Thanksgiving in Minnesota

I packed a lot of things into my past five days in Minnesota. I arrived Tuesday night without any delays...always good when flying from a warm climate to a cold climate on the busiest flying days of the year.

Wednesday I spent the day going from one appointment to the next--including eye doctor, dentist and haircut! Good to knock that stuff all out in one day--in addition to multiple trips to Cub to prepare for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday.

On Thanksgiving we hosted dinner for David's family--with 27 people coming over for the afternoon. The best part about hosting is getting the left-overs! In true Finger family tradition, Thanksgiving Day concludes by going to a movie--my favorite time to stay home and have the house to myself! I began to get some Christmas decorations out as I put the Thanksgiving ones away.

Friday we ran a few errands to the Cities, then had dinner at the golf club.

Saturday we put our Christmas tree up as a family--another fun tradition! It takes some time to assemble the 14' tree, but the end result is always worth it. Also the fun memories of unpacking special Christmas ornaments to hang on the tree.

Sunday morning the family took me back to the airport for my 11 a.m. non-stop flight back to Ft. Lauderdale. While it's a 30 minute drive from the Ft. Lauderdale airport to Wellington, it's nice to have a non-stop flight and avoid cold weather airports with possible delays. I met a friend for dinner on my way home.

It was great to be home and spend time with family and friends...I'll return again in three and a half weeks!

~Le Ann

The ADT at Trump International

Saturday I went to the LPGA ADT Championship at Trump International. It was fun to watch the 16 players and to walk around at Trump International. We were disappointed that Annika and Lorena didn't make the cut to play the weekend, but it was still great to get so close to the other players and watch them.

Saturday night I attended the wedding of a colleague in Palm Beach Gardens, then went to the reception at Abacoa Golf Club in Jupiter. It was such a nice event and fun to be included with a few other PGA colleagues.

Sunday morning I had breakfast at the Juno Beach Cafe and walked along the beach. I spent the afternoon hitting golf balls at PGA National for a few hours, then went to the Gardens Mall to start my Christmas shopping.

Soon time to think about packing my stuff to head to Minnesota for Thanksgiving on Tuesday.

~Le Ann

Another golfing weekend

I started my weekend on Saturday morning with my walk along the beach, before playing golf. I spent this weekend playing 36-holes of golf with friends from Minnesota who winter in the Ft. Meyers area--Vicki and Larry Austad and JoAnne Henry. We played golf on Saturday on the Palmer course, then went out to celebrate JoAnne's 70th birthday...we went to Duffy's after golf to watch the Minnesota-Wisconsin football game--not too much to cheer about there. We had dinner at the Waterway Cafe, then went back to Duffy's, as Joanne left her jacket there.

Sunday we played the Haig course in the morning. After golf, Vicki, Larry and JoAnne headed back to Ft. Meyers and I ran a few errands before heading home for the night. It was a perfect weekend weather-wise...temps in the 70s and sunny. Perfect golf weather! It was fun to spend the weekend with the Austads and JoAnne--I look forward to another visit to the "West Coast" to see them this winter.

~Le Ann

Arizona and California

The past five days have been non-stop. I left West Palm on Tuesday afternoon and flew to Minneapolis to meet Kelsey and Brooke, so the three of us could fly to Phoenix. Not the best use of time to go from Florida to Arizona via Minnesota, but it was great for accumulating frequent flyer miles, plus fun to travel with the girls.

Wednesday morning we headed west on I-8 for San Diego. After five hours of desert, sand, more desert and three boarder patrol stops, we arrived in San Diego. We ate dinner, sat in the hot tub and watched some TV before the sleep-deprived mom called it quits at 8:30 p.m.

Thursday morning we took a quick jaunt to Torrey Pines, since we were ten minutes away, the golfing mom had to see where the US Open was held this past June. After a few photos, we headed to the San Diego State University campus. This is Kelsey's first choice for a school and following the tour, she is even more excited about SDSU.

After a quick stop at Subway, we jumped back in the car for our five hour drive back to Phoenix. We arrived in Phoenix just as the sun was setting and it was a great sight to see the mountains lit up as the lights came on in the valley. We met Lance and Carol Jacobson for dinner in Cave Creek before going to their house to spend the night.

Friday morning we left for Tempe and our tour at Arizona State University. It was a nice campus and a beautiful day to be out walking around. Kelsey plans to major in Economics or Marketing and both schools have great business schools for her. Of course the weather at both schools is a big factor as well...probably won't need to pack the winter clothes, if she's headed to California or Arizona.

Friday night I attended the PGA of America Annual Meeting and President's Dinner at the JW Marriott in Scottsdale. It was a great party for outgoing PGA President Brian Whitcomb and fun to see friends from the Minnesota Section as well as PGA HQ colleagues.

I left Saturday morning at 8:45 for West Palm and the girls flew back to Minneapolis at 10 a.m. Of course they had a three hour non-stop flight and I toured Memphis and Atlanta before arriving in West Palm at 10 p.m. It was a fun time and I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving in a few weeks...

Today I walked along the beach, stopped in the office for an hour, then met a colleague for lunch. It was great to sit outside and chat about her upcoming wedding and enjoy being back in Florida.

~Le Ann

Living in Wellington...

I spent this weekend moving from my two-bedroom condo to a house in Wellington--about 15 minutes south of the PGA. Wellington is a great community known best as being the home to the Polo International Hall of Fame--a mere few blocks from where I live.

Friday night was my first night there, which also happened to be Halloween...so I spent the first two hours answering the doorbell and giving out candy! The biggest surprise was that people here just sit in lawn chairs in their driveway to hand out the candy! Also many parents following the kids pulled wagons--complete with coolers containing their adult beverages!!

Saturday I ran a few errands, got in a walk on the beach and hung out with a friend to watch the Iowa football game. Sunday was another walk on the beach, followed by some much needed time at the practice range at PGA National.

Tuesday I leave for Phoenix to meet Kelsey and Brooke to go look at colleges. Looking forward to spending some time with the girls out West!

~Le Ann