We stuck around the property on day 1, because, well it’s an amazing property. Pool, beach, restaurant, repeat. And the 10 minutes the hotel could not find our reservation continues to pay off. In addition to the room on the beach, we have yet to pay for a meal.

Half a book to go.

This is our view from our room at the St. Regis on the North shore of Kauai. The benefit of arriving at 11pm on Christmas night to a sold out hotel that lost your reservation is the room upgrade. It was well worth the anxiety.

I’ll try to get the X-mas photos uploaded during the flight. In the meantime, here’s one that confirms my nephew, Kaden, has some serious swag.

I’m hoping one of these days I’ll have the time to put a little more effort into this goal, but I’m sure we will manage to make a few people smile on Christmas. I hadn’t been in a K-mart in over a decade, but paid a visit this morning to their layaway department and settled a couple of random accounts that were set to expire today. The cool thing was that there was a couple of Armenian dudes in front of me doing the same thing.

Once upon a time, my grandfather was an avid skier and member of his high school ski club. Although Sonia and I are not exchanging gifts this christmas, she had my grandfathers ski club pin turned into a necklace and gave it to me early so it wouldn’t break our no gifts rule.

Since my days are booked now through the 31st and don’t include seeing a movie, here are my top five movies and television shows of 2011.

Movies

1. The Descendants
2. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
3. Midnight in Paris
4. Win Win
5. Money Ball

Television

1. Game of Thrones
2. Homeland
3. Walking Dead
4. Dexter
4. Justified

The movie did a good book justice.

A Solid action flick.

Brit’s high school team won their first pre-season tournament. They won the championship game 2-0 and Brit was named MVP.

New website is live. The wholesale buyer login is: LAFI

It’s a flash website, so it’s not currently iPhone or iPad friendly.

They’re making a movie about us.

The Domestication Project continues.

Saw the Descendants. A good authentic character driven movie.

Sushi and a kid overheating in a snowman costume.

We were able to get some tape on Brit during the first couple of games of the Thanksgiving Tournament. This is what we’ll use to hopefully garner interest from college coaches. Best viewed in full screen.

Now that it’s halftime of the Marquette-Washington game, I figured I’d try to keep my blood pressure down by focusing on other failures. Here’s a few goals that will not happen, but will be included in next year’s list.

#2. Sorry, Sis, not this year. It will be number one on my list next year.

#3. Although there are a number of scenarios in which a man could lose 18 pounds in three weeks, I will be positive and say none of them will happen to me.

#19. I’m serious about the blood pressure. Hasn’t been below 143/93 in a year.

#30. Have a dog and beer with Devin at a Giants game. Forget about #19 for a day.

#35. Most of my free time will be focused on Brit’s next step.

And here’s a few things that won’t happen and won’t be included in next year’s list.

#1 Having our line sold in every state is pretty meaningless in our pursuit, so we’ll keep our focus on the South for the time being.

#17. No me gusta.

#51-#100. Get Brittany to blog.

Enjoyed dinner at our hotel’s restaurant, The Pump Room. It’s a Jean-George restaurant, so our expectations were high…. And met.

Big win against Wisconsin in their house. It’s fun to watch Marquette win in a bar full of Marquette fans. I’m impressed when someone in LA knows that Marquette is in Wisconsin and not Michigan, so it’s always nice to watch a game in the midwest.

Braving the cold and stimulating the economy on Michigan Ave.

Hopefully the below email is the beginning of things to come.

Hey Coach,

I was able to see several of your games GU17 this past weekend and i’m trying to get a hold of a few of your players. If #9 (Brittany) and #10 (Maria) are 2012 or 2013 we would like to sit down and talk with them and their families about KWU. We feel in time they could be an asset to our program. I actually liked a lot of your players and if any of your girls are interested in our program please have them check out our website and get in touch with me.

If you could can you please have them get a hold of me via phone call, email, text it doesnt matter.

Thank you,

Roy Brown
Kansas Wesleyan University
Assistant Soccer Coach / Recruiter
100 East Claflin Avenue
Salina, KS 67401-6196
(785) 827-5541 ext. 2111
Cell:(661) 810-4273
Email:roy.brown@kwu.edu
http://www.kwucoyotes.com

Please take a look at our website (www.kwucoyotes.com) and explore it thoroughly. Our soccer teams are coming off very successful seasons. Our women’s team won our league title and finished the season top 25 in the country. We play a fast paced, foot to foot ball control, “total soccer” style that emphasizes offensive transition and defensive rotation. We get offensive chances from every position on the field, and always play with touch, speed and skill.

As you will see on our roster it is predominately filled with California players and we hold strong to that style of play. 98% of our women’s roster and 80% of our men’s roster is from California. Our retention rate is about 99% with all kids from California which means we are doing something right.
With our success we’ve been able to attract a lot of top notch talent. We make them all the same promise. You will always retain your scholarship, regardless of playing status, as long as you stay committed to the program. You will always have an opportunity to win minutes in the rotation, regardless of whom you are or where you come from and we will always put the best team on the field.

KWU is an NAIA school with an enrollment of less than 1000 students. It is a great environment that has a lot to offer, including scholarships and financial aid. We also have scholarships available for other sports as well as pure academics.

I know it doesn’t look like much, but this burrito sustained me for the couple of years that I lived in Chicago. It was as good as I remembered.

First stop of the day. Jean & Judes.

Despite the winds, we took off on time and arrived in Chi-town for a four day weekend.

Santa Ana Winds killed our banana tree.

The birthplace of California….

Brit’s team took the game into overtime, but eventually lost in sudden death portion of penalty kicks. The club season is officially over. It’s High School soccer for the next few months.

Won 3-0. Brit’s team is plowing through Premiere teams. Semi finals are tonight.

Early morning view from the hotel room. Forecast is calling for 85 and sunny.

In San Diego for the weekend to compete in one of the larger area tournaments and Brit’s team is putting on a show. 2-0 today against two premiere teams. Brit’s been unstoppable and I’m about as happy as can be. One more win and they’re in the semis.

A great turnout made Devin’s 21st birthday celebration a huge success. Because we celebrated a day early, Devin’s ID didn’t quite cut it, but the waitress let it slide. I forgot my camera so you have to settle for a few iPhone pics in poor lighting.

Brit had her first scrimmage as a member of her new, much bigger High School. They lost 3-1, but Brit scored and was named Offensive Player of the Game.

Three days before Thanksgiving. Take that, Mom.

Last view from the room before the morning flight home. Great food. Great Shopping. Not so good gambling results. But, we’ll make up for it in February when we return.

Enjoyed a fantastic dinner at Jaleo at my favorite Spaniard celebrity chef, Jose Andres’ place.

A beautiful hotel. This picture is of the bottom level of a three story glass bar that is one enormous chandilier.

Breakfast after a late night at the Craps table. So far we’re even with the House.

Three day weekend.

Sonia’s vision update. 20/20 and improving.

Big day for Sonia today. 30 plus years of poor vision, glasses and contact madness has been done away with after a so far successful lasek surgery.

Hard day at work. But it was for a great cause. Sure it’s not a cure for cancer, but Dad’s hard earned money will help the under privileged future multi millionaire baseball players of America get paid.

Brit’s team lost their final game of the season on a rain soaked field and finished with a middle of the pack, 5-5-1 record. Barring a remarkable run in March’s State Cup, The Sherman Oaks Extreme has probably played their last league game together as the four or five best players will move on to find a Premiere team. With that said, there are still a few tournaments to play before the final good-byes.