My Weekend Vacation

Sorry for the lack of posts this week, but I just got back from a 4 day extended weekend in sunny Florida last night!  As part of my relocation package when I accepted my current job with Boeing I was allowed a house-finding trip.  Since I already lived in Houston at the time, they instead gave me a "reverse home finding trip" in which I could fly back to Florida if needed.  I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and flew in to Ft. Lauderdale on Friday night to spend time with the fam (my parents were in town for spring break and my brother J was down to string rackets at the Sony Ericsson Open).

I got to spend some time at the beach on Saturday followed by a trip to the theater with my parents and cousin to see Hunger Games (I thought it was pretty good - stayed mostly true to the book, although I found it harder to get emotionally involved the movie.  Character development wasn't really there...).  On Sunday we hit up the pool and then went to my little cousin A's 5th birthday party at Plaster Carousel we we had kosher pizza and painted plaster figurines.  A is the oldest of my cousin C's two daughters and I love both of those little girls to pieces!  Although I have to say that a gaggle of 5 year olds and a toddler at an establishment that is filled with plaster and paint is a tad on the stressful side.  It was so nostalgic to be there with C, though, because we used to go all the time when we were little too - around 20 years ago!  I went back to my Aunt's house afterwards and got to spend more time with them there too - loved it!

On Monday my parents and I drove down to Miami and picked up my brother J at his hotel (he had finished his stringing gig on Sunday) and we then proceeded to spend the whole day at the Sony Ericsson Open watching some of the best tennis players in the world including Novak Djokovic, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, Juan Martin Del Potro, Victoria Azarenka, and Mardy Fish.  The whole thing is pretty high brow - tennis sponsors tend more toward the luxury companies and so there were a bunch of crazy expensive cars on display like the Audi R8 and the Ferari FF, plus cars by Maserati, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Porsche, and McLaren. 

Other sponsors are Bombay Saphire gin, Bacardi, Lindt Chocolates, and Veuve Clicquot (my favorite tent had Champagne and Sushi!)  Kinda crazy! I also got to meet one of my brother's stringing coworkers who used to work on the Russian space program - we got to trade a few space stories and I even practiced a bit of my Russian with him! 

Tuessday I hung up some pictures that had been sitting in my Florida bedroom for ages while my dad and brother got in a golf game and my mom went to the gym.  Then I packed up and we went out errand running, to get some italian ice (I got black raspberry - yum!), and to visit with my grandparents before I had to catch my plane home.  Overall it was a fun and relaxing weekend in the sun with family!