Wasn't That a Weekend!

I'm not sure I'll have enough time to get everything down in one sitting. This was the ultimate weekend. I'm still having trouble believing we fit it all in!

Friday suppertime saw me off to the church for an institute for church leaders. I still feel that calling me a church leader is a bit of a stretch, but, as a member of church council, I was expected to attend.

It started with a pizza supper, then an evening of exploring our own personalities and those of each other. Normally, I find these sorts of things slightly (if not very) annoying, but this was sort of enjoyable. There was lots of laughter, and everyone had an open mind.

It finished with a wine and cheese, but I begged off as the boys had been on their own through the evening, and I felt I should get home to them. Main Man was out of town for the weekend at a conference - more on that later.

Saturday morning I was back to the church bright and early for breakfast before continuing the leadership institute. I didn't enjoy Saturday morning quite as much. The focus turned the corner to explore how the talents, skills, and personal attributes we discovered the night before could best be used in our work for the church. I'm not sure if my lack of interest Saturday was caused by fatigue or extreme self-centredness. Possibly a little bit of both.

Lunch was also provided, but again I had to beg off because I had to get #2 to his guitar lesson.

Most of the afternoon was spent in preparation for the evening, because what an evening we were planning for! Each of the boys was off to a sleepover (Thank you so much, you wonderful people who helped us out!), and I was off to spend the night here with Main Man on the last night of his conference.

The boys set off to their various destinations, sleeping bags and pillows in hand, backpacks filled with overnight necessities such as pyjamas, toothbrushes, toys, videos, and junkfood, at about 5:00, and I was off on my own. What an amazingly decadent feeling! I was off on my own for the next 20 hours or so - no kids, no dog, no homework. Main Man was the only thing left that I would have to cope with. (Ha-ha - just kidding, Honey.)

Before I headed out on the open highway, I stopped for a quick visit to a grocery store for some essentials for a romantic evening: fancy cheeses and crackers, smoked oysters, pate, olives, and cheesecake. Next stop: the liquor store for a fine bottle of Australian Shiraz.

When I arrived at the hotel, Main Man was still schmoozing at the conference reception, so I curled up on the king-size bed and watched the beginning of Casablanca on tv. How peaceful, how quiet, how delinquent!

Once he arrived at the room, we enjoyed some appetizers, then we headed down the street for dinner. We found a trendy, casual place that specialized in international appetizers and tapas. The food was heavenly. We shared an herb tomato soup with coriander cream, an order of Portuguese roll-ups (bacon-wrapped dates), some coconut crabmeat dip, and some spicy lamb wraps. We ate so much, we felt like Weebles when we were done.

The night was young, though, and we had to keep going, no matter how Weebly we felt.

After changing into our bathing suits, we set off for the geo-thermal pool. I could actually feel the tension leaving my muscles. It was like swimming in paradise. I could have napped right then and there. When we arrived at the pool, we had thought we might stay until midnight when it closed, but it was so relaxing, we headed back to our room about eleven o'clock, just in case one of us did fall asleep in the pool!

We had also expected to spend some time at the casino before we hit the hay, but the pool had done both of us in. We were spent - in a beautifully relaxing, peaceful way.

We awoke in the morning, lounged, and watched tv. Again, I felt almost corrupt; it was Sunday morning and I was not teaching Sunday School. Would I be struck by lightning?

Eventually, we made it down to the brunch buffet in the hotel restaurant, perhaps our only disappointment of the experience. For a fairly hefty price, we "enjoyed" a pretty ho-hum brunch. Still, nothing could dampen our weekend.

After a bit of shopping in various and sundry gift-shops, we headed home to our boys, and our lovely serene mini-break was but a memory.

Still, it's a memory to keep us going for quite a while.

Newsflash: Since we arrived home, #3 learned how to ride his two-wheeler ... all by himself. Yes, you read that correctly - he learned how to ride a two-wheeler without one lesson from Main Man or myself. He simply started off on our driveway, pedalled down the slope into the street (Fortunately, we live on a very quiet street.), and took off.

There will be no holding him back now, no matter how hard we try!