Friday, August 27, 2010

rest.















We went on vacation a couple weeks ago. 6 nights/7 days at a time-share resort.

Last year, just my husband and I went on a mini-vacation promotional package and did the tour thing. At that time, we did not buy in, but bought a 7-day package (since we knew we'd need to get away again and recharge the batteries).

Sixteen months later, we returned with all the cupcakes to see if they thought it was as great as we did. They loved it. At our presentation, all seven kids were present and after three hours of going over financial details and filling out paperwork, we had purchased a time-share.

Oh, I know about all the positives and the negatives, but the truth is-- I almost cried. This was our first vacation after 8 years of marriage and the thought of returning on a yearly basis was almost more than I could bear. Hallelujah! It was a minor miracle. Considering our family size and the size of our family budget, this was something we could afford. We aren't exactly loaded with cash-- then again, in this economy, who is?

The weather was in the 100's and the kids swam everyday. They played shuffle board, chess, video games at the arcade, checkers, played at the activities center, rode the water slide (over & over again), ate free otter pops poolside, chased cotton tail rabbits, fed Canadian geese by hand, enjoyed a poolside dive-in movie and swam some more.

My husband and I were the focus of much observation with our bunch of kids. We were politely asked the famous "Are they all yours?" and "How do you do it?" questions several times. A few onlookers became our instant friends as they proceeded to ask 101 questions pertaining to all of life and its problems. It was great. We were able to be a walking talking testimony of what God is and has been doing in our lives and family.

On the last day of our stay, the kids were so drained from all the fun they experienced that Ethan mentioned he needed a vacation just to recover from the vacation.

Needless to say, they have barely stuck a toe into our backyard pool since we returned.

1 comment:

Kim said...

I still can't get over how big Ruby is!

And YOU! Pregnancy completely agrees with you you look WONDERFUL!

Congratulations on the vacation and the many more to come!