Scripps Ranch Pop Warner Cheer

We've been REALLY busy since returning from vacation. We actually missed the first day of Jamie's cheer practice - and I guess you could say it was Ann's cheer practice too, since I'm coaching her squad. We have 11 cheerleaders this year for Jamie's age group (last year was 4). We have the only boy cheerleader in the Association on our squad. The girls like having Spencer on the squad, he's a nice boy, plus big and strong and a good base and spotter for our stunts.

Cheer is pretty much all-consuming, though. During August, practices were 4x week, 2 1/2 hours each (5 - 7:30 pm). VERY difficult to manage with work, regular chores, etc. It's a good work-out, so I've cut back on the personal training temporarily - both becuase I'm already exercising, but also because there's just not enough time! Now practices are down to 3x week plus the game on Saturday morning. We practice and cheer through the end of October, since at this age it's not a competitive league so we don't have playoffs...

At the Opening Day (an excuse to get parents to spend/give more money) we had squad pictures... and a visit from two of the Charger Girls. Jim enjoyed that (see below)!


Also at Opening Day, each football team was introduced, as well as each cheer squad. The cheerleaders did a cheer or dance (we danced), then held the banner for the football players to run through. Some photos left and below - our dance was called "Surfer Girl." Jamie is a GREAT dancer (that's partially proud mom talking, but I get comments from other parents and coaches, so it's also been objectively confirmed :) ). In the picture below, Jamie is center in back row...

New MLB record!

Ann's company, Fair Isaac has a suite at Petco and periodically, Ann gets to host a team building or client event there for a Padres game. We pick the games very early in the season, but we happened to have the game reserved versus the Giants... yes, that one... the one where Barry Bonds tied the home run record!!! As you can imagine, these tickets were quite in demand. In fact, only Ann could go (Jim had to watch it on TV) because all the tickets had been requested by Ann's team members and families - Ann only got to go due to a last minute cancellation. Anyway, these are the actual, "home made" i.e. not professional pictures of the event!

Heading Home – Monday, July 30th - Frankfurt to San Diego

Ahh, heading home. One last cruise on the Autobahn. A quick call to the Nurse’s Connection back at home to get last minute advice on Jamie’s nose. And FYI, when we got home we took her in to get X-rays and it wasn’t broken (or fractured) after all. But she had two black eyes for a week, and we got lots of questions about her injury – the wondering looks from strangers about whether they should call social services… It’s a weird feeling…

A little more efficiency at the Frankfurt airport than Barcelona. Two lines for VAT refunds – one across from the Delta counter to verify items you’ve packed in your checked bags. One after passport control for carry-ons. Then a final line where they give you cold, hard cash for your refund! Amazing!

We had an uneventful, nice flight back until we got to the Atlanta airport. Due to customs, you pick up your bags then re-check them, and also have to go through security a second time. We had some souvenirs in our carry-ons, things we were worried about breaking. Unfortunately, one of these was Jamie’s snow globe from Pisa. The security at the airport took it away and Jamie (and Ann) had a melt down. How the heck can you justify taking a toy/souvenir away from a child? How the heck could they think this was a risk to national security??? I begged. I pleaded. I asked for a supervisor. They kept suggesting that I could get back my checked bags and pack it in there (these bags were long gone). I kept trying to convince them that they should not do this to a child. I lost. The snow globe went in the trash. Jamie cried. I got angry. Am still angry. Enough said…

Finally… home. Lots and lots of friends ask, “How was your trip?” In writing this blog, there were lots of highlights, lots of adventures. However, overall, both Jim and I agreed that it wasn’t as much fun as our Panama cruise. It was different – it was great to be able to spend time with Dad and Nan. It was a quality trip. I think the difference was the destination. While Western Europe is a great place to visit – it’s really for adults or older teens. Museums, churches, history, art, architecture, archaeology, etc. With so many ports, and trying to make the most of each of these stops, we spent so much time off the ship, we lost the benefit of the Disney experience. No more of these for a while… we need “activity” vacations. Destinations where there is something interesting to do (skiing, snorkeling, a great pool, a theme park, etc.) that is interesting for both children and adults. No more (or limited) museums, history, etc. for a while!

We’re booked on two cruises for next year, may not take either one but want to keep our options open. Our 10-year anniversary is next year and we both want to play Pebble Beach and go wine-tasting up in Napa/Sonoma. So, we may limit our travel to the anniversary trip and then pump some money into the house – we need new flooring, painting, etc. – not as exciting as the Panama Canal, I realize… We’ll probably know where the ’09 summer sailings will be before we have to decide and make final payment on the ’08 sailings. We’ll keep everyone posted!

Heidelberg – Sunday, July 29th

Our only full day in Germany and it’s raining. Come to think of it, the last time Ann was in Heidelberg (in the 80s with Karen Tovar Norwood) it was raining, too! We didn’t rush out of the hotel, took our time and had the free continental breakfast in the concierge room. Our first stop was Heidelberg Castle… We drove over to the main tourist parking garage then headed up the hill to the castle. We were about 10 steps up the long stairs when Jamie, running ahead, slips and falls and starts screaming. She looks around at us and we think “SH$%” she’s broken her nose.
The nose appears to be crooked (the skin is kind of smashed off toward the side), there is about an inch long abrasion diagonally across the nose and it’s bleeding outside and in… Jim immediately starts poking it on both sides, to see if he can feel whether it’s broken. She’s still crying, we head back to the parking garage to ask about a doctor, hospital, etc. Of course our timing is terrible, it’s a Sunday and everything is closed. The garage attendant tells us there is a restaurant in the bottom level of the parking structure; we head down there for ice and rest. Jamie says it really doesn’t hurt that badly, but she’s acting like she’s in shock and sobbing at the thought of going to the hospital. We sit with her outside this restaurant, trying to get her to hold the ice on her nose, trying to decide what to do, because at this point, she really doesn’t seem to be in that much pain and the nose isn’t swelling that much… so we sit and talk and wait and all she wants to do is go back to the hotel. We’re finally convinced that she’s hurt, but more scared than anything and we convince her to spend a few more hours sightseeing then we can head back to the hotel later. It takes a couple of hours and a very large lollipop and she almost forgets all about her nose.

We take it pretty slow with the rain. Our timing is off, and we don’t want to wait the hour for the guided tour of the castle. And there really isn’t a tour book or any sort of “cliff notes” type information available at the castle (other than big, thick books) so this stop was pretty much a bust. We head down to the town in search of shopping and lunch. One of our goals was to buy some German, wooden Christmas ornaments; we find great stalls outside the church, then a great store on the tourist shopping street. We get a GREAT recommendation for lunch at Vetter Brauhaus (from an Asian shop keeper, who couldn’t speak very much English so she just walked us over to the restaurant!) and Jim has a great braut and Ann has goulash soup. Even Jamie is fairly happy with her French fries. We headed down to the River to inquire about a river cruise (also recommended by our hotel). Again our timing was off, so we headed back to the hotel to put some ice on Jamie’s nose and let her rest and watch movies for a while.

We had another restaurant recommendation from the hotel for dinner; Kulturbrauerei – this one was supposed to be the primo restaurant in town for authentic German cuisine. It had a nice atmosphere (sort of a beer hall in a barn) but the food was disappointing compared to our lunch. Ann continued to try various types of German wine and they all lived up to her expectations (and her expectations were fairly low – ha ha).

So, in general, our Germany stop was a let down. We had the rain, a hurt child and were probably a bit tired and ready for home, anyway… but the Marriott rocked!

Cruise Day 11 – Disembark and head to Frankfurt and Heidelberg (Saturday, July 28)

Sigh… time to leave the ship and say goodbye to Dad, Nan and our new friends. Dad and Nan were spending a few more days in Barcelona, so we said goodbye to them at the cruise terminal then headed in a cab to get in a few hours of sightseeing before we headed to the airport to fly to Frankfurt. So the first unexpected adventure was checking our bags. We headed to one of Disney’s recommended hotels (Eurostar’s Grand Marina Hotel), thinking that we’d just go to the bell desk and check our bags for the day. Well, think again. They would not take our bags since we were not hotel guests. After several other creative ideas, Ann finally got a good one. There were MANY Disney travellers in the lobby checking out to head onto the next cruise. I struck up a conversation with one of them and convinced them to check the bags for us! The Amazing Race has nothing on us!!!

We took the double decker bus around Barcelona, (Bus Turistic) got the mini-tour and overview of the city. This time Jamie seemed to enjoy it (versus the Madrid tour when she was jetlagged and grouchy). We decided to head to the airport a bit early and just eat lunch there – giving ourselves a little extra time after the adventures in Madrid with our cancelled flight. Well thank goodness we did! The Barcelona airport is a DISASTER! We were flying on Lufthansa so expected typical German efficiency. Instead we got a rambling line that blocked people from walking through the terminal (see picture below)… We stood in line for 1 ½ hours to check in, get our boarding passes and check our bags. Ann of course was constantly walking up to the counters to double check and make sure we were in the correct lines – in the process of this double checking I saw multiple people who had not been as conscientious and were sent to the back of a different line only to wait another hour or so. I’ve honestly never seen anything as disorganized as this airport check-in. I’ve read other blogs and heard other horror stories, with all the airlines (not just LH), with 2 ½ hours waiting, missed flights, etc. At least when we got up to the front of the line, we didn’t have any problems with our checked bags (in terms of weight). This is where Jim got a little creative! We had learned that they put the bags on the belt one at a time but appeared to only charge for overweight based on the total weight of the bags. So, when putting the third bag on the belt, Jim used a little knee action to push the farthest bag slightly off the end of the conveyer belt – so our total weight heading from Madrid to Barcelona had been 60 Kilos, after the cruise and shopping, we only had 55 Kilos!!! Way to go Jim!!!

We got to the Frankfurt airport and were pleasantly surprised by a nice Volvo S60 rental car from Avis. This was Jim’s turn to drive (Ann drove in France). Jim was in the slow lane on the Autobahn heading to Heidelberg, going 140 Kilometers / hour. In my mind, this seemed like a nice cruising speed – lots of other cars passing us, but we were making good time. OF COURSE WE WERE, we were going 100 MPH!!!

We checked into our nice Marriott Hotel in Heidelberg, on the concierge level so we had free snacks, beer and wine for the stay. LOVE those perks! We got a restaurant recommendation from the hotel. Italian, but that was OK because we knew we would be eating German food the next day and it would be good for Jamie to be able to eat (of course, we saw a McDonalds first, so we got her something there and she had dessert at the restaurant). This was a great restaurant (Da Mario), some really good food! It’s on the second floor just above the McDonalds…

Day 10 – Sea Day (Friday, July 27)

Our last day, a sea day, with time to rest and relax….. not! We had the character breakfast in the morning. This one was disappointing for us compared to previous cruises. It was more of a sing-along, dance-along show. In the past, the characters stopped at each table to take pictures with the children (and adults). This time, Jamie kept chasing around Minnie, Goofy, Belle, etc. to try to get a picture taken with them, but they were “well trained” and kept on moving. Jamie was a bit confused by this… Then the morning continued with a 10:30am screening of Ratatouille (great movie!). And we had arranged for a special meal – an Indian Balti dish to be served at the sit down lunch in Lumiere’s. This was a good change of pace meal – be sure to ask for these special meals when on board – I think the staff appreciates it because then they also get a chance to eat their own native cuisine.
We timed the lunch just right, and walked right out into the main lobby for the last chance to take pictures with the characters. Jamie and I made the rounds and got pictures with each and every one of them. Finally!

Then we were able to squeeze in a few hours pool before we had to head to the room to pack. One of the downers is having to pack up suitcases the evening before disembarking – you have to keep your nightgown, toiletries and change of clothes for the morning, all the other bags get taken away about 10pm. Then our final dinner was a nice Palo meal with Dad and Nan. The day was GONE!!! We didn’t even have time to do the show in the evening (Remember the Magic) because we still hadn’t selected and paid for our pictures at Shutters, we had to finish packing, etc.

Day 9 (Thursday, July 26) – Marseille

Ahhh… finally a day we could sleep in. Got a few extra hours but then Ann headed on the free shuttle bus from the industrial port area to the old city/port in search of contact lens solution. Finally found some for about 3x the US price. But, you gotta have it!!! Jamie stayed on the ship in the Oceaneer Club while we did an adults-only excursion in the afternoon – Castellet and wine tasting. This was a good, low-key tour. Castellet is yet another hilltop village with interesting narrow pedestrian streets and nice shopping. The winery was Domaine de Souviou (Bandol wines).

After dinner, we did the Disney Dreams show – it’s an updated version of the show from the Panama cruise – the premise is a girl who needs to learn to “believe” in her dreams, and it weaves in musical numbers from various Disney movies. Really an excellent show!

Then later in the evening was the much-anticipated Pirates of the Caribbean deck party with fireworks and it didn’t disappoint. There’s a positive energy and a festive spirit on the ship for this event – the ship’s store was going crazy selling pirate costumes and accessories. We brought some of our own pirate gear from home, plus they had pirate bandanas for us at the dinner table. Jamie and Eddie finally started interacting this evening, with sword fights at the table and lots of pirate talking and “growling.” Everyone got into the spirit, with Dad and Nan in pirate hats with Goofy ears! The new big screen over the Goofy Pool really helped keep everyone more involved with the dancing and activities – especially those up on Deck 10, above the main dance area. The party finishes up with pirate Mickey flying over the deck on a zip line to rescue everyone from Captain Hook – it’s really a fun stunt! And the new grand finale (versus our Panama cruise) was fireworks launched from the ship!!!

Day 8 (Wednesday, July 25) – Villefranche

Villefranche was Ann’s chance to visit her old haunts in the South of France. I lived in Antibes for a year in ’88 – ’89. It was a chance to play hostess so we headed off to do the port on our own. We rented a car, the Hertz rental location was in Nice – on the map it seemed like it would be a 10-minute drive but 30 minutes and 40 Euros later we finally made it.
To top it off, Villefranche is a tender port, so we got off to a later start than we expected. We made it to Monaco just in time to park and get to the changing of the guard at the palace. Then we did the palace tour – it was nice and fairly short, with a well-narrated audio tour included with the tickets. We took the Bas Corniche over to Monaco, returning on the Moyenne Corniche. Both are beautiful drives.

Then it was off to the Café de Paris for a nice lunch. Good food but not much of it (a recurring theme in France, Jim commented on it and candidly, I didn’t really remember it being that way but maybe it’s the comparison to the kid-friendly restaurants we’re used to in the US now)? Many US restaurants serve portions that sometimes feed us for three meals! Jim, Dad and Nan made a quick visit to the Casino while Jamie and Ann got lost trying to find the Doll museum. By the time we found it, it was time to head back to meet with the rest of the family, so Jamie was very disappointed that all we saw was the lobby. By that time I was in bribing mode, so I had promised her that since we wouldn’t have time to go into the museum, I would buy her a doll in their gift shop. Well, think again… no such luck, not a doll in site (and barely a shop!). Anyway, the next bribe was ice cream (see earlier entries for details).

Since we’d hit the highlights of Monaco, we headed back west and made a nice visit to Eze. It’s a very picturesque hilltop village right by the coast. Now filled with art galleries, shops and restaurants. You have to park off the Moyenne Corniche then walk up a hillside road to the pedestrian only village area. Hats off to Dad and Nan who kept right up with the rest of us as we wandered our way up and around the village. They and Jamie did tire a bit so we had a coffee/beer break while Ann did a little power shopping.

Then back to Villefranche, where Dad and Nan took Jamie back to the ship so Jim and I could have dinner with Ann’s friend Kate. We met up with Kate in Nice after dropping off the rental car – she was nice enough to pick us up and chauffer for the evening back to a fabulous restaurant (Chateau de la Chevre d’or) in Eze. We watched the sunset and the lights twinkling on the hillsides while sipping nice French wine and eating fois gras! It was great to see Kate and catch up. She looks as great as ever and still has good travel stories… She dropped us back in Villefranche just in time for the last tender back to the ship. The Villefranche port area was very pretty in the evening, with the lights on the ships and reflecting off the water.

We missed the lobster dinner on the ship, and also the “cirque” type show that evening. There’s always next year!!!