Reflections

This year's annual work meeting that I planned was held for the third time at Hammock Beach Resort in Palm Coast, FL. It is an ideal vacation spot and I have developed relationships with most of their staff so it really is a treat to hold our meeting there year after year. Of course, that's easier to say on this side of the meeting when the hard work is behind me and the meeting was a success. As always, I end up wondering in the thick of it if I really have what it takes to pull the meeting off without too many other helping hands, but things usually turn out well and even the last minute changes or hiccups don't interfere with things running smoothly. All in all, it's a rewarding task and I enjoy the relationships that I have built with our advisors up and down the east coast (and now as far west as California!) because of my involvement in this meeting.

One of the perks of these planning gigs is that I often have super accommodations, but unfortunately, I do not usually spend much time in the room. My parents finally took me up on an offer to join me and enjoyed a week-long Florida vacation. I had a three-bedroom suite with full kitchen and living area so it was a sweet deal for them.

View from our suite

Watching some of our guys play the Ocean Course from our balcony

Even though we were only in Florida two weeks earlier than usual, the weather made it seem like we were there months ahead. Of course, spring arrived late everywhere so that probably explains the cooler temps we experienced. The winds were strong so there was very little beach time this year. The protected pool was much more enjoyable! With each passing day, the weather got nicer so it was pretty perfect by the latter half of the week.

My pool time is always sporadic during this event because of running around trying to get things done, but I definitely was able to enjoy some Florida sunshine throughout the week when we weren't in meetings.

My only beach time was an afternoon walk between meetings and dinner

I finally took more than just scenic pictures on our last night there as we headed to dinner at a restaurant overlooking the ocean.

This meeting has always been close to my birthday. In fact, we purposefully bumped up the meeting to April this year so that it didn't have to overlap with my birthday. My main contacts at Hammock have always been sweet to remember since the very first year and have done something nice for me in the way of spa treatments or food. This year I found these delicious gluten free cakes in my fridge with a sweet card signed by the staff on my last day at Hammock. It was a nice way to celebrate my birthday early and the end of another meeting.

I have been out of school for quite a while (sigh) at this point so the idea of a spring break doesn't really exist, but that does not mean that I turn down a "spring break" trip when one is offered. Ted and his boys planned to spend part of the boys' week off from school in the beginning of April at Ted's best friend's farm near Harrisonburg and they asked me to join them. Ted's friends have 2 boys so it was an all-boys-kind-of-four-wheeling weekend, but they didn't mind a girl tagging along. In fact, I was in the thick of planning for my annual work meeting in Florida and could not break away from work as early as I had hoped or we had planned, but the boys insisted that we needed to all go together and they waited for me and delayed leaving for a day. Even though it can be a challenging time to miss work, it was so wonderful to get a break and to get rest (when I wasn't on the back of a 4-wheeler!) before the next couple of crazy weeks hit.

We arrived midday on a Thursday and the boys were on 4-wheelers within minutes of pulling onto the dirt road leading to the farm (and having a blast, I might add). They have tons of land and lots of rolling hills to ride so it's endless entertainment and a boy's ideal playground.

After all of us had dinner, the boys (+Kim) went for an evening ride around the property. Even though I imagine "spring break" weather to be warm and sunny, the cooler temps seemed fitting for our time in the mountains. The farm was probably a little less stinky that way, too!

Beautiful views from the top of their property

Clothes without mud stains = Impossible

(when ponds like this are optional)

The next day (after a wonderful long night's sleep), we headed over by truck to their other property a few minutes away for more farm adventures. Beautiful scenery as we drove over a small bridge on the way...

We happened to time our trip perfectly with the arrival of 8000 one-day-old baby turkeys (hatched just the night before!). We made our way over to the other part of the farm Friday morning to help prepare for their arrival and be there when they were delivered. On their farm, they raise turkeys every year for a major food manufacturer. I'm not sure I would have been too keen on being around 8000 full size turkeys but the babies sure were cute. It brought back fond memories of our ducks from 2 years ago.

The turkey house all ready to go (full of food and water and the heat lamps on)...

All of the 4-wheelers were taken to this property for the boys to ride there and to give us something to do while we waited for the turkeys.

One happy 12 year old...the muddier, the better

The boys found lots of places to get stuck on this property...

...and the Dads refused to assist in getting them un-stuck. In fact, the Dads saw this as a great opportunity to sling more mud on them!

Mud a-flyin'

Then the baby turkeys arrived!

As the crates were brought into the house off of the truck, we helped to unload a few hundred into each fenced off area.

It didn't take long for the turkeys to turn into entertainment...turkey races and all.

After the turkeys were all settled in, we rode a little longer before heading back to the farm.

A little muddy so I could match the boys

Once we were back at the main farm, the boys all helped with outside chores around the farmhouse. I enjoyed some time in a lounge chair and taking pictures around the property.

Their amazing old farmhouse has a creek running through the basement! It was nothing like I have ever seen...

The creek flowed under the house and emptied into a big pond out back. At certain times of the year, the pond is covered with this (YUM!)...

They had lots of cows. And the cows were funny (and a bit scary). At one point, we walked inside their fenced in area to take a look at the stream running through the top of the property (that randomly stops and starts flowing throughout the day). We were casually walking along and I glanced back to realize that all of the cows (at least 20-30) were following us.

That was fine and all until they seemed to be stalking me and getting closer and closer. There was no understanding of personal space so I started to freak out a little bit. We ended up having to use a stick to scare them away (and that still didn't really work). So we resorted to jumping to the other side of the creek hoping that they wouldn't follow.