DAY 8 - SIXTH FULL DAY IN MIAMI

We thought we would mention that we have already had had over 10,000 visits to our Blog.  

Later in our post, we some great news about a new addition to our family.

Before we left for the basketball game last evening, we each had salad entrees in our room which we had picked up earlier in the afternoon from a French Bakery and Cafe just down the street from us called La Provence.  Between the dinners we have already enjoyed and knowing we will have many dinners to look forward to on our upcoming journey on Serenity, we thought that having a more casual dinner would be ideal for us and it was.  We considered eating at the Miami game and would have done so, but we preferred something on the more healthy side.  We each did have a soft pretzel at the game though.

About an hour before the doors would open, we walked from our hotel over to the American Airlines Arena which is home to the Miami Heat.  We made one stop along the way.  

The visiting team was the Washington Wizards.  We have not seen Washington play in person since we lived in Washington, D.C. and that was when they were known as the Washington Bullets and played in Landover, Maryland.  That was in 1985, and they played the Boston, Celtics which was Keith's favorite team as we had mentioned the other day and we got to see players such as Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Danny Ainge, Kevin McHale, Rich Carlisle, and Dennis Johnson  That year the team went all the way to the finals and lost to the Lakers for the NBA Championship.

There is something interesting and special to Keith about that team and some of the ones prior to and after it.  It was not just just how many games and championships and/or division titles they won.  Rather, many of the players from that team went on to become either Head Coaches in the NBA and/or President of Operations for an NBA team(s).    This includes Larry Bird, Danny Ainge, and Kevin McHale who have performed both roles and even today Bird and Ainge head up their teams while McHale is back to coaching.  Rick Calisle is an NBA Coach.  Ironically, Carlisle coaches the Mavericks and McHale the Rockets which are two of the NBA's elite teams and are two of three teams in Texas.   The late Dennis Johnson who passed at a very young age went on to become an Assistant NBA Coach.  This type of team chemistry doesn't happen very often and says a lot about the players on those teams.

Well, back to the game.  LOL.  We arrived to the stadium around the time that the doors opened which is one hour before game time.  We made our way to our section and our seats.  We had wonderful seats which were mid court and eight rows up.  They were very near to where the players enter from the locker room so Keith was able to give high fives to most of the Heat Players when they took the court.

The one we chose to post was Keith giving a high five to Dwayne Wade the star player for Miami and a future Hall of Famer.   While you can't see Dwayne Wade please take our word for it that it was him.    Anne Marie took several others but all have something in common which is Keith only.  We do know that this was the last photo she took when Dwayne Wade came out.  

Second selfie of the week and for that matter ever.  LOL.

We were one of the first to arrive to our section where we sat.  Anne Marie is holding the soft Pretzels.  Food could also be ordered at from these seats and we did order beverages.

Washington Wizards Warming Up.

Miami Heat Warming Up.

During the introductions of each Heat Player the Flames are lit.

Game time.

Former Boston Celtic and future Hall of Famer, Paul Pierce.

This was a close game and Miami was up for a good portion of the game.  When we lived in Washington one year when the Washington Bullets won the Championship their coach (Dick Motta) often would say the opera (meaning game) ain't over until the fat lady sings.  By the way he was not the originator of this quote.   Well, that was the case last night with Washington making a run at the end and beating Miami by two points.  We thoroughly enjoyed the game with all of the excitement of a very close finish.   

After we left the arena we made our way on foot back to the hotel.  There was a slight breeze as we walked back and there were more people outside than two nights earlier.  This is likely due to it being a Friday and the weekend before Christmas.  There seemed to be many parties.

Surprisingly, we ended up walking almost 16 miles yesterday with a final count of 15.80 miles.  

We slept very well and now for the big news.  A few hours before leaving for the game we received a text from our son that our daughter in law started to have contractions.  Fast forward to the game, and Keith and our son Eric were texting back and forth and Eric was keeping us up to date on progress.  By the time we got back to the hotel it looked like another few hours to go before Kara gave birth.

We woke up very early to a text from our son Eric that our daughter in law, Kara, gave birth six minutes earlier to Grand Baby Jackson who weighed in at approximately 8 pounds with a length of 22 inches.  We are so very happy for Eric and Kara and welcome our second Grand Baby in less than one month and our third Grand Child Jackson to our family.  

After getting the text Keith stayed up and texted a little more with Eric while Anne Marie slept.  

We introduce you to Baby Jackson.

Baby Jackson looking up to his dad and our son Eric.

After breakfast, we got ready for one final walk of Miami.  Our plan was to just walk in the morning so that we could pack and get organized in the afternoon.

We visited the port of Miami and six ships were in port including two for Carnival, one Costa, one Celebrity, one MSC and the Europa II.

This is the Europa II which is considered to be a six star ship and many of its clients that take this one and Europa I are from Germany.

The Europa II was in Terminal J where we are scheduled to sail from tomorrow.

From left to right two Carnival Ships and a Costa Ship.

MSC Cruise Ship which is a European Cruise Line but this ship's home port is indeed the Port of Miami.

The Celebrity Reflection.

We also spoke with our son on the phone in the morning from the port of Miami and heard a great deal more about the birth of baby Jackson.

We then walked through Bayside Park and the Miami Fire Rescue Squad had the area all set up with personnel and lots of equipment. Our Grand Son Andre would have loved this.

We stopped off at two stores to pick up final items for the cruise and then we each enjoyed salad entrees for lunch.

We ended up walking 8 miles today well under our full day walks but that was because we spent the afternoon getting packed and organized for tomorrow when we board Crystal Serenity.

We will post about dinner this evening tomorrow.

We are posting a little earlier today.

We want to close with two quotes; one related to the birth of a child and one related to not only sports but anything you want to do in life.

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY..........

"I think at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Do your best when no one is looking.  If you do that you can be successful in anything you put your mind to."  - Bob Cousy 

Keith & Anne Marie