Vacation

Mexico was awesome! Celebrating 10 years of marriage with Mandy was awesome! Sitting on a beach for hours at a time, not having to worry about kids or jobs or chores or schedules was awesome! Now, that's the last time I'll use the word "awesome" in this post. Promise.

The resort we were staying at (The NOW Riviera) was so nice (is that word better?). We were there for eight days, and we only left one evening to do some shopping. Here are a few pictures.

I have to say that I'm not used to that many days without work. It took me a couple of days to really unwind, and by the end of the trip I was ready to be home. Note that this primarily had to do with missing Adam and Micah, but I also was ready to get back to work. I was refreshed. I will congratulate myself by saying that not once during our time there did I check email. That's right...not once.

Mandy and I got to go on a lot of dates during our time there. Several of the restaurants were semi-formal. Most nights we got to get all dressed up, walked on the beach to the restaurants, and had such great food with equally great service.

I am thankful for the week away, and am even more thankful to have been able to share it with the woman that I love!

Two Days Until This...

On Wednesday morning Mandy and I are flying to Cancun. We're staying at the NH Riviera in Puerto Morales, which is just south of Cancun. I booked this right before Christmas, so we've had a long time to anticipate. The plan is to drive to Paducah tomorrow afternoon, drop the kids off with the grandparents, and drive to St. Louis. We'll spend the night there, and fly out at 6 am. Seven days later we fly back. That's right - 7 Days!!!

Needless to say, this will be my final blog post for 2 weeks, so, until then...

Reflections from the Beach

Last night we returned from three nights at Orange Beach. It was so good for the four of us to get away and have fun together. Mandy and I knew it would be challenging with with both boys and no other adults (as there has been during other vacations), so we did some pretty intentional planning. We left our house on Monday morning at 4:30 am. This meant that the boys slept quite a bit, but it also meant that we had several hours on the beach that first day.

We also decided that we would feed the boys first, then I would pick up takeout (seafood) and we would enjoy a nice dinner on the balcony after they were asleep. I must say that this was Mandy's idea, and what a wonderful idea it was. It was a great time of reconnecting for the two of us.

One story to share...on the first morning Adam and I went out for a walk on the beach. As we were walking back towards our condo, a jogger came up behind us and passed us. Apparently Adam saw this as a gesture to race, so off he went (picture Forrest Gump). The funniest part was that as soon as he passed him, he cut him off, then went to play in the sand. I'm sure the guy's response was, "Are you kidding me?" By this point I had stopped and was just laughing.

Alright, one more story about the 4-year old. If you've ever spent any time with Adam, you know that he's the extrovert of the family. Mom, Dad and Micah are all pretty boring to him, so he wanted to find friends. I love the fact that he's not afraid to go up to someone and begin talking. I sometimes worry that this is going to lead to heartbreak from time to time, but I love that he has that within him. Here's the funny part. Yesterday morning we went out to the beach one last time before leaving. I was sitting down watching Adam and Micah play in the sand. Two ladies walked by, and one of them said, "Hi Adam." She kept walking. It took me awhile to remember that Adam had met her when he went to play with her sons on our first day there. I laughed, wondering how many others knew Adam.

Vacation

We are in Orange Beach, AL this week with Paw Howard, Boogala (not sure how to spell that, but it's Adam's grandmother), and Megan. The boys did great on the long drive yesterday, and our first night was good. Micah slept in the bathroom last night, but we moved him into the closet this morning (is that wrong?). Adam is most excited about making smores and watching Star Wars: Episode I. I'm looking forward to eating a lot of seafood, enjoying the serenity of the waves crashing outside our door, and enjoying my family!

God loves me...and here's proof

Two years ago Mandy, Adam and I took a trip to New England. Our last stop was Boston, where we spent two nights with Kerry and Kevin. Kerry was Mandy's best friend in high school. One of the highlights of the trip (and there were many) was discovering the Tassimo. Kerry and Kevin had recently gotten one, and they shared their delightful coffee with me. I was immediately taken with this wonderful little machine, and felt that I too needed a Tassimo.

After a few days the need wore off. After all, I already had a coffee maker and an espresso maker. I really didn't need anything else. And that was the end of that. Actually one year later, I incorporated this story into the first sermon that I preached at our church. It was a sermon on the Advent Conspiracy, and I was illustrating the need to fight consumerism. As silly as it might sound, I felt pretty good about myself. I often succumb to consumerism, especially when it comes to tasty gadgets such as this one.

You've probably already figured out that the story didn't end there. A few weeks ago Mandy and the boys went to Paducah to see the grandparents. One day Mandy and Micah went to St. Louis, where Kerry and Kevin now live. At some point Mandy told Kerry about me preaching about the Tassimo. She thought that was really funny, then said, "You know, that thing is packed away in a box. Do you think Robert would like to have it?" Mandy's response: "Oh yeah!"

That night Mandy called me to say that she had a surprise for me, and the next day when they came home, she carried with her the Tassimo. I was definitely surprised, but thrilled. I promptly ordered some coffee pods off Ebay, and it's been bliss ever since.

So...I know that God shows his love for me in ways much more meaningful than this one, but I have to say that this is pretty good lovin.

Off to the beach

This past week has been extremely busy. We've had a lot of air conditioning problems, but this morning we're going to have a new compressor installed. Hopefully this will finally solve the problems. I also officially started my new job as a property manager. My first client is a family here in Cooper-Young. My plan is to add a few more this fall. There's been a somewhat steep learning curve with this, but I'm really enjoying it.

This morning we are heading to St. George Island in Florida with Mandy's sister and parents. Mandy, Micah and I are traveling in one vehicle, and Adam will go with the others. Today we're driving five hours and staying the night in Montgomery. In the morning we'll travel the final five hours. Hopefully Micah will do ok riding that long in the car. We're going to take our time and stop whenever we need to.

Our trip to New England

I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures that Mandy took during our trip to New England. She's getting to be a really great photographer, as I'm sure you'll agree!


If you'd like to see more, here's a link to some pictures that Mandy posted to Kodak's site.