Caroline is engaged, Moscow, Russia and Dolphin Tale...

After a few months of no international travel, it was time for me to hit the road and head to Moscow for our Board meeting. This trip had not even started and I was exhausted. This was by far the MOST complex meeting we had ever planned due to visa requirements, travel issues, language barriers and the fact that Russia is VERY expensive. I left for Russia on a Friday night and flew from Tampa to New York, JFK where I met a friend. I talked to my sister before I left for Russia and she told me she was headed to Houston to see Chris and that they were going to San Antonio for the weekend...I KNEW IT!!! I knew in my mind that San Antonio was a super romantic city (my best friend got engaged there) and that she was about to get engaged...then it occurred to me...she was going to get engaged while I was on the flipping flight to Russia...urgh!!!! Oh well, it was what it was...I told Jena what was going to happen and as soon as we landed in Moscow, I turned on my blackberry and there it was on Facebook...my sister was engaged!!! I tried calling but there was an 8 hour time difference so I didn't get her...I was SOOOOOOOOOOOO excited for her and couldn't wait to hear the news of how he did it..

She has never been happier and I am thrilled for her and for our family to gain a new member...hope he knows what he is in for :)

The happy couple!!

So back to Russia...We always arrive a few days before the start of the meeting to print, meet the hotel staff, go through the agenda, etc...This time we did the same and thank goodness we did as we had plenty of items to work through...On the very first day in the office, this was already our motto...

The meeting went very well and we had an amazing team...My goal of loosing a few pounds didn't happen due to my alcohol consumption but it was well worth it :)

When I do these trips, I am fortunate to get to see some amazing things as well. We had a tour of the Kremlin and had a short performance at the Bolshoi...I don't know if I would ever do Russia on my own so I was very fortunate for the opportunity!

The colors were amazing!

Just for Gabe!

Do you think Russians like gold? 

No...I have no idea what this says...

After it was all said and done, I was glad that I went but I was beyond ready to go home...I was exhausted and can sure tell I am getting older...

I was on the flight back and before we took off, I hunched over and fell asleep on my blanket and pillow covered in plastic...I woke up to a flight attendant shaking me to wake up as he was concerned I was going to suffocate myself on the plastic because I was in that deep of a sleep! I ended up sleeping the entire flight home and came home nice and rested for my boys...

The morning after I got home the boys were ready to go and have fun...our good friends were in town on the way down to Miami so we met them at the Dolphin Tale Aquarium so the kids could get a few hours in together...These have been Landon and Dylan's friends since the day they were born!

Holding Winter's prosthetic tail...

Being silly!