We were toting up a lot of luggage, so we borrowed an F250 for the trip, which made the drive comfortable, safe, and although it was a 10 hour drive (including stops) it only seemed like a 4 hour drive! We had 4 adults, their equipment, Carleigh, her “stuff” as well as Tiffany’s family’s ski equipment in the truck. It totaled 5 big cases of luggage, the car seat, “pack and play”, 3 backpacks, 7 snowboards, and 1 pair of skis. All this, and 18 miles per gallon (not calculated… but we will on the return trip)!

Does Carleigh like the snow?

Click to find out:

Heck yeah she does!!!

Loving the cold weather!

What’s all that white stuff???

Suiting up for the cold, and LOVING it!!!

The first flight was from San Diego to Dallas, and Carleigh slept almost the whole flight. After our brief stay-over in Dallas we flew into Miami which Carleigh also slept through! Her first flights went really well and at only 3 1/2 months!

Our hotel stay was at the Bahia Mar in Fort Lauderdale and our cousins from across the state joined us for some company and a visit. We had a partial marina view, and partial ocean view with only paying for a marina view room! Fort Lauderdale was nice, but with better planning we would have flown into Fort Lauderdale instead of Miami which would have saved us some time, and tolls while driving!

Saturday we spent with Michael, Katy, and Zoey Fritz. We went to breakfast, then ended up going window shopping at the Galleria Mall to stay inside from all the Florida rain! When we left the parking structure was flooding because of the large buckets of rain falling, something us Californians aren’t used to. We hear about flash floods but never actually see them. We ate together at Outback for dinner after an unsuccessful attempt to find Shooters Waterfront Cafe due to the iPhone/Google Maps not giving proper directions and the rain making us act hasty since we knew how to get to an Outback!

Carleigh all ready for game day:

Game Day!

We arrived a couple hours early to make sure we had time to see some of the tailgating going on, and mingle with our fellow Dolphan brethren. The stadium is technically in “Miami Gardens” which we had to use (another) toll road in our travel from our hotel. We’re spoiled in California without toll roads. We may have potholes and bad congestion, but at least we don’t have to pay daily, only rolled into our vehicle registration costs!

Our seats were as good as they sounded! We were around some other season ticket holders, and some people from San Francisco that came to root for the Chargers. They were constantly being heckled as were the Chargers themselves.

The game went well. It was really hot and Carleigh did well as long as we kept her as cool as we could and made sure her earplugs stayed in! It was a little loud for our cute one! It rained a couple times including a downpour or two. It effected the game slightly because the first downpour was when the Chargers took possession of the ball, and it was really hot/muggy like you expect in Florida.

Miami won at home for the first time in a long time, Carleigh must have been their lucky charm! The final score was Chargers 10, Miami 17.

After the game we took a few more pictures around the parking lot and stadium, here are a couple of those:

Carleigh playing Hide & Seek:

Some of our favorite pictures of Carleigh (not just from this trip, ever):

We relaxed the rest of the evening in our hotel room and Carleigh grew some HUGE thumbs!

Monday morning we got up and visit the new MJR advertiser Morris4x4.com to talk with their web manager, get a new soft top, and take a few pictures of their place to post on MJR. Then we drove to Miami to actually check out some of their beaches since we hadn’t gotten a chance to do that yet. It was really hot and humid but we thoroughly enjoyed their beaches. Some of the houses near the beaches with front/back yard docks are simply amazing, and the tropical feel of the entire place is fantastic.

The flight back was long since it went straight from Miami to LAX (before a short flight to San Diego). Again Carleigh did great. She slept the first hour and a half but was quiet the rest of the flight content with looking at all the strange new people! There was however a holy terror behind us who screamed the majority of the flight. When we landed at LAX we got complements on Carleigh’s behavior and we heard a few people who said when the kid behind us started screaming they thought it was Carleigh until they saw her sleeping.

From here we went to the beach and ate lunch. We then passed through Ele’ele on our way back and stopped at the Kauai Coffee estate for the free tour. It was a short self-guided tour, but there was free coffee so I was pleased!

Our tour was followed by going to Spouting Horn/Whaler’s Cove beach where went snorkeling. It was better snorkeling here than anywhere we had previously gone including Kona on our Honeymoon. We had the underwater camera, so those pics will come when we get back and get them developed.

We decided to turn around because of the heat, and our other plans for hiking. We then went to an unnamed falls (may be called Upper Ho’opi’i Falls) as well as down to Ho’opi’i Falls about a mile away. These were both beautiful waterfalls along the Kapa’a stream and were worth the EASY hikes!

After that we went to Anahola Bay to play in the water (and get some of our sweat off)! Then we went ‘home’ and cleaned up since we had our Luau tonight. This luau was a THOUSAND times better than the one we went to in Maui on our Honeymoon. We went to the “Smith’s Luau” which we both highly recommend. This luau was on beautiful grounds where you can walk around. Then they had the “Imu” ceremony where they actually get the pig out of the imu (underground oven) for dinner. There was a live band playing typical hawaiian music during dinner, and a show afterward at the theater. The show was another typical Luau scenario where it was a ‘history lesson’ of Luau, and the influence of many Asian cultures on Hawai’i. It was interesting, entertaining, well planned, and well rehearsed with only a couple small hiccups. With all the expensive things to do on the islands for minimal entertainment value, this one is exactly what we were looking for! Did I mention it had an open bar?