Tagging along on a BIZ trip…

June 16, 2009   Today we, Penney, Andrea and I  headed to Orlando, with Kevin as he is going down for a business trip, we are going to tag along and play while he works.

We checked into the Sea World Renessance, what a gorgeous view from our balcony, overlooking Seaworld.  We have plans to go over their later in the week, when Kevin is finished with his conference.

Tonight, they (Kevin, Penney and Andrea) went out for a nice dinner at Bennigan’s but i stayed back to catch up on my reading.  They said they did some touring and sightseeing, stopping in at Downtown Disney.   Kevin loves Lego Land, and of course Andrea had to have a picture with Cinderella.

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June 17, 2009   Kevin had a full day of conference activities, so Penney is took Andrea and I out to check out Orlando.

First we headed down to Kissimmee and did a little shopping. Next we headed to International Drive, we stopped at the Worlds Largest McDonalds for ice cream,

stopped and watch a couple of crazy folks bungee jump and to see the tallest swing ride i have ever seen

Next we went to the Titanic Museum.   It was really neat learning all about how the ship was built, how it ran, and ultimately went down.   We (well Andrea and Penney) were given a new identity… as one of the actual passengers.   At the end of the tour we were able to see the list of those that survived and those that did not.   They were both survivors!

Had lunch at Sweet Tomato, I think Andrea’s NEW favorite place to eat :)   and then did some more sightseeing  before meeting Kevin back at the hotel.

This evening they all went to dinner with some of Kevin’s colleagues at ‘The Grill’, but i was worn out so i decided to say in.   They said dinner was awesome!   Wonderful french onion soup, filet, and the chocolate dessert… oh my!

June 18, 2009    Another day of conference for Kevin, so he treated us to a spa…  Andrea’s first.    Penney and Andrea both had a full body massage and facial while i enjoyed getting my wings trimmed up haha.   The spa at the hotel is top notch, very beautiful and relaxing.    The girls said that the massages were wonderful and loved the facials too.  Penney ‘thinks’ she looks ten years younger… yeah yeah whatever you say.

When Kevin got back to the hotel he had another surprise for us…  he was given tickets to  La Nouba – Cirque du Soleil, what a show!    It was amazing.

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June 19, 2009  First, I need to send out a birthday wish…  Happy Birthday Eddie!

This morning we all went to Sea World…  it was HOT but a very fun day.   We rode the new roller coaster, the manta…  what an awesome ride!!  We also rode the Atlantis, and the Kraken.   We enjoyed several of the shows like the Shamu & friends,  as well as watching the dolphins.   What beautiful creatures they are.

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June 20, 2009    Today we loaded up and drove over to the coast, to Daytona Beach.    We actually drove along the beach on the sand or a very long way, enjoying the ocean, watching the surfers, parasailers, and the kids building sand castles.   We found a little diner for lunch and then spent a while walking in the sand before heading back to Orlando.

June 21, 2009    HAPPY FATHERS DAY EVERYONE!!!! 

This morning we took a really early flight home to Nashville so that Kevin could spend the day with the kids.

When we arrived home we found Beth, JP and Brittany cooking a nice lunch for us.   We had a nice afternoon playing in the pool and spending time with the family. 

It has been a GOOD week!

JP & Brittany GET MARRIED!

May 15, 2009    -  This morning we left Tennessee to drive down to the coast of MS for JP & Brittany’s wedding…  they are getting married on the beach in Orange County tomorrow.   It has been a LONG drive but I slept most of the way while Andrea listened to her IPod, Kevin drove (you know how men are they have to be the driver), and Penney, of course, had her laptop out catching up on work.

When we arrived we checked in our hotel, the Springhill Suites in Pensacola FL.   The hotel is right on the beach, with 3 large pools (overlooking the ocean). 

We showered and changed and left for the rehearsal dinner.   Kevin had made reservations at   Calypso Joes.  I did not get to go for dinner, as it was the wedding party and family only, so I just sat at the bar and watched some of the locals…  they sure were having a good time :)     Andrea told me later that dinner was really good.

May 16, 2009     GOING TO THE CHAPEL (well really the beach) AND WE’RE GONNA GET MARRIED….  can you hear me singing??  Lucky you, you don’t really want to :)

After a lovely morning lounging at the pool and walking on the beach, we all showered and dressed for the wedding.  When we arrived at  the Island House hotel, we met up with JP.    He was looking so handsome and sooooo happy.    Beth and Kelly were in their dresses, both looking beautiful as the photographer ran around busily taking tons of pre-wedding pictures.

Penney went on up to the bridal suite to visit with Brittany… she looked gorgeous!   All smiles.     She asked Penney to go back and give JP a kiss from her and tell him that she loves him…. awwww it was sooo sweet to seeing their excitement.

So the time comes… JP standing on the beach, waiting for his bride.   He turns around to see her walking toward him, the SMILES on their faces said everything!   They really are in love and although young, they are very mature and ready to make this lifetime pledge to one another.

The ceremony was beautiful, I must say, it was only about 10 minutes long but you could see the passion between those two as they promised love, honor and cherish (notice i did not say ‘obey’, that one was omitted from the vows) each other until parted by death.

 

After, there were tons of pictures taken, (none of me, which i just don’t understand) it was sunset and a very lovely setting.

We all went inside for the reception.  Tons of yummy food, music and of course, lots of gifts!      JP and Brittany danced as husband and wife, then everyone else got into the act too :)

As the evening came to an end, we said our goodbyes and headed up the interstate toward Nashville, as Kevin & Penney decided we would try to get at least an hour or so ahead of the drive tomorrow (Penney’s mom just had surgery and we needed to get back home)

CONGRAT TO THE HAPPY COUPLE!

Beth Graduates!

May 9, 2009  -   Today is a day that would make every parent proud…  to watch their child graduate from college!

Kevin’s daughter, Elizabeth Anne Rudicil graduated from University of Tennessee @ Martin, with a major in Business Administration.

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WE ARE ALL VERY PROUD OF YOU BETH!!!!!

Lydia’s First Vacation

April 9, 2009   Papa Kevin and Nana Penney are taking Lydia to the mountains for the weekend.   They are going to scout out chalets and cabins for  the family vacation planned later this summer, but decided to take Lydia along so she can help choose the perfect one :)  she is now 6 months old, so her opinion is important.

We checked into this beautiful chalet.  Here she is lounging with papa, but it looks like she wants him to wake up and play.

More pictures of Lydia enjoying her get away.

 

April 10, 2009 – this morning Penney received a call from Crystal saying that they are also in Pigeon Forge and inviting us to join them at the Gatlinburg Aquarium.  This was rated the #1 aquarium in the US.   

April 11, 2009  -  We departed the mountains to get back home and prepare for Easter Dinner tomorrow.

April 12, 2009  -  HAPPY EASTER!!!

We had a lovely day with most of the kids going to church with us and coming back to the house for a lovely dinner.  

Costa Fortuna Seminar@Sea

March 8, 2009  -  Sunday

This morning Penney and I departed Nashville for Fort Lauderdale, WAY TO EARLY, but she insisted.    Good flight, but the woman sitting next to us must have had a late or bad night, she was a grump, so I took the opportunity to listen to some tunes while Penney did... what else?  pulled out the laptop and worked.   We arrived safely in FLL, went to baggage claim and stood back watching these crazy people running to the carousal to get their luggage.  I mean they were pushing and shoving to be right there almost on top of the conveyer belt.   Well we were in no hurry so stood back and waited for the crazy's to get through and we walked right up and got our ONE medium sized suitcase.  Penney is pretty proud of herself that she is learning not to overpack :)

Next it was out to the taxi stand to head to the pier, I am not sure if our driver didn't speak English or he too had had a bad night/morning as he never said one word either.  Hmmm it couldn't be us, it must be that these people were rude right?

So we get to the pier, terminal 21 and we see the ship... The Costa Fortuna.   It is a mid size ship, very clean looking and then we see the line to enter the terminal.  Oh my, after dropping our ONE bag, we proceeded to the line and it took every bit of 90 minutes to get through the outside line, then the inside line, security and oh yes, did I mention the line to board?    whew...  we are finally on the ship.

     

Our cabin is not ready yet, so we take this opportunity to visit the buffet, it is important to be able to tell our clients what choices and the quality right?  HEHE   Overall, I would say that the variety was average, but Penney found the flavor of the food very good.  Then she picked up her laptop and again decided to get some work done before leaving port.  So here we are, sitting on the deck of this nice cruise ship and she is working... come on, lets go explore!   Oh good, she is ready, so I will close this entry and write more later this evening,  

So here we are in our stateroom...    overall very spacious, clean, and good layout.  The bathroom is adequate for a cruise ship bathroom, here I am in the huge shower (yeah right, this is one of those that you can soap down the walls and then spin around to get clean :)

We were pleasantly surprised to find not one but two nice bottles of champagne in our cabin.  One from the vice president of Costa, Scott Knutson and another from an agent friend, Patricia Liebau, along with some nice fresh fruit.

 

Well we are about to head out for the life boat drill and then set sail so I am going to upload this entry... 

Bon Voyage! 

 

Good Evening, we were unable to upload this entry as the Internet connection was not strong enough so I will continue to write and will upload we we arrive in San Juan on Tuesday.   

We attended the cocktail reception this evening and met most of the S@S participants.   Very nice folks.   After, we had a great dinner, (well Penney did, while I got to watch)  our table mates are interesting and fun.   After dinner it was late and has been a long day so we came back to the cabin to call it a night.   Penney pulled out the computer to review her presentation for tomorrows workshops she is facilitating while I read my latest issue of Agent at Home  magazine.

 

March 9, 2009  -  Monday

The alarm came pretty early this morning, but after a nice nights sleep we awoke rested and ready for the day.  Penney showered and got out of the cabin early to meet her group and begin their educational workshop, I had room service breakfast in our cabin before joining her.   When I arrived there was a room full of professional travel agents learning and sharing with one another.  Typically Penney's sessions are about 2.5 hours long but these agents were so excited they kept going and at about 3.5 hours they finally broke for lunch, but many of them continued the discussion in the dining room.   Lunch today was in the Michelangolo's dining room and of course i was not served but the selections looked great.  Penney said her salad and fish were very good.

Next we went back to the conference room and Costa BDM, April Freeman, did a seminar on selling Groups with Costa.   Her presentation was very informative. 

This afternoon we walked about the ship, meeting and talking with many passengers.  Here are some photos we took...

 

the band was playing at the pool              the water slide was very busy today

Beautiful Chapel

      

The Atrium is beautiful with a unique display on the ceiling

   

We also checked out the Disco    and  the game room, i love air hockey!

Then we did a bit of window shopping...

    

The selection of perfumes was amazing,   as was the beautiful Murano Glass  and of course the Rum Selections

I also mad ea few new friends, can you find me?

Bingo anyone?

 

OK, it is time to get ready for the Captains reception and Gala Dinner, I will write more later.

 

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Today we are at sea, but are due to arrive in San Juan Puerto Rico at about 5pm.  Penney is hosting a conference call at 7pm tonight, so we will not have much time in port, but may go to dinner ashore or do a bit of shopping.   Today onboard there is a lot happening...  arts & crafts, art auction, bingo, Italian lesson, dance lessons and even a horse race.   After breakfast we went out to the pool area, but the rain spoiled our relaxing in the sun so we headed to the theater to listen to the SHOPPING GUY, Trey.  He shared where to and where not to shop in our next several ports.   We then visited the internet cafe

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because of high winds the connection was down, so i think we will take this raining afternoon to get some rest.  Penney keeps saying she has some reading to catch up on, but i think a nap is in my future :)   More later...

 

This evening was quite adventurous...   there was a storm here in San Juan, so the internet connection was low... Penney tried to connect to do her by-weekly conference call but could not get a good signal, she called in from her cell for a few minutes but as she was standing under an aluminum cover and it began to lightning she said adios.  I spent time people watching, which is always alot of fun.  Later we went to the show, which was really good, had a nice dinner and called it an evening. 

 

Wednesday,  March 11, 2009

This morning is a bright and sunny beautiful day in St. Thomas.  Many of the folks from our group are doing tours today, but as Penney has been here many times we (well she, you know how she is :) made the decision to go ashore and do some shopping.  There is a great mall area here at the pier,

There are jewelry stores, electronic stores, and of course many novelty shops.  It is a short walk to the skyride mall, which is a cable car that takes you to the top of the mountain and to a beautiful view of the port as well as many other nearby islands including St. Johns.  

This afternoon when we got back to the ship, Penney connected to the internet and had a video conference with her family.  It was nice to see the smiles of Kevin, Andrea and her mom, Winnie.   Also present were Andrea's friends Waide and Heather.   How fun, we showed them around the cabin and out the window to the port of St Thomas.  Here is a photo from my window, the Freedom of the Seas leaving port.

 

Later we enjoyed dinner, it was Italian night...  the food and company were great.   The waiters sang and danced for us, several folks in our group got in to the action too...

  

After we went to a pizza toss contest, fruit carving demonstration and dance lesson.  What fun.

   

Another enjoyable evening, but we called it a night about 12:30AM

 

Thursday, March 12, 2009  -  Dominican Republic

Today we are in the DR, but at a port that we have not seen before, there is really nothing here at the port, but some soccer fields and a terminal with buses, cabs and tour operators.   As we had not booked a tour we decided to just get off the ship and explore a bit. 

  

I was right, not much here  but the local bus/cab takes you to a small fishing village where there are some shops and restaurant/bars.

We came back to the ship and met some of our new friends for a nice Mexican Buffet... yum.   Penney has some meetings and work to catch up on so I will probably just do some more people watching :)    to be continued...