and see if that fit and comfort of the past are back. If not its pay the big bucks and have the old ones custom made.

What do you mean today is the last day of May?

Really?

You've got to be kidding me right? Wasn't it just a couple days ago that we just had spring break? Apparently I missed the entire months of April and May as tomorrow is June 1, 2011. The last 2 months have literally flown by. Heck I was in Chicago on April 29th and that feels like it was just a couple days ago. I really can't fathom that the year is approaching the halfway point. I know the primary reason and unfortunately that's not going to change anytime soon. Oh well moving right along...

Frudoch finished up the tryout process last weekend and for a change we are happy with the result. Not ecstatic, but happy. He did very very well in his first tryout for a spot on the Tier 1 Ohio AAA Blue Jackets. Well enough that the coach needed an extra couple hours of tryouts to get those last few spots sorted out. Over those 3 tryouts Fru played masterful. Never the flashy player, but always the workhorse you build teams around. As I left the tryout I knew he was close. However this year that team would be part of the Tier 1 Elite League and frankly the amount of money this season would have cost was going to be crazy. This league stretches from coast to coast and is serious. We did decide that if he made it we would let him play and worry about the money later. How many chances do you get to fulfill a dream? When the phone range the next day I knew the answer immediately from the tone of the coaches voice. Not this year for AAA hockey. However, the coach said he was indeed a AAA player and would love to have him on the team. He was that close--razor thin margin. When you consider he played A and down a birth year its amazing they didn't laugh him off the ice. He made a quantum leap. So that brought us to last weekend where we had 4 tryouts over 3 days to hopefully avoid last years saga of not having a spot. Armed with the recommendation of the AAA team we decided which league would be best and did the tryout. Fru was not feeling 100%, but played great in the first 2 only to be cut from AA contention after just minutes. I was dumbfounded. He however worked even harder in the other groups tryouts and was on a island with a couple other kids clearly better than anybody else. Come Sunday we had back to back tryouts with just a couple hours between. So would it be AA or A or even no spot again. The answer was pretty quick as again he was on an island this time by himself. After the tryout I felt good. When we got home the phone was ringing and a AA offer was extended. Success! So this year Frudoch will again play with the Columbus Capitals. Only this year he will be on the 98 team at AA. To heck with the other group....

Poppy was up next. Her first tryout went well. Her second is now 5 days away. Its with the 'other' group and I don't trust them. Cross your fingers for us. So bringing this season to an end I promise that the ONLY hockey we will play--the ONLY time I will set foot in an ice rink--the ONLY time I will smell that awful hockey gear smell will be June 5th. After tryouts I need a break. Hello Grand Cayman Island in 3 weeks!!!!!

The long expensive season...

When does it ever end? Yes I'm talking hockey hockey. The kids seasons officially ended with games in March and while part of me was sad to see the end I am pretty darn tired from all the travel. 2 kids playing travel hockey gets tiring pretty quickly. Yet I know I'll look back on this year and love every minute. Between the 2 kids we had more than 100 games and more than 180 practices. The kids played in 26 different ice rinks in 2 states and it would have been 3 states except Frudoch missed a tournament in Pennsylvania and Poppy's team missed one there as well due to a screw up by the team manager. I don't even want to think of how much fuel we went thru for my car and truck. This winter we had our Subaru blow a turbo on the way to an early hockey game in Cleveland which added another $3k to the expenses and then had to sell said car as there was so much metal sucked thru the engine that it would fail. If I had to guess... we spent more than $8k on hotels, food, gas, supplies, doctors appointments, hockey equipment and car repairs. Never mind the time which has even more value. Why do we do it? Hockey is a great sport. Perhaps the greatest. Our vacation this year was staying home and resting after a long season. The best part..... Development camp started last week for both kids. Frudoch as an instructor and Poppy as a student.

Of course the next step is Mid Am development camp tryouts for elite players and for the first time Frudoch is invited. Should be a great measuring stick for him before tryouts for the 2011/12 season which are less than a month away. Poppy will skip girls Mid Am camp and will be looking to play all girls travel next year as no matter what anybody says a girl doesn't get a fair shake on a boys team. Even when she is better than the boys. Oh well it was tons-o-fun and its already going again so I need some sleep.

Steve McQueen Fans Unite.....

And head on over to Steve McQueen Film Festival for the 6th annual Steve McQueen film festival. Its a unique way to learn all about McQueen if you are new to his films or a great way to learn some of the back stories on his films. So much fun to follow along and watch at your own pace on your own time and discuss as the week goes on. Hurry though only another 6 days left!

We Had a GREAT Weekend!

Please see: http://www.lightthelamp.com
Quick update from my favorite CBJ blog. Of course I'll have much more to add about the weekend.

So as I said the update was quick. It also was pretty vague. I'll add a bit more here before blogging on. During the weekend of Hockey Day in America. The Columbus North Stars headed up to Detroit for another tournament in search of glory. As before they found it! Once again playing in the AA Squirt Travel division the North Stars (who are not a AA team and who are not a travel team) were able to beat all comers and win in AA. The team is exceptional for their unselfish play and teamwork. This group of Rec level players again stepped it up to take it to Travel teams from the CSHL and the Little Caesars league among others. They did encounter a first on the year though. In their 2nd game they never had the lead. They did come back late though an get a tie. Following the championship game they pushed their overall record to 14-0-2. We did lose a player for the rest of the season with a broken leg. He sucked it up and PLAYED in the championship game after taking a couple ibuprofen and one serious tape job. No kidding--he really broke his leg and we learned later it was a serious fracture to his tibia and a fracture in his ankle. Talk about tough! Here are a few shots of my favorite player--CHEETO!

I Flew on an Airbus A319.... and Lived to Tell

For those of you who have visited this blog or know me at all it should come as no surprise that I love flying and anything airplane related. However I am somewhat partial to Boeing and will go way out of my way to fly on any model of their jets. I generally fly airlines that have either all Boeing or mostly Boeing fleets. My airline of choice for the last several yeas has been Delta. This was great as they operated a mostly Boeing fleet since the MD-88's they had were now considered part of Boeing after McDonnell Douglas was taken over by Boeing. I have never mined the Embraer jets that Delta's regional partners have operated either and while not a huge fan of the Bombardier CRJ's have gotten used to them as well. When Delta bought Northwest the all Boeing fleet went away as Northwest had a mixed fleet including many Airbus jets. These are now all repainted in Delta colors and the A319's are replacing many of the older less efficient MD-88's throughout the network. Delta is also using the Airbus A330 on overseas routes and also on long haul flights to Hawaii thru Atlanta. For many years I have not had any interest on flying in an Airbus. In fact the last one I flew on was an America West A321 many years back when CMH was a hub for America West. I took that flight to Las Vegas and was happy to not need the services of the Euro plane ever since. Well unfortunately this year my trip to the SCCA National Convention meant I would either have to hang out in the Atlanta airport for an extra 4 hours or swallow my pride and fly home on an Airbus A319. I did the latter....... and lived! My trip out had me on an MD-88 and then a 767-300. Returning from LAS to ATL I was jam packed into an OLD 757-200 without the video system. (yeah it had CRT monitors in the ceiling with color so washed out that skin color was green) Since I chose to fly Delta from CMH to LAS I had to give up the option of non-stop as only Southwest flies that route non-stop. If you know me then you know I will only fly SWA if they are the ONLY airline to go to the place I need to go. I refuse to fly them and happily pay much more to avoid flying with them. An interesting side note is that the non-stop flight on SWA cost more than the 1 stop on DAL. Several others went with me to the convention and all paid more. Those that bought their tickets a couple days before me paid about $15 more each way. Those that purchased on the same day as I did paid about $50 more each way, and those that purchased about 3 weeks after paid a whopping $175 more. The bonus to me was the skymiles as I'm now at 100K and am planning a trip to Hawaii. Only when researching that trip I discovered if I wanted to go thru Atlanta I'd have to fly on an........................Airbus.... Oh dear.

Quick Post: Live From Las Vegas

Well I'm on my annual trip to Las Vegas for the SCCA National Convention and it came at the perfect time. This morning I left a snowy andbiterly cold Columbus Ohio for the sun and warmth of Nevada. Today was 57 degrees with temps forecast near 70 by the end of the week. Wow what a difference. Last week we had an ice storm with nearly one inch of ice covering everything and bringing down trees across my property.Today I ate In-N-Out Burger in a sweatshirt. Will I win anything? Probably not, but I feel like I beat the winter blues and not a moment to son. Forecast for home this week: highs in the teens with lows in the single digits to negatives...