Vacation

Where the heck have I been?

Posted on05. Oct, 2009 by Kenny.

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Missed me? A few weeks ago I took a week of vacation to go to Colorado to rest, relax and to climb a mountain, which you can read about here. I didn’t blog any while on vacation. After getting back I decided to take a another week off of blogging which turned into another week as well. So, here I am, three weeks go by and I haven’t posted a word.

Well, I’m looking forward to being back this week. Hopefully we can engage in some conversation and challenge each other forward.

* Bonus point to those of you who “get” the picture here.

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Back from vacation: different this time

Posted on03. Aug, 2009 by Kenny.

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What’s it like coming back from vacation for you?

Most of the time the first day back from vacation is an epic waste. My body is present, but my mind is still asleep. I get little done and it’s difficult to focus. I’ve found this to be true even with pressing deadlines on the horizon.

I got back from vacation last Monday and Tuesday was my first day in the office. I’m not sure what happened to me. On both Tuesday and Wednesday I was up after 5:00 AM and working before 6:00 AM. On Tuesday I actually went home close to two, but on Wednesday I worked from 6:00 AM until pretty close to 5:00 PM and I cranked out the productivity. I’m not sure what happened this time.

What’s it normally like for you?

BTW, vacation was phenominal. I spent five luxurious days with my wife at an all inclusive resort in Playa Del Carmen for our ten year anniversary. It was a much needed rest!

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Posted on17. Jul, 2009 by Kenny.

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Today begins my first day of vacation! W00t!

Actually, I started my vacation as soon as I left the office on Thursday (I can’t really tell you for sure because I wrote this earlier in the week).

So I’m trying something new this year. I’ve heard a few leaders in ministry talk about always taking two weeks of vacation when they get the chance. Their reasoning is that you don’t really get relaxed and unplugged until after you’ve been away for four or five days and for most people that’s when their vacation is almost over.

Well, I don’t really have enough vacation time to take two weeks in a row and still have time to take off at other times of the year. However, I decided to try my own version of this strategy. Next week Sara and I are flying to Playa De Carmen to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary in style. Four nights and five days in a luxurious all-inclusive resort. I can’t freaking wait! Sara and I just don’t vacation like this very often.

The last thing I wanted was to be up until 3:00 AM the morning of trying to get out those last emails before heading off for vacation. So I decided that I would take a few days off before we leave for Mexico. Today is Friday and I’m officially on vacation. Sara and I don’t leave until Thursday. Is that awesome or what? I will actually come to church on Sunday where it will be work as usual. However it won’t be filled with emails and meetings, just hanging out with teams and families.

So, I’ll let you know how it goes.

How about you? How do you vacation? What’s been the best, most restful and relaxing vacation you’ve taken?

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Rest is coming…

Posted on01. Jun, 2009 by Kenny.

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It’s been a crazy busy year, but rest is coming and I can taste it now.

Sara and I had an incredible vacation back in October. We went to Banff, Canada and explored the Canadian Rockies. It was restful, beautiful and so much fun. I love vacation.

The week between Christmas and New Years, Sara and I went to North Georgia to hang out with my family for a few days. Although we were in the midst of battling sickness, it was still pretty restful.

Three days ago I booked a summer vacation. This July, Sara and I will celebrate ten years of marriage. We weren’t planning on doing anything extravagant since we just had a really nice vacation. However, last weekend someone told me about the great deals you can get on Mexican vacations right now. So, I booked a four night, five day vacation at Playa Del Carmen. Can I tell you that I’m so excited?

Here’s where we’ll be for five glorious days.

Okay, I didn’t post any of this to brag, but to share. Seriously, we just booked this 4 star hotel for four nights and paid $1,400. What did that include? Everything. Food. Airfare, Lodging, Taxes and even Airport Transfers. The only money we have to spend is if we want to leave the resort or go snorkeling or jet skiiing or something. There were other 4 star hotels in Cancun where you could do all of this for five nights for under $1000. Swine flu is no longer a threat, so take advantage of the prices and sneak in an amazing vacation!

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Back from vacation

Posted on06. Oct, 2008 by Kenny.

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Well, I’m back! I arrived to Austin just before 10:00 PM. Now it’s Monday and it’s time to get back to work. Is it just me or is the first day back from vacation one of the least productive days ever? You know, your body is at work, but your brain is still in transit. Hopefully today won’t be like one of those days.

I’ve got a big week this week with a lot of things going on.

This week I plan to write a little about the revolution going on at Gateway. It’s something that has been in the works since before I arrived and officially kicked off this week. It’s big stuff!

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I’m out!

Posted on30. Sep, 2008 by Kenny.

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by the time this posts, I’ll be on an airplane headed to Canada. Actually I’ll be headed to Canada by way of Atlanta, GA and Salt Lake City, UT. Yes, it was cheaper to go that route. To be honest, I’d be perfectly happy to get to Canada by way of Lima, Peru (okay, maybe that is exaggerating just a little) if it means more time to read, sleep and eat.

We had some airline vouchers and a whole bunch of credit card points… and it’s been way too long since we’ve had a really nice vacation. My parents are here to watch Titus, so we are off to Canada. We’re actually headed to Banff, a perfectly magical town nestled in some of the most beautiful scenary I’ve ever seen (I’ve only seen pictures, so I’ll let you know if the real thing lives up to the photos).

Sara and I have 5 nights in a four start hotel in Banff. We have no agenda other than relax, hike, eat, sleep and take in the surroundings.

My only concern is that when coming home, I only have 45 minutes between when I land in Houston and catch the connecting flight to Austin. The catch? We have to get our bags and go through customs. I called the airline to verify that I could actually do that and they replied (almost like I irritated them with the question) that it was a standard schedule. As much as we need to make this connection, I have a sneaking feeling that we’re going to miss this one. We’ll see.

I’ve got a few post scheduled to publish this week, so enjoy a lighter load. Have a great week! I know I will.

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Near perfect day

Posted on29. Sep, 2008 by Kenny.

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I’m on vacation. Since my parents came in town to take care of Titus as Sara and I left the country, I took a few days off before we left for vacation. From my experience, I am going to highly encourage the practice. It’s like getting warmed up before the big vacation. I’ve heard some people say that it’s best to take vacation and be gone for two weeks straight as you don’t really unwind until midway thorough the first week.

All I can say is that today was near perfect. I say near perfect only because I was a bit naughty and did a few minutes worth of work. It was Sunday and I took my parents with me to church. Unless I had worn a disguise, it would have been about impossible to not get caught in conversations. Actually, when I told people I was on vacation, people were very encouraging of me to get out of the kids building. The problems was that I had to drop Titus off and I was giving my parents a tour. I guess the sure fire solution would be to not go to my own church. Maybe next time.

My day? Oh, like I said. It was almost perfect.

I got to sleep in.
I took Titus and my parents to church.
I got to ride the duck boat to the off-site parking (totally cool).
At a great lunch at home and chilled out for a few hours.
My mom, Sara and I took Titus swimming (always a treat).
We all went to the Oasis for dinner and saw the most breath-taking sunset I’ve seen.
Stopped for Amy’s Ice Cream on the way home and I had a delicious desert.
Sara and I and my parents played a card game (PIT) for about 2 hours.

How great is that? Looking forward to this vacation kicking into high gear. I can’t wait!!!

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One week from today…

Posted on23. Sep, 2008 by Kenny.

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I haven’t had a countdown since the last few months before Titus was born. I had a little widget on my desktop that counted down to the minute. I haven’t been as consumed as I was about the coming of my son, but one week from right now, I’ll be on vacation. Serious vacation. Sara and I’ll be on our way to Banff, Canada. Actually, we’ll be on our way to Atlanta, then to Salt Lake City and then to Banff (it was cheaper to go through Atlanta, ok). Actually, I can’t tell you how excited I am to spend 7 hours flying. That will be 7 hours of no phone calls or emails. Seven glorious hours sitting with my wife, eating airplane peanuts (unless they’re charging for those things now) and reading a good book.

So here is the play by play.
Thursday is my last day of work before vacation begins.
On Friday my parents fly into Austin. We’ll probably spend the whole weekend having fun, eating good food and catching up.
On Sunday I’m taking my parents to Gateway for a visit. During one service I’ll show my parents around and during the next service I’ll attend with them.
On Monday we’ll probably be busy getting last minute supplies and packing.
On Tuesday we’ll depart early in the morning.

Then for 5 nights and 6 days we’ll experience the glory that is Canada. Ha! I love it! I plan to do some hiking, exploring (I’m going to stand on a glacier one way or another) and soaking in one of those hot springs. Although the weather has gotten cooler (mid to high 80’s) this last week or so, I’m looking forward to the mid 50’s temperature of Banff during the day.

So, I’ve almost forgotten what it is like to go on vacation, it feels like it has been forever. Any good hints for me as I prepared to leave work for about 10 days? Anything I should plan to do while on vacation? Any books I totally have to read (although I think I’ve already got my books picked out)?

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Where should I go on vacation!

Posted on26. Jul, 2008 by Kenny.

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When Sara and I got married we went on a 5 day honeymoon to Cancun, Mexico. We relaxed, we explored, we had adventures. However, that was nine year ago and we haven’t had a vacation like that since. We do go on vacation or trips every year, but most of the time it is visiting family. Don’t get me wrong, we LOVE our family and visiting with them is top priority. However, we NEED a serious vacation. Just the two of us. Away. So we can relax, explore and have adventures.

Two springs ago I switched my credit card over to a rewards card and then that summer I spent a ridiculous amount of money for church expenses. I personally financed (well, kind of… I was reimbursed every penny) a VBS for over 1000 kids and bought plane tickets for over 40 people to fly from DFW to Los Angeles. The result? Lots and lots of points on my credit card. Last fall Sara and I began talking about going on a vacation the following Spring with all the points we had accumulated. Since I was let go just a few months later and securing a job was higher priority than vacation planning, our trip was set aside.

Then just a few weeks ago we started talking seriously again about where we wanted to go. We figured it would be a late summer, early fall trip. Our anniversary was last week and out outdoor plans ended up getting rained out. So we went to a local bookstore and began planning our vacation. We had about 12 possible locations/trips and at the end of two hours we had it narrowed down to three and they are three good ones. Below are pictures of the three possible vacation locations. I think Sara and I have pretty much picked out where we are going to go, but just for fun, which one looks like your perfect vacation spot? Bonus points if you can name the locations!

Location One