Here I am back in blogland again. Too many events to keep up. We like to back our events up on top of each other so when they're over, we're so tired we can't miss the fun that's now over. Two weekends ago Mark did a Marriage Retreat for our JC church friends. He did it last year with our friend, Mark and that led to us getting our new job. Crazy how the Lord works things out without any help from us. :) It was great fun to visit with some old friends, new friends and youngster couples of our friends. The JC group holds a special place in my heart b/c it's been "home" for so long and they are so dear. I miss being a part of them regularly, but enjoy every moment I can when I'm with them. We were so tickled to get to hang with our neighbor kids, Matt and Gina. They've grown into such wise, wonderful examples and we're so proud of their walk. Plus they are still as much fun as ever and we delight in each other. The young couples of our friends are so fun to watch, newlyweds, parents-to-be, parents of younguns, all so dear!! What a treat to get to see them all, especially fun to have Scott and Joy K there too. M's little sis and little bro-in-law.
We returned on Sun pm and left on Wed am for our trip to Atlantis. My sister, Pat, came in on the plane on Tues, helped me pack and took us to the airport. Everything was so crazy getting everything ready to leave, Mark and I didn't have time to get excited until the taxi delivered us to the hotel. We are rookies at this vacation stuff, never having been on a "real" vacation (Warchestin camp doesn't count as vacation with the ac duct-taped to the tent.) with or without the kids. We should have arrived earlier in the day like my pals, but we were on the beach within 10 min of seeing our hotel room. The resort was BEAUTIFUL!! We stayed in the Cove, a new hotel, just opened in May. So gorgeous!! We were the only ones on the beach each night when we went out, and the next am too. The water park with the mile long lazy river with rapids and slides was just outside the Cove too. We only had one Arbonne function to attend, nice to have that to be able to call the whole event "work." Arbonne gave us breakfast vouchers and dinner allowance too. We managed to make it on 2 huge meals a day. :) We spent lots of time on the beach, on the lazy river, did a bit of shopping, went to the big island of Nassau to shop, ate at some amazing restaurants, loved every glimpse of the ocean. We were so sad to have to leave early on Sun. The rookies should have had a later leave time, our friends stayed until 6 pm and hung out at the pool all day. Rats!! It couldn't have been a nicer time, such good memories, can't wait to return with the kids someday.
It was weird to live without our cell phones for a few days. We got used to not talking to the girls, but needed them to talk to each other on the island. We were at Bobby Flay's restaurant when we could have been eating free at the reception, but it worked out ok. We had the best steak of our lives the last night we were there, plus good Haagen Das!! :) We were glad to turn our phones on and hear from the girls once we were in Miami. All our travels went smoothly and that's huge in this world of airline woes.
The kids did well without us, all glad to see us, especially Pat. :) Has taken a day or two to recover the laundry and the routine. Fall weather is coming to SL tomorrow, will be sad to put away my flip flops that have had such a fun adventure this week. :)
