Thursday, March 13, 2008

Our trip to Sea Island, GA

Aaron and I had the blessing of spending a few days in Sea Island and St. Simons Island, GA with some other ministers to learn about the need in the country of Angola in Africa. It was a missions fundraiser of sorts, where emerging leaders could learn from more established leaders.

We were so excited to be able to spend some time with Pastor John and Melissa and Nick & Kim Serban. It was HARD to leave our babies... in fact, here's what they looked like on our way to drop them off with Mimi:
Abbey was especially thrilled... not.

We were sent information ahead of time about how nice the resort would be... but we honestly had no idea! As soon as we walked in, a butler was waiting for us in the lobby and greeted us by name. I guess when we had gotten our parking pass, they had called up to the Lodge and alerted them we were coming.

We were taken to our room by Tim, our butler. (Yes, our own butler!) He was excellent. He very pleasantly showed us around our room and told us that even though it was past the deadline (we got in around 11pm!!!), he could bring us some warm cookies and milk!
(You can't see the cookies, but OH were they good!)

Our room was INCREDIBLE. Feather beds and down comforters. Our butler opened the door to our balcony when we got there to let us hear how close we were to the water - we could hear the waves hitting the shore! Our bathroom was awesome. Huge walk-in shower, full tub, heated towel rack and heated mirror. Speaker system so you can still hear the TV. Our own bathrobes and slippers. Huge TV WITH TiVo!!!

As we woke up, I snapped a few pictures in the daylight:

The view outside our room was amazing:

That first day, I was able to go to the Spa and relax and get the best massage of my life. The Spa wasn't just any old spa. Oh, no. It was a 65,000 sq ft. monster of amazing proportions! Phuong was my massage technician. Here are some artsy pictures I took of the spa:



The next day (while the men were golfing - again), Melissa and Kim and I went to lunch at Sweet Mama's and then to see the Lighthouse.

As soon as we parked the car and walked toward the water, I saw something with a fin come up out of the water! I gasped and said "I just saw a shark!" The girls laughed at me and right after that a man walked by and said "You better get your camera ready - the dolphins are out" There were dolphins everywhere! We watched them come up in perfect synchronicity. It was such a neat moment. Neptune Park is the place where the lighthouse and dolphins were.

After this, we dropped Kim off for her Spa treatment and Melissa and I just drove around and saw the sights. Some of what we saw:


Later, after the guys finished golfing Aaron and I went out to where the majestic 150+ yr old oak trees line the entrance to The Lodge.

Aaron proves that he was still working, even though we were out of town!


The last night we were there, Aaron was really tired after playing golf the whole time and learning more about missions... but I was a little wired. Thankfully, I had remembered to TiVo American Idol, so I was able to watch it and write on my other blog about it!


All in all, this trip couldn't have come at a better time for us. The last 3 months have been wonderful with the merge and everything... but nothing if not stressful, ya know?

I am so glad to be back home... but found myself wondering where my butler is!

7 comments:

carriewithslah said...

Beth! What's the name of the resort? Mike and I are going to take a four-day somewhere when he returns...this looks PERFECT!!!

I'm glad you had such a wonderful time!

Love you girl!

Lindsey said...

WOWWOWWOWWOW!! It looks like you had an amazing time!!!!! I love the pictures. I was imagining myself in all those places and it was lovely.

I'm so happy for you and Aaron. You guys deserved it.

MrsKristinClark said...

OH MY GOODNESS. This looks amazing and I could not think of anyone else in the world that deserved it more then you guys!

And I loves occupying the kiddos while you were away, those were not the faces I saw in my rear-view mirror. =)

Maci said...

Awww, I'm so glad you guys got to do this, you deserve it, amazing pastors deserve amazing things =)

Maci said...
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Kim said...

Wow, that's awesome Beth! :) Gosh, I love the view from your room. I totally need a vacation. lol Loved the pics of the trees and the Wesley Memorial. Very cool. :)

Tracy said...

Beautiful! What an amazing place, and you are such a good photographer. Thank you for sharing!