I consider myself blessed to be surrounded at Nautique by a team of incredible people. Yesterday I was able to see firsthand just how incredible.

Several of our Team Nautique athletes were joined yesterday by others from Nautique to serve here in Orlando at Give Kids The World. For those of you who may not be familiar with Give Kids The World, it is a non-profit organization that gives children with life-threatening illnesses an opportunity to visit Orlando and enjoy the area theme parks.

Visiting Give Kids The World is a very touching experience as you have the opportunity to visit and serve children in the last days of their lives, spending a few fun days with their families. It truly is a great organization that provides fun experiences for children with life-threatening diseases without regard to their ability to pay. Give Kids The World is supported by local organizations who are working together to provide a memorable, cost-free experiences at Central Florida’s attractions for these children with life-threatening diseases and their families.

Seeing our Team serve yesterday at Give Kids The World was an awesome experience.

The kids loved the chance to climb all over the Ski Nautique 196 and get the opportunity to speak with our team and get autographs from them. Watching Kyle Eade and current slalom world record holder Chris Parrish serve ice cream to the kids was one of my personal highlights of the day. One of the kids was from Canada and couldn’t be more excited to speak with IWSF athlete of the year and fellow Canadian Jaret Llewellyn – she even got her picture with Jaret. Another was thrilled to have Jeff Rodgers run the carousel for him. Our team played pool with the kids, posed for pictures, played games, and drove the train for them, among other things. Everyone from Team Nautique who joined us (others included Scot Ellis, Clementine Lucine, Emily Copeland Durham, Whitney McClintock, Jason McClintock, Jason Seals and KC Wilson) had a great time serving and I think all of them would tell you serving the kids and their families was one of their personal highlights. Watch for a video of the day to be posted soon on our Team Nautique Blog page at http://blog.teamnautique.com/

This week’s service is not unusual for our team. As I have previously written in this Blog, several Nautique employees took international trips this past summer to help less fortunate people in Nicaragua and Mexico. Additionally, two of our athletes, Chris Parrish and Scot Ellis, recently visited a local hospital to hang out with sick kids and hand out Nautique shirts. Next month others on Team Nautique are scheduled to help Habitat for Humanity build a house for a less fortunate family right here in Orlando.

At Nautique we know we have been blessed and feel like we should do what we can to give back. We are especially happy to be able to do that here in our own home town, Orlando.

I am thrilled to be surrounded by such an awesome team!

Enjoy the Nautique life.

Clementine Lucine and Jason Seels with Children in the 196

Chris Parrish and Kyle Eade Serving Ice Cream