View from the Helmet Cam: Recharging the Batteries

It has been a while since I last posted a blog. I missed it, I have tons of ideas of things to write, but I have become REALLY lazy in this area! I'll work on. Recently, Kelly and I were able to get away together and try to "recharge our batteries" a little.

I have been very busy in my work life. Many new projects are in the works and I have been fortunate to be a part of quite a few of them. On top of my regular work load, it has made for a pretty busy time. Strangely, I usually don't mind teetering on the edge of being overwhelmed. I think it helps to keep me focused. A new conference I was assigned met at the beginning of the month in Vancouver, British Columbia. The stars aligned perfectly (almost), and my crazy mother-in-law said, "we'll watch the kids if Kelly wants to go with you." How could we pass that up? So, we packed up for an eight day trip to Canada!

While I wasn't able to go on an eight day "vacation", Kelly certainly was. I'm not too jealous of that. Although maybe a little. We flew out a day before I needed to begin working so that we could do some sight seeing together. The picture to the left was taken in Stanley Park as part of a tour we took before an evening obligation one of our first days. While it was a little chilly, it was much warmer than Kansas, and didn't have any snow. If you have never been, I recommend adding Vancouver, B.C. to your bucket list of places to visit. It is beautiful!

Often times, working a conference consists of being in the "office" before 6:00 a.m. and often not back in your hotel room until about midnight. Fortunately, this conference wasn't like that and it allowed me to have a more "normal" work schedule. I was still out of the room by 6:00 a.m. most days, but I was also finished by 6:00 p.m. as well. This schedule allowed us to have some time walking around the city and at least having dinner together most nights.

Kelly was even adventurous enough to take a three day train trip down to Portland, Oregon to visit an uncle and cousin in the area. She texted several times about the great scenery on the trip, but sadly I don't have any pictures to share of that portion. She enjoyed the side trip and she was able to get away while I worked the most hectic portion of my conference schedule. It allowed me to work long days without feeling obligated to save enough energy to do something later into the evening.

We also were able to stay an extra day and a half after the conference ended to enjoy more time together. We enjoyed the freedom of visiting some places that would just be too difficult for Elise to manuever, and the freedom to come back to the room late and even stay in bed much later than we are able to do at home! That part was a vacation in itself for us both.

I was glad that Kelly was able to join me on the trip. I was really glad that she was able to unplug from life and relax more than she has been able to in many years. It was great to experience a new city together as well. Something tells me my mother-in-law will never make this offer again. But, it was good while it lasted! We sincerely appreciated my brother and sister-in-law stepping in at the last moment to help out, my mother-in-law and father-in-law spending a week at our house, and my sister and nephew for handling the snow removal duties at our house. I hope you enjoy some of the pictures from our trip below.