Matthew did it again! For the 2nd year in a row, he has one of the top two teams in all of Sales for the company he works for. And that means that for the second year in a row, we get to go to All Stars! We had such a great time last year, so we were really excited to have the opportunity to go again. The event was held in the same place as before, the beautiful Tulalip hotel and casino in Northern Washington State. Its a long drive, about 4 hours each way, but totally worth it for a fun, all expenses paid weekend!
Last year we took the kids with us, because we didn't have anybody that we could ask to watch them (and felt like Rowan was still a little to young to be away from us). But this year, my best friend Angie offered to watch the kids so that Matthew and I could spend some time together, just the two of us. Which hasn't happened overnight since our honeymoon. 7 years ago! To say that we are excited about this would be an immense understatement. We are over the moon!! I am so grateful for Angie, and her generous offer to take care of Killian and Rowan while we are away. We wouldn't have been able to make this happen if it hadn't been for her!
Of course, a wrench had to be thrown into the mix to threaten ruining our plans. You know, because 7 years just isn't long enough or something. A few weeks before All Stars was scheduled, Matthew found out that he and one of his employees were being asked to fly to Denver, Co. for a presentation with a bunch of other over-achievers from around the country. And the dates that he would be flying out there? You guessed it...they overlapped with All Stars. NOOOOOO! He was supposed to fly out to Denver on Tuesday and come home on Thursday, but All Stars was from Wednesday - Friday. Meaning we would only get one night up there (Thursday), instead of two. Sad, sad, sad. Luckily, Matthew was able to talk to the people in charge of All Stars, and had our room reservation changed to Thursday and Friday night instead of Wednesday and Thursday nights. He worked with the Denver people to have his flight come into Seattle instead of Portland on Thursday, and I begged Angie (not too hard, she was happy to do it) to change the days she watched the kids. Finally, we were back on track again!
I spent 5 hours driving on Thursday morning, an hour to Angie's house, and then another 4 hours up to Tulalip. I arrived just 20 minutes before Matthew's town car from the airport dropped him off at the hotel. We had missed the first night of fun and prizes (Wednesday night) but we were just in time for the banquet and awards ceremony. We checked out our room, changed, and headed downstairs for the dinner. They had so much food, it was super easy to stay within our paleo boundaries (something I always worry about when eating out). Sure, there were plenty of trays full of bread, pasta, grain and sugar filled desserts, and other off limit foods. But even better were the platters of MEAT! They had grilled salmon, beautifully cooked roast beef, and some awesome chicken that was marinated in herbs. We filled up on grilled veggies and salad, and honestly didn't miss all the rest. There were delicious mixed drinks to be had as well, so that certainly didn't hurt! It was fun to see all the people I used to work with 7 years ago, and to meet friends and co-workers of Matthews. After the awards ceremony and dinner, we headed to the bar, where there was a roped off area and an open tab waiting for us. And oh boy...did everyone take advantage of that! We ended up drinking, mingling, gambling (well, watching other people gamble) until the wee hours of the morning. Somewhere around 4am we called it quits and headed back to our room. It was such a fun night, and both Matthew and I had a blast.
We woke up the next day with nothing to do. Everyone else was checking out of the hotel, while we got to stay the extra night. We decided to head into Seattle, and check out a few stores I had found online that looked promising. They were all local foodie type stores, and after we had visited all of them, we found ourselves down at Pike Place, checking out the vendors and market there. That place is so cool, and has such a great selection of local foods and handmade merchandise. We grabbed some lunch, and then headed back to the hotel. We made a pit stop at the factory outlet stores across the street, and then spent the rest of the night hanging out in our room, watching movies and enjoying each others company. With no interruptions...it was awesome!
We slept in the next day, and had breakfast at the casino. Then it was time to get packed and start heading home. I can't believe how quickly those 48 hours passed us by. I have never been more thankful for a long drive home, because I wasn't ready for our alone time to end. We spent most of the time talking about Matthews career, and what his goals were, and what we as a family could do to support him in meeting them. We talked about the idea of him going back to school, the possibility of looking for a position out of state, and what he needed to do to go in the direction he wants to end up in. At this point his goal is to get into management, either in Inbound Sales where he currently is, or on the Business Services side of the company, where he briefly worked when I was pregnant with Rowan. Matthew is one of those people that everyone likes, he works hard to do the best he can, and works even harder to make sure his team is the best that it can be. The possibilities for him right now are endless - he seems to be getting a lot of recognition lately, with the Denver trip and making All Stars two years in a row, and I am excited to see what happens career wise for him this coming year!
We picked the kids up, and as I suspected, they had an amazing time at Angie's. It was such a relief for us to know that the whole time we were gone they were being taken care of and having a fantastic time. Without family around to help us out in times like this, I sure am grateful to have an amazing friend to make this trip possible. Hopefully it wont take Matthew and I another 7 years to get out on our own again for a night or two!
Last year we took the kids with us, because we didn't have anybody that we could ask to watch them (and felt like Rowan was still a little to young to be away from us). But this year, my best friend Angie offered to watch the kids so that Matthew and I could spend some time together, just the two of us. Which hasn't happened overnight since our honeymoon. 7 years ago! To say that we are excited about this would be an immense understatement. We are over the moon!! I am so grateful for Angie, and her generous offer to take care of Killian and Rowan while we are away. We wouldn't have been able to make this happen if it hadn't been for her!
Of course, a wrench had to be thrown into the mix to threaten ruining our plans. You know, because 7 years just isn't long enough or something. A few weeks before All Stars was scheduled, Matthew found out that he and one of his employees were being asked to fly to Denver, Co. for a presentation with a bunch of other over-achievers from around the country. And the dates that he would be flying out there? You guessed it...they overlapped with All Stars. NOOOOOO! He was supposed to fly out to Denver on Tuesday and come home on Thursday, but All Stars was from Wednesday - Friday. Meaning we would only get one night up there (Thursday), instead of two. Sad, sad, sad. Luckily, Matthew was able to talk to the people in charge of All Stars, and had our room reservation changed to Thursday and Friday night instead of Wednesday and Thursday nights. He worked with the Denver people to have his flight come into Seattle instead of Portland on Thursday, and I begged Angie (not too hard, she was happy to do it) to change the days she watched the kids. Finally, we were back on track again!
I spent 5 hours driving on Thursday morning, an hour to Angie's house, and then another 4 hours up to Tulalip. I arrived just 20 minutes before Matthew's town car from the airport dropped him off at the hotel. We had missed the first night of fun and prizes (Wednesday night) but we were just in time for the banquet and awards ceremony. We checked out our room, changed, and headed downstairs for the dinner. They had so much food, it was super easy to stay within our paleo boundaries (something I always worry about when eating out). Sure, there were plenty of trays full of bread, pasta, grain and sugar filled desserts, and other off limit foods. But even better were the platters of MEAT! They had grilled salmon, beautifully cooked roast beef, and some awesome chicken that was marinated in herbs. We filled up on grilled veggies and salad, and honestly didn't miss all the rest. There were delicious mixed drinks to be had as well, so that certainly didn't hurt! It was fun to see all the people I used to work with 7 years ago, and to meet friends and co-workers of Matthews. After the awards ceremony and dinner, we headed to the bar, where there was a roped off area and an open tab waiting for us. And oh boy...did everyone take advantage of that! We ended up drinking, mingling, gambling (well, watching other people gamble) until the wee hours of the morning. Somewhere around 4am we called it quits and headed back to our room. It was such a fun night, and both Matthew and I had a blast.
We woke up the next day with nothing to do. Everyone else was checking out of the hotel, while we got to stay the extra night. We decided to head into Seattle, and check out a few stores I had found online that looked promising. They were all local foodie type stores, and after we had visited all of them, we found ourselves down at Pike Place, checking out the vendors and market there. That place is so cool, and has such a great selection of local foods and handmade merchandise. We grabbed some lunch, and then headed back to the hotel. We made a pit stop at the factory outlet stores across the street, and then spent the rest of the night hanging out in our room, watching movies and enjoying each others company. With no interruptions...it was awesome!
We slept in the next day, and had breakfast at the casino. Then it was time to get packed and start heading home. I can't believe how quickly those 48 hours passed us by. I have never been more thankful for a long drive home, because I wasn't ready for our alone time to end. We spent most of the time talking about Matthews career, and what his goals were, and what we as a family could do to support him in meeting them. We talked about the idea of him going back to school, the possibility of looking for a position out of state, and what he needed to do to go in the direction he wants to end up in. At this point his goal is to get into management, either in Inbound Sales where he currently is, or on the Business Services side of the company, where he briefly worked when I was pregnant with Rowan. Matthew is one of those people that everyone likes, he works hard to do the best he can, and works even harder to make sure his team is the best that it can be. The possibilities for him right now are endless - he seems to be getting a lot of recognition lately, with the Denver trip and making All Stars two years in a row, and I am excited to see what happens career wise for him this coming year!
We picked the kids up, and as I suspected, they had an amazing time at Angie's. It was such a relief for us to know that the whole time we were gone they were being taken care of and having a fantastic time. Without family around to help us out in times like this, I sure am grateful to have an amazing friend to make this trip possible. Hopefully it wont take Matthew and I another 7 years to get out on our own again for a night or two!