Classy Wine Tasting

My sister, Gina, is such a giving soul.
She was nice enough to invite her siblings and their spouses out to a classy night on the town, wine-tasting.
We were all so excited.
We all parked in the hyde park parking garage and began to look for the classy joint where the wine tasting was being held.
My loving sister then looked the address up on her phone, and she informed us that it was actually a few blocks down the road.
No problem.
 There was a slight drizzle, but who cares about showing up to a classy wine tasting with frizzy hair?
Not. me. No. sir.
We finally arrived at our destination after quite a bit of walking.
I wish I had a picture of the outside to show you.
But somehow I missed that opportunity, so pictures of the inside will have to do.

Now you may think this wine tasting establishment looks a little like a convenient store/gas station  . . . 

But I will have to tell you.

You would be right.

That is exactly what it was.

And we couldn't stop laughing.

We each got our small taste of wine and decided to hit the road.

But, of course, it was pouring down rain.

So my wonderful sister had another brilliant idea and decided to use the "lift" ap on her phone.

This ap is something all the young professionals in Tampa use to get from here to there.

Those of us in suburbia have never heard of it, but she promises it is a stellar way to travel.

And why wouldn't we trust her after her amazing skill in picking out wine tasting venues?

So we get a "lift" from a random car who answers her call.

The boys ride and the girls wait.

And somehow it works out that they come pick us up from the convenient store/gas station/wine tasting and take us to a restaurant.

It is Gina's pick, and she redeems herself.

(Except for the small fact that our reason for going was the all you can eat sushi, which they were no longer offering . . . but we won't hold it against her).

The name of the restaurant was Cheap, and it had a cool atmosphere that looked a little like a japanese steak house/club.  You know . . . more class.

In all seriousness, though, I think I laughed more that night than I have in the last five years.
It was really, really fun to have an adult night out with my siblings and their significants.
We are siblings by blood, but we are friends by choice.
I couldn't pick better friends or siblings.
And I do want to thank Gina for planning the whole night.
If not for her skills in this area, we definitely wouldn't have had as much to laugh about.
Well that and the word "punish," but that shall remain a family secret forever.

Gospel Coalition

By now you may have gotten the message that we have had a busy summer.
On the last weekend in June I went to the Gospel Coalition Women's Conference in Orlando.
We traveled as a group of 8, between family and friends.
It was so fun to have the time with just the girls.
We conferenced all day and partied all night (well, some of us).

On Saturday night we went to Opa.

It's a tradition now on our Orlando getaways.

We celebrated Rosie and Nicole's June birthdays.

They even got up on the tables and danced with the belly-dancer.  

Hilarious.

The weekend was a good reminder of friendship and love.

I have been so blessed with the best family and friends anyone can ask for.

I can't say each relationship is perfect, but I love all these women so much.

They are each special to me in very specific ways, and I don't know where I'd be without their love.

Here's to next time, Ladies!

Lake Swan 2014

It is so funny how the Lord works.
Last summer we took a trip to Lake Swan with the intention of meeting people who we would eventually be working with when Tim began a job at Trinity that we assumed was over a year away.
Well, we all know how that worked out.
You can read about it here if you need a refresher.
That trip last year was really God-ordained because Tim started that job in September.
Lake Swan is special to us now, and for as long as Tim has this job with Trinity we will go every summer.
It is so much fun for the kids with the lake, volleyball court, putt putt golf, and all the older kids who pay attention to them.
It is fun for me because someone cooks us three meals a day, and I don't have to do the dishes.

It is a fun family time.

We are so thankful for each and everyday together.

We do not take it for granted and know it isn't promised.

Costa

Another really fun event from early summer was a trip Tim and I took to Costa Rica.
We have literally never taken an actual vacation alone in our nine years of marriage since having kids (and I got pregnant 8 months after we got married).
We did travel to Savannah once for a long weekend, but I try to forget that trip.  I contracted the swine flu and was more miserable than I have ever been the entire time we were there.
Our good friends Debra and Tony planned the trip with me as a surprise for Tim's birthday.
I was trying to surprise him by just taking him to the airport without telling him where we were going.
The more I thought about it, I decided I should at least email his assistant to make sure the dates were ok (and I made this decision after purchasing the plane tickets . . . whoops).
It ended up that he had made plans to be in another state on the same days for some sort of conference with the President of the college.
That caused a little bit of a scuffle, but you know what I always say (or sometimes) . . . all is well that ends well.
Once we got that all squared away, we could enjoy our 5 am wake-up call and head out.

The first few days we spent lots of time eating good food (in the super hot weather) and hanging out at the beach.

It was so nice and relaxing.

The day before Tim and I left we made a little trip to the Los Suenos area, which is a super nice resort.

We zip lined early in the morning and then took some pictures at the resort afterwards.

The zip-lining wasn't my favorite.

Having to jump off a ledge high in the air 12 times and almost have an anxiety attack isn't my idea of fun.

But I did it and am glad I have pictures to document it.

All in all, it was a wonderful, relaxing time with good friends.

And it was also the best birthday present I will ever give to Tim.

Just sayin!

Backing up to Memorial Day

Oh hey there little blog.
I have to back up all the way to Memorial Day to get caught up.
Tim had to exhibit for the college at the homeschool convention in Orlando for the weekend.
Surprise of all surprises the family tagged along. 
The convention was at the Gaylord Palms hotel, and it was super nice.
The kids and I pretty much hung out all day while Tim worked, and then we planned to go to Disney on Sunday before leaving.

We got to have breakfast with Shrek and friends too, which was very fun for the kids.

And then we went to bed Saturday night with a coughing Lexi who woke up puking in the middle of the night.

And then woke up the next morning having trouble breathing.

So instead of Disney we drove straight to All Children's Hospital on Sunday, which is basically the same thing.

It was actually really scary, but we are so thankful it was something modern medicine could fix.

The trip was actually great, and again we are thankful for these opportunities we have been given through Tim's job.