One of my favorite blogs - and here is why

We were fortunate enough to have a neat family from California visit us two years ago for about a week right at the new year. The whole family was a joy to be around. They are super laid back, but not. The father is a professor at Stanford and an accomplished business writer. The mother is former managing partner from a large firm who now heads up a large Girl Scouts organization in California. Their teenage children are all accomplished in a variety of ways. Suffice it to say we had fun.

There were a number of things that fell into place in getting them to Tranquilo Bay. The mom originally found us on the internet. She decided they should try to come see us. The dad travels a lot for his book promotions and has used one travel agent to help him with all of his plans. So, dad told his travel agent about us. The travel agent then went through another company we work with to put the trip together. Prior to arriving at Tranquilo Bay, the dad, a blogger, began reading our blog to get an idea of what he might be in for down here in Panama.

After visiting us, the blogger, decided that our story was one that needed a wider audience than it had received thus far. He sent out a few emails to some folks he knew either personally or through his work in promoting his book. One of those people, Leigh Buchanan bit. She called and asked us more about our story. This ultimately led to the article about Tranquilo Bay that ran in INC. Magazine in May 2008. (See this post.) That article has introduced us and our story to a variety of other people over the past year or so. There is a television show airing on The Outdoor Channel - Randy Jones Strike Zone - in early May 2009 that is directly a result of the article.

The same family came down to Panama again last year for the New Year's holiday. It was great to see them again and catch up on all the things that have happened over the past year. I do stay in touch with them via email on occasion, and I read Bob's blog on a regular basis. There are two posts this week that jumped out at me.

Diego Rocks - this is a post about a post that a friend of Bob's wrote on his own blog and then ended up on Harvard Online. I like the post for two reasons, it is a sound argument and because it includes Travis Pastrana. Travis is a hero in our house. He is capable of all kinds of things according to my children. He is almost as cool as Superman. He and Ricky Carmichael are the bomb.

The Helicopter and Lemonade Story: A Favorite from "What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20" - Bob posted a few days prior to this post about a new book by Tina Seelig who is a good friend of his. He puts an example of a story in her book in this specific post. What I took away from it is that although Bob thinks he needs to be reminded of the things in Tina's book, he lives it more than he knows. His small acts of kindness that he has shown us have made a big deal in our lives.

Thanks to you Bob, Marina and the rest of the family for showing us the kindness that you have over the past few years. We really appreciate it.