Almost Forgot!

I almost forgot to share one of the best things about the trip...

We arrived home on the morning of Thanksgiving Monday and we were pretty tired from flying all night, but exhilarated after such an exciting weekend!

On Thursday when Grant was at school UPS arrived with a large package for him.  I couldn't wait for him to get home from school to open it! I knew by the shape of the box what it was!

What an awesome gift from Nick at TaylorMade Golf!!!  I messaged Nick to thank him and he said he saw how much Grant loved the game of golf and thought he should have new clubs like his brother and father.  As you can see from the smile on Grant's face he loved them.  When Ben got home from school we headed out to Ashburn to hit a few balls!

Grant didn't ask for a thing on the trip and was thrilled by everything that his father and Ben were receiving.  He was excited for them and I think Nick saw that and thought Grant deserved a treat after a weekend that was all about Todd and Ben.  This was the icing on the cake and Nick certainly didn't have to do that.  Two fantastic companies to host a trip of this caliber and we always give them support in our purchases now whenever we can.

I almost forgot, the week before Christmas two of the new Flextech Lite Carry Bags arrived for Todd and Ben!  Those went under the tree!

Thank you again to TaylorMade Golf Canada, you have made this boy very happy!!! 

 - Beth

Ultimate Father's Day Photo Contest Win!!!

Winning Photo! 

This post is long, long, long overdue!  I have been meaning to write about our unbelievable trip that I won back last summer to give credit to the three companies that sponsored the prize - Sport Chek, TaylorMade and Scene.

The story began back in June 2016 when Todd forwarded an email to me about about a Father's Day Photo Contest at Sport Chek.  The contest was looking for photos of fathers golfing and the grand prize was a trip to California to the TaylorMade factory, two sets of custom fit golf clubs and 15,000 Scene Points.  They had me at photo contest!  I love to submit my photos to a contest for the fun of it.
You could submit more than one photo to the Sport Chek website so of course I did and I have lots of golf photos with all of the golfers in our house!

On July 29th I came in from outside and had a message on the phone from Scene stating I was the GRAND PRIZE WINNER of a contest and I needed to call back within 24 hours or the prize would be forfeited.   I listened to the message three times as I thought it was a scam.  I went to Todd's office to call so Ben wouldn't hear me as I didn't believe it was real.  Well, it was real and she had all of my personal information that I submitted from the contest and when she congratulated me I think I must have squealed in delight because Ben asked me what was wrong when I came upstairs.

We were the only two home at the time and he asked again if everything was okay because he could see I was shaking a bit.  I didn't want to worry him so thought I better tell him.  He ran to me and bear hugged me! (and for anyone who knows Ben this is out of character for him!)   He then said we have to call Dad (who was in Cape Breton golfing for work).  So I texted him to call me when he got a chance and he said they were going to 18 and then he would call.  Well we waited and waited and waited so I texted again and he said they had gone to a playoff hole.  Meanwhile Ben and I were busting!  We decided to facetime him and not wait for his call.  He couldn't believe it and all of the guys in his group were giving him high fives!  It just didn't seem real!!!

So we signed the waivers in the next few days and waited very impatiently to hear back from Sport Chek for the next step in planning the trip.

Fast forward, we got the trip planned for Thanksgiving weekend and we were all going, not just Todd and Ben!  Todd used points for our flights for Lauren, Grant and I.  Ben and Todd wanted me there for photos and how could we leave Lauren and Grant home on the long weekend!

A week before the trip a couple of boxes arrived with  Adidas golf clothing for Ben and Todd.  Adidas owns TaylorMade and they didn't want Todd and Ben showing up in other brands as they had hired Ollie (TaylorMade's professional photographer) to video and photograph the highlights.  That was a bit of a funny story because we took the MX-5 to pick up the parcels at UPS and we had no idea that they would be that big.  We couldn't fit one of the boxes in the trunk so we had to squeeze it in with Grant.  Glad it was a short ride home!

Do you want to know what was in those boxes?  

They each received:  a pair of shoes, two hats, two gloves, 3 golf shirts, 1 belt, 1 pair of pants and a pair of shorts.  It was like an early Christmas for them! 

So we left for San Diego on the 5:30am flight on Thursday, October 6 and arrived at lunch time in sunny California! 

Oh how we love the terrain in California and the beautiful highways! 

First stop was Torrey Pines Golf Club where the guys changed into one of their matching outfits to be ready to meet Ryan from SportChek and Nick from TaylorMade Canada.  

We caught up with them in the Pro Shop and told us to meet them over at the driving range.  I think Ben and Todd were giddy with excitement for the day they were about to have!  This was their Disney World!  

TaylorMade gave them some loaner clubs for the day.

They loosened up with a few shots after a long flight from Toronto to San Diego and couldn't wait to see the south course!  Grant even got to hit a few balls!  

Waiting to tee off on #1!

 Signature hole - #3

Grant, Lauren and I left after the 7th hole and headed to our resort!  I was a little nervous to drive on the highway in California but I did fine.  We even had time to stop at a mall to do a little shopping on our way up the coast.

What a gorgeous resort and we wished our stay was for longer than a weekend!  Omni Resort - La Costa was incredible! 

By the time Ben and Todd arrived at the resort it was dark and they had no idea what the view was out our window.  I couldn't wait for morning for them to see!

Todd and Ben couldn't wait for their day to begin and had no idea what to expect!  We left Lauren at the resort for the morning to do homework and we headed to the TaylorMade factory and the Ultimate Golf Experience at "The Kingdom".  

Waiting to head inside!  I can't even explain how excited they were!

 Meeting Ollie who is TaylorMade's Professional Photographer.  He did videos of everything they did that weekend for the next contest ad.

Personalized lockers for each of them!

Personalized tee boxes!

Ben and Todd getting their swings analyzed by Jason and Duane. 

They learned so much from their fitters!  

Over to the plant for a tour and to the Adidas store to do some shopping at a great discount!  

Todd and Ben's clubs were built on Friday afternoon after their fitting and they were delivered to the resort on Saturday morning.  Here they are getting to see them and try them out for the first time!  Grant was just as excited as they were!  We had to hang back for a bit because Ollie was recording their reaction.  They were like movie stars!!!  

Ryan from Sport Chek

Nick from TaylorMade

Great day at LaCosta Golf Club!  

After golf we had some time for family time on Saturday afternoon.

Time by the pools, sunset on the beach and a fun dinner at Pizza Port!

 

The weekend went super fast and on Sunday we spent our day around the resort, shopping the outlets and driving down the coast to the San Diego airport.  

Our Thanksgiving family photos are usually quite different with fall colours and dressed much warmer.  

 

Our last evening was spent in LaJolla watching the sunset.  We can't thank Sportchek, TaylorMade and Scene enough for the experience of a lifetime for Todd and Ben.  I am thrilled that we could all be there to experience this with them.  It was a fantastic family getaway!  

Thank you!!!  

I have attached the link to the video that they made to promote this year's contest.