LIB 2016

Skipping ahead to almost the present...

This year over Memorial Day Weekend, as a family we attended Lightning In a Bottle (LIB). Every time Ben and I go to a music festival, Adelyn and Odin lament the fact that they are not old enough to come with us. And for a few months they started asking when we can go camping. LIB was a perfect solution! LIB is a music festival crossed with art crossed with workshops crossed with camping... and they have a very family friendly attitude about everything too. They even have a special camping area for families. We thought this would be a great intro to camping (free water and food trucks available). And we had a blast!

The event started on Thursday and it was about 6 hours away. We had heard from others that the family camp filled up fast. With this in mind we headed to Bakersfield, CA on Wednesday so we would be closer on Thursday. We did manage to get everything in the car, but it was a tight fit! Thursday we got to the festival around 9:30. After slowly making our way through the gates, we got in about an hour later. First complaint (there aren't many): the guy directing traffic made us go down a road that did not lead to Family Camp. We knew we were going the wrong way, but he insisted. We ended up having to turn around and get on the correct road. Finally we made it to family camp. We were surprised at how many people we already set up. We found a spot that we thought would be good at got to work. We set up our tent, shade structure, and inflatable couch and then took a break to look around and grab some lunch.

The first food truck we came to was a chicken and waffles place. They had a low table and cushions set up under a shade. We went no further. And man! Am I glad we stopped! I haven't had that many c & w's, but this was by far the best I have ever had! The chicken was fried to perfection... not too much breading, a bit of zip, and juicy and delicious. And the waffle. So. Good. It just melted in your mouth. So good. We had nice conversations with the other people eating at the table.

After getting beds and everything set in the tent, we went exploring. We quizzed Adelyn and Odin about where we were and where our camp was as we went. We came to a stage with music. We stayed on the outside and had a family dance party. When the sun set everyone cheered. The kids thought this was great. We headed back to camp shortly after this because it was getting cool fast! We got back to Family Camp and were shocked... so many other tents appeared while we were out. They were crammed in every possible space. That left finding a path to accommodate our wagon a little tricky. We got the kids all tucked inside their sleeping bags. They were asleep pretty quickly.

The next few days were a blur of activity. We would wake up and eat breakfast at camp (breakfast bars for the win!). And then set off. There was a Family Love Village with a lot of kid activities, and lots of other things to see and do. When we got too hot or hungry, we made it back to camp for a lunch of crackers, cheese, nuts and summer sausage. Then we hung around, played and talked with our neighbors, took naps or whatever else we wanted to do. We would head out for a early dinner at the food trucks. After that depending on the kids we would try to stay out late or head back to camp.

Highlights for the kids were the Ferris wheel, the Woogie stage (they liked the bright colors and name, we didn't actually spend much time there), face painting, watermelon and sleeping in sleeping bags. (Doesn't take much!).

The second complaint is a huge one - leaving. We left camp around 11:30 and made it to Bakersfield (2 hours away) at 9 pm. The logistics leaving the camp ground were terrible!

All in all we had a great time. The kids are already talking about next year.

Pictures in a different post. Stay tuned!

22,000 Steps

For a few months we have been talking to Adelyn and Odin about the "Big Surprise." Ben has occasionally given clues to them,for instance, we need to take a plane there. Well, on December 13 the Big Surprise was revealed - Disney World! It was funny... when we got to the property to check into our hotel, we told the kids where we were. We had 2 blank stares. They had no idea what Disney World was. But they quickly found out! We checked into our hotel and went off to the Magic Kingdom.

We spent the most time at the Magic Kingdom, but we also went to Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios and Epcot Center. We did all the rides and shows that Adelyn and Odin would like. I was surprised as to how many rides Genevieve could go on with us. That was a nice surprise.

Our typical day was to sleep in, grab breakfast at our hotel, head to a park, go back to the hotel for naps, wake up for night time park fun. The kids did very well on this schedule. It was nice too, because at night the lines to the kiddie rides were very short. Didn't even need Fast Passes!

One day I decided to use the pedometer feature on my phone. By the end of the day I had more than 22,000 steps! The next day was pretty much the same. The amazing part - Adeyln and Odin walked most of those with us. Our last night we had the stroller for Odin, otherwise Genevieve was in it. I am so impressed with the amount of walking they did.

I could write a super long post, but instead I'll just list some highlights.

- Princess lunch with Belle and the other princesses
- Breakfast with Chip and Dale and Goofy
- Lunch with Winnie, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore
- Breakfast in Cinderella's castle
- Random invite to skip the line to see Anna and Elsa
- Everest roller coaster
- Animal safari
- Countless smiles and shrieks of delights

Florida Family Vacation

And I'm back. Both in the blogging sense and also in the I'm home sense.

Last week we went on a very relaxing family vacation to the Tampa area (stayed in Treasure Island). We left on Valentine's Day. To celebrate and to kick off the vacation, we went to Steak n' Shake for dinner. Mmmmm.

We stayed at Residence Inn. They ran out of the rooms we had booked, so we got upgraded. We ended up with a suite with two bedrooms and a full kitchen. So, we took advantage of that and went grocery shopping and had most of our meals in.

We spent time at the beach. Adelyn LOVES the beach and ocean. The cold water didn't seem to phase her at all. She also loves the pool. It is so much fun to see her joy and excitement when we would head out to one of those places.

We also went to the Salvador Dali Museum. I have to say, I wasn't a fan of his. But now, I have a great respect for him. His range of mastery of different genre is staggering. Very impressive.

One day it was raining, so we hit up the Florida Aquarium. Of course, Ben and I loved it. Adelyn liked it too. She was a fan of the "Penguin Promenade" that we watched - they brought out a pair of penguins for everyone to see.

That's a nutshell of our vacation. I think we should do that more often.

We're Going to Party Like... The Larson's!

At sort of the last minute, we booked a trip to Vancouver and Seattle. Two reasons: 1. For a "Dangerous Dinner" with some business people that Ben wanted to talk with; 2. Visit the Larson family.

We flew into Vancouver on Wednesday. The Larson's (Shelby, Kerry and Emma) drove up from Seattle. We took a very scenic route to our hotel (note to self: always remember that iPhones don't work in Canada and so an address, at the very least, should be taken with so you can find the hotel). But we found it and got ready for our dinner. Emma came to our room to babysit Adelyn. We got to the dinner hotel a bit early, so we joined some of the other people we were meeting in the bar for a drink. And then the Dangerous Dinner began!

A week prior, Yanik (the starter of Mavrick Adventures) decided to throw something together since he was going to be in town. So with just a week's notice, the chef at the hotel put together an awesome dining experience. I was very impressed! Here is what we ate:

1. Sea cucumber - I actually liked this pretty well. It was sliced and served with mushrooms.

2. Sea scallop - Had these before, so it wasn't too crazy. And it was a little awkward to eat. It was served with a micro green salad and it wasn't clear if they should be eaten together or not. I thought the salad overpowered the scallop.

3. Python soup - This was awesome! He wanted to get rattlesnake, but couldn't on such short notice. Apparently python is pretty mildly flavored and since this python was from Vietnam, he decided to Asian up the dish. The python was made into a cake (think crab cake) and put into a spicy Thai soup. Very tasty. Loved it.

4. Squab and foie gras - (aka pigeon and duck liver) This was ok. The foie gras was very slimy, but if you ate it with the squab, it was ok. Not my favorite course.

5. Alligator loin - This was also very good. It was prepared Cajun style. I'd had alligator before in New Orleans, so this wasn't new either, but definitely not on my typical menu.

6. Orange Desserts - This was very creative. There were probably six different bite-sized orange things including a gum drop, fruit roll-up and sorbet. Very tasty.

7. Marshmallow covered chocolate - Yum!

After dinner, we headed over to the Roxy - a night club type place. For a Wednesday night, it was pretty hopping. Very interesting people watching. Around 1:30 we called it a night.

The next morning, Adelyn was still on central time, so I got to get up at 5 with her after getting to bed after 2. Yawn! After her first nap of the day, everyone was still sleeping, so the two of us went to a local diner for some breakfast. Then we packed up and headed out of town with the Larson's.

On the way home we stopped by where they film some of the show "Psych." Haven't ever seen it, but I want to move to that town! Not even joking, the street along the water had an ice cream or gelato store every third store. Heaven!

When we got to the Larson's house, Ben and Shelby had to run to her home office to do a webinar. Adelyn and I got swarmed by the remaining Larson children (Carter, Avery, Anna, and Sophia). They were excited to see Adelyn and excited about my birthday. They had blown up a ton of balloons and had them all over the house for me. So sweet! Adelyn was a little overwhelmed with all the attention, but she did pretty well.

Friday was a school day, so as the kids went off to school, they all wished me a happy birthday. Once all but Sophia left (she has afternoon kindergarten) Ben and I made monkey bread for breakfast. I had been craving it for a long time. So yummy. For lunch (by this time Sophia is at school) we went to fast food (Taco Bell and Wendy's) because I wanted to pay for the person behind us. It was fun! I think the guy at the window thought we were nuts, but I had fun.

For dinner we had pizza and watched "Despicable Me." The pizza was great and the movie was funny and good. After that, Shelby told the kids that we couldn't do the piñata because it would wake up Adelyn and besides, I wasn't very excited about it. Wha??? I quickly told her she was wrong (which was true, but even if it weren't, the kids had done that as a surprise for me and I would have played along for their sake). We came up with a solution: attach it to a broom handle with a dog leash and have Ben hold it and play in the driveway. It was so much fun!

The next morning we packed it up early and headed home. It was such a fun (albeit exhausting) trip!

What a Trooper!

Last week we went to Florida to watch the launch of the space shuttle Discovery. It was a very neat experience. We didn't do the best job of figuring out where to watch it from, so we weren't as close as we would have liked. But we did have a great view and had a lot of fun.

The way the flights worked out, we didn't leave until 7:20 at night. And then our flight was delayed. Adelyn usually goes to be bed between 6:30 and 7. But she did great! Smiled at the flight crew. And then snuggled in for some sleep. She woke up when we landed and stayed awake through the car ordeal...

We had reserved a car. When we got to the car rental counter, the guy told us that the manager was down there where the cars were and that if we acted mad, they would comp the gas and give us half off. I thought he was trying to give us an inside scoop on how to get the car cheaper, so I joked with him about it... then he said they only had vans left. Not just any vans, 15-passenger vans. Oh, ok. Got it. We are mad about that. So we went down to get the car. And we waited. And waited. Not sure where the vans were coming from, but we ended up waiting for over one and a half hours for it. Towards the end Adelyn started to get cranky, and so was I. But we got our sweet ride and left the airport.

In the great state of Florida, there are Steak n' Shakes. This was our one chance to go there. So we were "those" parents and brought Adelyn there at 2 am. She had napped in the van, so she was awake and alert.

Finally, we made it to the hotel. But with our bellies full of burger, fries and shakes, we were pretty happy. We were the last to check in at the hotel. Thankfully we had prepaid, so they didn't give our room away. But, they didn't have any cribs left. Adelyn woke up when we were unloading the van. We made a bed for her out of extra pillows and a blanket. She thought it was a lot of fun to crawl out of her bed. Finally, she went to sleep.

After what seemed like a short night, we were up and on our way. We went to a deli that is owned by a guy that Ben knows for lunch. SO GOOD! We had a nice chat with him and then we rushed out the door to make it to the coast.

We started hitting some traffic. We both agreed that we did not want to watch the shuttle out of our ride's windows because we couldn't find or get to a place. So, we picked a rough area of where we wanted to be and headed that way. We ended up about 20 miles away from the launch, near Cocoa Beach. We had a great view and there were very few people. But being 20 miles away, we didn't see nearly the detail as we would have liked. One cool thing about being that far away was that we saw the launch and just as it was disappearing from view, we heard it. It was neat to have that much delay. Crazy!

We had dinner plans with some people we met at this year's IM cruise. Dinner was set for 6:15 just about 10 miles north of where we were. We had about an hour to get there. No problem, right? Wrong! Traffic was terrible. It was literally stopped. People were getting out of their cars to visit with other people. People were turning their cars off. RV's were pulling onto the shoulders to wait it out... We got to the restaurant around 7:15. Our friends had an even shorter distance to go and we beat them. But finally we connected and had a nice (??) Thai dinner. The question marks is because the service was terrible. It was the waitress's first night. And because of the launch it was a bit crazy. Luckily for us, we had great company. And Adelyn did great. Towards the end she started to get fussy, but by then it was after 9. Oh, and she did great in the traffic too - slept the entire time.

Even with the stop for dinner, there was still some traffic issues. We took a couple of side roads to avoid some of it. Ben let me take a nap. I don't even know what time we got back to the hotel. I think it was after 11. Adelyn was so sound asleep in her car seat, that we decided just to leave her there. But in our room, of course.

The next morning we were up at 5:30 to make our flight back home. It was a whirlwind of a trip, but we had so much fun!

First Stamp

This Thanksgiving, once again we hit the road. This time our destination was Costa Rica to visit Ben's brother and his family. To me it is so funny that infants need passports. But anyway, Adelyn in now the proud owner of a stamp from Costa Rica!

We had a great time while there. We were there for 10 days and honestly, the time went by super fast. Ben had to work a bunch while we were there, so I spent a good portion of my days with Sara and the kids. Simon was super interested in Adelyn. And by interested I mean that he kept poking her in her eyes. So, we had to keep those two separated. Once Adelyn can crawl and get away, I'm sure it will be an easier visit.

One day we drove to a volcano. I was so excited! And it was awesome. It was Volcano Poas. There is a great view of the current crater. It was busy cranking out clouds of sulfur. But it didn't stink as much as I thought it might. Then we hiked up to the old crater that has formed a lake. It was another awesome view. And an awesome workout to hike up to it. With a stroller.

The last part of our trip we went to Jaco so Ben could learn how to surf (his #1 priority for our trip). We rented a condo that was right on the beach. I LOVE being so close to the ocean. Watching the waves breaking is so relaxing. I could get used to that.

Two interesting things: 1. There are virtually no road names or signs in Costa Rica. You just have to know how to get there. Or know local landmarks. 2. If the Russian Mafia is after you, you can't just run to the embassy and expect them to let you in and protect you. You have to have an appointment...

In a very short nutshell, that was our trip. Ben and I are already talking about our next visit there.

A Pair of Yellow Socks and a Pink Elephant

This past weekend we were off again. This time to Dallas, TX. Ben was going for a seminar. Adelyn and I decided to tag along. We felt that coming to Dallas was the perfect trip to see how it would be for us to come with Ben on business trips. Mainly because we have friends there so I wouldn't feel so alone. I don't think any of us were recovered yet from NYC, but what do you do?

The flight to Dallas was ok. For the first time, Adelyn wasn't her happy traveling self. She cried a bit before her in-flight nap. It was less than 5 minutes of crying, but seemed like forever to us since we do not want to be "those" parents with "that" baby.

Our first night was so much fun! We went to our friends, Val and Raul's house for dinner. Val made some killer lasagna. We had a great time hanging out with them. The rest of the trip Ben was pretty occupied with the seminar. Adelyn and I joined him for lunches and one dinner.

Friday morning I was getting Adelyn dressed when I realized that I only packed one pair of socks for her and they were yellow! (To my credit, she did have one yellow outfit). It was a good thing we were headed to Walmart to grab some breakfast food to have in our room.

On the way home, Adelyn cried a bit again when she was trying to get to sleep (still don't get how crying soothes them to sleep). But really, I think she did great all things considered. After we got off the plane I changed her diaper. Midway through changing it I realized that I left her pink elephant on the plane! I quickly finished up so that we could try and get it back. Luckily they did find it and the elephant was saved! (I'm not sure if she has a favorite toy or not, but the elephant has mighty tasty feet that she loves to chew on so we would have been sad if it was lost).

So now we're back home. Adelyn and I will be home for a while. Ben will be going to Vegas in another week or so for another conference.

NYC

This past weekend we took a trip to NYC to visit our friend Will. He let us stay with him and I have to say, he was a great host! Since Ben and I have been to NYC before and did the normal tourist stuff, this time it was a little more laid back. Will brought us to some of his favorite restaurants and hang out spots. We had a great time!

For the most part Adelyn was a trooper. She was near perfect on the plane rides (a little fussy prior to take off on one because I wasn't feeding her). She slept great at nights. The main issues were 1. too much going on so she didn't nap well (re: cranky pants in the evening) 2. by the time we would get our food (this includes travel, wait time, order time and deliver time) it would be time for her to eat again. This resulted in me eating a few lukewarm meals. But overall, I'm proud of how well she did.

We had a lot of Asian food while we were there. We had Korean, Chinese, Japanese and Thai. I think the Thai meal was my favorite. One of Will's friends joined us for that meal. She's Thai so we let her and Will handle the ordering. So good! Actually, for a lot of the meals we let Will order. He has great taste!

So now we're home. Trying to recover because we leave again for Dallas soon. :)

DC

This past weekend we went to DC to hang out with Ben's brother. We left on Thursday (my birthday) and got back last night. John, Sara and Simon picked us up from the airport. We ended up taking a "detour" on the way to the hotel to stop at the Melting Pot for dessert. So thoughtful of Ben to think of that.

Friday we spent the day in DC. We had gotten on the list for a "tour" of the White House and of the Capitol building. Our WH tour was "scheduled" for 8:30 am. We got there around 7:45 and got the pleasure of waiting in the rain for over an hour to get in. And it turns out that it is a self-guided tour, so you were with a mass of people filing through the 6 or so open rooms. I was not impressed. The highlights were seeing secret service walk around with big guns and walking out the front door of the WH. But without anyone telling me why I should care that this room is green and that one is blue, I didn't find the tour all that useful.

The Capitol tour, on the other hand, was great! Our Congressman likes to make sure his peeps get a personal experience. So it was Ben and me and three others with one of his aides on the tour. It was great! She was funny, and knowledgeable. She shared with us the history of the building, rooms and art. We even witnessed a proposal in the old Senate room. So cool!

Saturday night we got together with our friend Chris that lives out that way. He took us to a great Thai place and to a movie (Hot Tub Time Machine). It was a wonderful way to spend the evening! We all laughed throughout the night. It was fun to be able to see Chris between cruises.

Other than that, we hung out with John, Sara and Simon. I thought Simon was super cute. And fun to be around. He's 6 weeks and doing great.

Cruisin'

On January 8, Ben and I left for the annual Internet Marketers Cruise. Years ago we discovered the wisdom of arriving the day before a cruise in case of delays. Guess what? We were delayed. There was an issue with our main radio on the plane. The radio was fixed in not too long of time, but because of the delay, our flight crew would be over hours. So we got to deplane to wait for the new flight crew. In exchange we got $100 Delta vouchers, 2500 bonus miles, and we got to the hotel at 4 am instead of 11 pm of the night before. Oh, well.
Day 1: Cape Canaveral - It was cold! Temp was around 30. The line to get through security for the cruise ship is outside. We were all a little miserable. If I had known that it was going to be so cold, I would have brought my winter coat. Ben was sweet and tried to get me to skip ahead to get inside. But since you still can't really tell that I'm pregnant, I felt guilty because I know how much I hate line cutters. But we survived. Once we got on the boat we took a self-guided tour led by Tim. That night there was a social hour before dinner to connect with the other marketers. It was so nice to see friends from last year again. Sherry is super excited that I'm pregnant. After dinner, Tim and I went to the show. After that the put an inflatable laser tag arena on the stage. Somehow Chris talked me into playing. It was so much fun! And man! 5 minutes is a long time. I felt so out of shape. Ben and some others played after us (I surprised Ben by still being awake since I hardly slept the night before).
Day 2: At Sea - Cold and windy! It was funny to walk along the Lido deck and not see very many people. And what people were braving the elements were huddled in blankets. We watched an ice carving demonstration. Then went to part of the art auction. Ben had a meeting with the other marketers, so I sat in on some of the auction and poked around the ship.
Day 3: Cozumel - What's this I see? Could it be? The sun? But it was still super windy. Ben and I went for a run on the outdoor track. When you rounded the end of the ship you really had to push through the wind. But then once you headed the other way, you had to put on the breaks. It was a little strange. Due to this wonderful weather, we decided the beach was not the way to go. So we just went to downtown and window shopped. We did buy a necklace and earring set for me. :)
Day 4: Isla Roatan, Honduras - Slight drizzle. Fun. There was a beach party excursion only for the marketers. We hadn't signed up for it. Turns out a bunch hadn't. So those that didn't found our own transportation to the same beach. It was super cloudy - so cloudy I didn't get sunburned. But the temperature was in the upper 60's so it was comfortable. Our friend Max Action got his hair braided. Elisabeth and I worked on a sand sculpture of some fertility goddess (her idea). Overall it was a fun day.
Day 5: Belize - I was super excited to be in Belize. I have heard of the amazing diving and snorkeling. Unfortunately, no diving for me. So we decided to go snorkeling. We took a public water taxi to an island 45 minutes away from Belize City and walked through the quaint island to the public beach. The beach wasn't much of a beach. We sunscreened up and headed for the water. It was cold! We snorkeled across a channel and around some mangroves. I will admit that I freaked out. The visibility was pretty low. And so I started to imagine what else was in the water with us. I calmed down enough to somewhat enjoy the snorkel back to the beach, but we really didn't see much. We did see some rays and some barracuda, but that's about it. Once we got out of the water, we decided to call it a day. There looked to be a storm on the way. The water taxi is uncovered and neither one of us was interested in a rainy ride.
Day 6: Costa Maya, Mexico - Finally! A perfect day! Temps were in the 70's. The sky was clear and the sun was radiant! We got off the ship and headed to the taxis. We ended up running into our friend Joseph with a few of his buddies. They had the same plan as us - beach to snorkel. We shared a cab to the beach. A guy baited and hooked us with $20 per person for 1 hour of snorkeling and the lady goes free pitch. The snorkeling was fabulous! Not the best ever, but so cool! Saw tons of fish and other sea creatures. It was the perfect day.
Day 7: At Sea - Ben had meetings pretty much all day, so I was on my own. I did the 1 mile walk for breast cancer. It was windy on deck for this too. But it was fun. Had a nice chat about cruising with a lady from Canada.

This was a super short summary of our activities. Not listed are the antics at night with our friends. We had so much fun. A lot of fond memories to tide us over until next year!

Vegas

June 4 Ben and I headed out to Vegas. This trip it was just the two of us. It was nice to be able to do whatever. We got there late at night and checked into the Monte Carlo. Our first room... a smoking room. Grr. Our reservation was for a non-smoking room. Sometimes smoking rooms aren't too bad, but this on was. Ben called down and they switched our room. So we had to go back down to the lobby to get new keys. Then back up. The new room wasn't a king, so the next day we switched again.

After we got the room figured out, we went down to the casino floor. Ben played craps and was doing pretty well. It was fun to watch. Then we ate some sort of meal... what do you call it when it's 4 am? The next few days were filled with pool, eating, gambling and relaxing.

Friday night we went to Sea Blue restaurant at the MGM. We both got the tasting menus there. It was fabulous! Everything was very tasty. From there, we went to Tao which is a restaurant by day and a club by night. We somehow got onto a list so we were able to get into a short line. We figured that I would get in for free (I'm a girl) but Ben was able to get in free too! Score. :) It was really packed in there. The dance floor was pretty non-existent. And what was there was filled with people coming and going. It was cool to be there, but I was happy to leave.

Saturday night we attended a "Tweet Up" hosted by some guy that Ben follows (and now I do) on Twitter. It was pretty fun. It was on the upper level patio of Diablo's at the Monte Carlo. $5 Margaritas! :) The people that we met were all very nice and fun to talk to. After a few hours of socializing, a bunch of us decided we wanted to go out. A lady at the Tweet Up works for the company that owns a bunch of the clubs on the strip. She arranged for a huge, stretch limo to come and pick us up and bring us to the Bellagio. Once there we got escorted to the lounge there and got 2-for-1 drink coupons. After chilling there a bit, some guy came and walked us right to a super special line and we walked right into the club. No cover. No waiting. It was awesome. I totally felt like a someone important. This club was pretty crowded too. That with the fact that there were 8 or so of us that were trying to stick together made it difficult to get a good dance spot. After a while we all gave up and headed back to the Monte Carlo and the food court there.

Sunday night we went out to Michael Mina's for nice dinner number 2. This meal was also great. Less flavors competing for my attention. And the wine sommeliers were very knowledgeable. After dinner we were walking around and we ended up in line to pick up tickets for O! I was so excited! We have wanted to see this show, but it either didn't work out with our schedules in the past, or it was closed for a break. And the seats were amazing! We were in row 5 - close enough to see everything, but far enough that the water didn't get us. It was so amazing.

Oh, and the Sea Monkeys didn't love me this time. I visited them several times and they just kept taking my money. :(

I'm Baa-ack!

Ben and I had an awesome time on our cruise. We didn't really know what to expect from the work portion of the cruise. Turns out that we had a blast! We met some really awesome people from all over the world. In talking with people Ben got a bunch of ideas of things that he can work on. The funny thing is that I did too. I can't wait to get started on some of my ideas. It might be a little slow going as Ben will have to show me how to do a lot of the stuff and he is uber busy for a while....

It just occurred to me that most people are probably scratching their head saying, "What the crap is she talking about?!" so, I guess I'll give a brief explanation. For the past two years or so, Ben has been dabbling in Internet marketing. The basic idea (coming from someone who is not in the biz) is that you market something on the Internet and make money. The marketing is sometimes for a physical item (i.e. book) but sometimes it's for a service (i.e. coaching). It was really cool for me to hear what people are doing and what ideas they have. I had a few conversations with people about their products and am thinking of teaming up with some of them (probably just one to start off with) to create my own stuff. I'm not going to give any more details as I work to think through everything, but just be warned that I may be asking some of you for input. :)

Anyway, when we weren't networking (which to be honest was most of the time) we had a very relaxing time together. We had a lot of fun at the ports. We went to St. Maarten, St. Kitts and Tortola. We hit the beach at each of the ports, but had different adventures at each place.

I was going to type up a bunch of stuff on each beach, but decided that it would take too long.