Although we try our hardest to go on an annual vacation every 12 months, very rarely do we go on TWO vacations in a single calendar year. But, as you probably gleaned from my blog post last week, not only have we now embarked on a couple different vacations in 2025, we did them within a couple weeks of each other.

Let me quickly explain…

The cruise we recently returned from was more than a year in the making. My sister rallied the troops in early 2024 and organized a Reser family vacation on the Freedom of the Seas for April 2025.

The Disney World vacation we just returned from was a little more spontaneous and it was 100% because of my talented wife…

Our family in Magic Kingdom during our visit to Disney World.

Earlier this year, Sidney was named an In-Synch award winner for Travelers Insurance. Basically, out of 30,000 employees, she was one of the approximately 100 professionals honored for going above and beyond on an everyday basis. One of the perks she received for her inclusion in this prestigious .3% grouping of the Travelers workforce?

An all expenses paid trip for two to Disney World!

Thanks to Sidney’s work performance with Travelers Insurance, we were given an all-expenses paid visit to Disney World. This is us at the beach welcome party on Thursday, May 1.

Although I thought she would choose my sister to hop on that plane with her, my wife decided to choose me! And, it kind of goes without saying, but if “mom and dad” are going on a trip to Disney World, the two kids better be going as well.

And they did. 😊

What a gift it was to bring Sloan and Beau to Disney World!

But it wasn’t just the four of us who spent time in Orlando this past week. When Sidney called her parents to tell them about her honor and prize, they said they would meet us there! Then one of Sid’s sisters (and her family) also committed to the trip and shortly thereafter her other sister also booked tickets for her family.

Sid’s family hanging out during a day at the Disney parks.

After a family vacation with my parents and siblings, we were doing the same with Sid’s family!

This is how the Travelers vacation package worked: Sid’s company made all travel arrangements, set us up with lodging at the Disney Yacht Club Resort, provided three full days of park tickets, organized different recognition events, and much more.

There was a lot going on during the five days we spent in Florida…

– Sidney got to spend time at her most favorite place on earth.

– Our children had the thrill of experiencing Disney for the first time at an age they will remember.

– We had the pleasure of spending time with Sidney’s family who we don’t see enough.

– Sid received a truly memorable Travelers experience where she received tremendous recognition, enjoyed the red carpet treatment, and networked with other high performing colleagues plus top-level executive management.

We enjoyed a nice time at Disney with some beautiful weather.

During the day we spent time at the parks and at night we attended the Travelers events. I will follow this blog post with another one that chronicles our family experience in more detail, but I did want to use this post to very briefly touch on what made the time “under the Travelers umbrella” so eye-opening.

I could write a lot but for the sake of brevity, let me highlight three things that really stood out…

1. Meeting Sid’s colleagues – I had the honor of meeting many of the people Sidney works with. A few of them were from the Spokane office but many of them were from all over the country. It was really cool to see the respect they have for each other and how happy they were to spend time together.

Sidney with her Traveler’s Insurance colleagues at the beach welcome welcome.

2. Understanding the Travelers Work Culture – I learned a lot about how highly Travelers Insurance values its employees and the company’s “WHY” for doing business. Travelers CEO Alan Schnitzer spoke at length during the award recognition dinner and I appreciated his leadership philosophies. I also really appreciated the special shout out he gave to Sidney during his remarks and it was an honor to meet him during the after party.

Sidney with Traveler’s CEO Alan Schnitzer.

3. So Much Fun! – From a welcome dinner on the beach to the awards banquet to the Epcot dessert/fireworks event, I felt lucky to enjoy the fruits of Sid’s success. The best perk though was the after hours access we received to go on the Ratatouille ride as many times as we wanted!

Sid and I pose for a photo before going on the Ratatouille ride.

I am adjusting back to West Coast time and still have a lot of positive thoughts and experiences to process from the whirlwind five day trip, but this is a good start. I know my wife is thankful that she took a big leap of faith 2.5 years ago by totally switching careers and accepting a position with Travelers. I am so proud to see how far she has come in such a short period of time. Don’t Blink.