Short Version: This trip was a blast!
Long Version: I had the amazing privilege to travel to Westmore, Vermont for a Meet-Up with the Lifetime & Lifetime + Members on The Boot Camp Hub. What does all of that mean? I coach fitness classes and film them with my phone 4x a week for boot campers to do live with me or catch later on recording all online. They are interval, strength, and Pilates workouts. I absolutely LOVE it! I also post motivational messages with assignments! There are 16 coaches that have specific times that they teach! We also have 2 dietitians that give nutritional advice & everyone has such empathy and compassion so creating motivational videos seems second nature for the whole team. I’m still mastering my spastic hands while giving them☺ I get use to teaching my students’ that are learning English and you HAVE to have a lot of nonverbal hand actions! I get so EXCITED to share the gift of fitness!
Crew: Mom, Dad, Me, Ava, (Dave didn’t make the cut)
Thursday: Flew Standby from Salt Lake to Boston. Let me paint a picture of the adventures that flying standby promotes. You truly don’t know where you will be sleeping that night and so you have to have a flexible crew or you won’t enjoy the traveling adventure to its fullest. hehehehe.
Mom, Ava and I made the earliest flights. First to Seattle and then to Boston. About 7 hours of flying to go from coast to coast! That is it! 7 hours to be on the other side of America!
Dad made the later flight and arrived at midnight.
Dave…. Didn’t make it…. We left him last priority thinking he could fly jump seat etc. He may have secretly tried to not make it because then he got the house to himself! A pilots dream is to sleep in their own bed! A pilot’s wife’s dream is to explore exotic places and to never sleep in your own bed. We meet in the middle and sleep on the floor in random places a lot… Just kidding!
Stayed in a hotel outside of Boston, Mass.
Friday: Swam at the hotel and then drove 3 hours north to Westmore, Vermont. The retreat location is right on Lake Willoughby. You stay in rustic cabins next to all of the other coaches! The members find Cabins/house rentals to stay in close by!
Imagine you are looking at green trees and you never see a break! FOREVER. Well that is Vermont. It was a beautiful drive! Ava even might have enjoyed the car for a second… but only for a second.
6:00 pm Meet and Greet: It was such a treat to have my family there with me. There is no way I would have found my way by myself and been able to have as much fun as I had! My parents were the best and watched Ava when I had to “be on!” And then I got to be with her and snuggle her all the time in between.
It is an unexplainable experience to meet the Boot Campers in person because we don’t see them everyday. They get to see the coaches all of the time. They know our families, our voices, our mannerisms, and ultimately a lot of what is going on in our lives. We see posts from them after workouts and still shot pictures, but we don’t know them to the same extent. They were all so upbeat, positive and EXCITED to meet the Team! I felt like a real life celebrity having members and friends getting pictures and autographs. So happy Ava could join because everyone just wanted to squish her little cheeks! She let them know when her bubble had been popped. Waaaaaaa… It was good for her stranger danger radar check.
Saturday: Workout at 8:00 am then jump in the lake fully clothed! My clothes didn’t dry the entire time after that little dip… Well worth it -Not use to humidity. Introductions, Positive Content, the most delicious local food, activities, Question and Answer with the Coaches, Dinner, Bomb fire and shared experiences with many breakthroughs!
Amazing group, & I learned so, so, so much! Each member shared their story, their struggles, their successes, and the influence that the coaches had on them and their families. Many families were at this retreat because it was FREE for the members! Jonathan Roche is the CEO and is one of the most generous and kind people I know. He has an adorable family (wife-Karen, 2 boys- Alexander & Benjamin, and baby girl Ava’s age- Adeline) My favorite was when the members would say, “Jonathan changed my life…. I hear Jonathan in my head say…… Jonathan inspired me to…….” And his response was, “I appreciate your gratitude, but you don’t see all that goes on behind the scenes and I couldn’t do anything without my amazing team.” Such a humble guy! Really blessed to work for the BCH. The other coaches there that I got to meet in person were, Audrey, Flo, Caitlin, and Noelle!
Key Take Away from the event for me was to nail the basics each day to create a better version of you! I’m an organizer so creating a plan and having a schedule to meet my own personal goals holds me accountable and allows me to cross things off! Which is always very fun! Ava is always my number 1 priority, and I have to remind myself that when I get working on a project (I get tunnel vision like my dad!) Must finish…. Can’t quit until done…
Sunday: 8:00 am Workout with Lake jump-in! (It was raining & nothing could stop this group from diving in that water…. Well maybe lightning because they are no dummies) Positive content from the coaches, lunch and goodbyes. Changed for the better!
Drove back to Boston and stayed in a hotel right in Boston! I got lots of recommendations from members on what to do so we had a day to fit as much as we possibly could in!
Monday: Boston for a Day: We walked, and walked, and walked, and walked all day long! Like pioneer children pushing Ava in a stroller rather than a handcart.
I filmed my workout in the morning just below Bunker Hill on the bay where members could see the water, duck boats, bridges, and all of the great video bombers on the walkway I was on.
Freedom Trail: This trail is 2.5 miles and we did it out and back! It is a great way to see 16 historical sites and landmarks as well as see the city on foot. Bunker Hill Monument was stop #1 & we walked almost 300 stairs up a narrow spiral staircase to the top of the monument. I had Ava in my arms and one mission Don’t stop until on top! My legs were jello after!
Duck Boat Tour: We saw a bus drive right into the water and gasped. My dad said, “I thought for sure we were going to be on the news.” The bus then started putting along and touring the harbor as if it were a boat! We then had to do that like any true tourist would. You tour the city and then literally drive into the water, transform into a boat (like a cartoon episode) and tour the harbor. Did the tour learning about the history, movie legends, who is buried there (like Paul Revere) along with a lot of other interesting facts! Ava just liked doing googly eyes for her neighbors who kept saying, “Oh, she is soo cute.” “Her eyes are beautiful.”
Back to our feet and the 15 other stops along the Freedom Trail. We went in the USS Constitution Museum and then made our way across the bridge and to Little Italy on the North End. Ate delicious Sea Food at Catch of the Day and got Cannoli’s at Mike’s Pastries. The Voodoo Donuts of the East Coast. Delicious, or as Brian Reagan would say, “Delectable!” Along the streets there were lots of street performers doing crazy flips and gymnastic balance holds that we accidentally kept stopping to watch. They were very talented! We stopped at the water fountains where Ava “took a dip” running (with my assistance) through all of the water. The end was at the Boston Common Park, which was a little sketchy like any park is in the middle of the city. Let’s just say Ava stayed in my arms real tight! There were swan boats and real beauty there, but I didn’t care to stay too long! We turned around, headed home and it was night! Such a fun city!
If we had more days we would get the Boston Go Pass and hit the zoo, aquarium, ferry tours, whale tours, and all of the other things it had to offer!
Flew home the next morning bright and early! Dave was so happy to see us.
Until next time Boston! You were fun!
taylortravels 