A Married Monday

Monday morning, Shawn woke up just before me and got ready to head downstairs to the gym. I read my 'Bible' and then headed down a little after him. We both got a nice workout in before getting ready for the day. It was Monday, so we were saying farewell to the east coast and heading west to Marco Island. We were on the road by 11 am, making an unexpected detour toward Hollywood, FL. (Who was navigating in the front seat? Whoops!). We had been talking about me wanting to get my doctorate someday, etc and the road split without any warning from our GPS. When it was a man's voice, I had nicknamed him 'Axel' but we changed it to a woman's voice since it's a little easier to take. That said, we haven't named her yet. But, it won't be a nice one when we do - any suggestions?

We arrived at our new destination by 2 pm. The Hilton we're staying it is a resort that is literally right on the beach. When we checked in, the gal upgraded our room to a king suite overlooking the gulf without us even requesting it. It's amazing! Our patio looks out onto the beach and the water, which is breathtaking. We put our stuff in our room and headed to the beach grille right here at the hotel for lunch. Afterward, we cooled off in our room (it was another hot one in FL!) and then changed into our bathing suits. The resort pool doesn't disappoint! And, then we headed to the actual beach. It is white sand, which makes it cool on the feet. But, there are all sorts of sea shells (which is a little rough on the feet). If the boys were here and we lived around here, I would do a scavenger hunt for different types of shells to fill a container with them. But, no room in the luggage! We walked beyond the layer of shells and swam in the ocean. It was SO refreshing. The waves were calm and beautiful, the water was warm, and the sand beneath our feet was soooo soft. We stayed in as long as we could, knowing we had to leave soon to meet the fam for dinner.

We got back to our room, got ready as fast as possible, and headed out in the car once again, this time heading an hour north to Fort Myers to meet our babies (along with the grandparents and Auntie Erica) for dinner at the Ale House. The food was delicious, but it was the hugs from the boys that made me smile the most. I've been missing them! After dinner, we went to the Bass Pro Shop so they could look at the fish. Caleb also tried on a coon hat, which cracked us up. I got to hold both boys, hug them, tell them I loved them and I missed them. They got back in Papaw's rented red van, and we got back in our car, heading separate directions.

We were glad to have seen them and hear their stories from the week. We got back to our hotel after 9 pm, where we enjoyed a piece of chocolate chip cheesecake that we bought from Walmart when we stopped to get water for this hotel. Then Shawn watched TV as I finished my second book of this trip - "Unafraid" by Francine Rivers about Mary. It was so good! I liked the one on Bathsheba better, but I thought about how sad Mary must have been to see her son be tortured and killed, let alone the other hardships she faced. It made me miss my own boys like crazy. How blessed I am to have them... and to have Jesus in my life! May we never take Him for granted...