Weekend Wrap-up

Last weekend we headed out of town to Williamsburg, Virginia to attend a Strong Bonds event.  Strong Bonds is a program put on by the chaplains that is geared toward strengthening relationships whether that be marriage retreats or programs for single soldiers.

This event was a marriage retreat focusing on the 5 love languages.  On Friday, we all loaded up and headed to Virginia.  The drive went pretty well.  We beat the rain and Mara slept for the majority of it.  Once checked into the hotel we wasted no time in getting to the waterpark.

The Great Wolfe Lodge has a waterpark on the first floor with slides, a wave pool and areas for kids. We were excited to introduce Mara to the park and see how she did in the water.

As per usual she had a blast.  Our girl loves the water.  She enjoyed splashing in the water pools and trying to drink from the bubbler.  Josh took her under the waterfalls where she promptly shut her eyes and stuck out her tongue.  She loves to try to drink water whether its in the bathtub or at the park.

Swimsuits on and ready to go!

The rest of the night was spent getting settled and checking in with the marriage retreat.

Early the next day we headed down to breakfast and then got Mara off to daycare.  Once in the retreat we walked through each of the love languages.  I had never heard of the love languages but really enjoyed walking through them and seeing how both Josh and I responded to them.  Its good to know what language he expresses love in and learn what I am doing and what I can do in our marriage to show him how much I love him.

We finished up around 2 and then the rest of the day was ours.  We headed back to the park and Mara got to splash around again.  After about an hour she passed out and one of the other wives was kind enough to hold her while Josh and I headed down some slides.

just drinking from the bubbler

That night we headed out for a date night.  The Strong Bonds event was kind enough to schedule daycare again for this!  I can't say how much of a treat this was.  We rarely go out without Mara and hadn't since our anniversary in November.  We had a great meal and enjoyed just being together.

On Sunday we attended the service provided and then headed into colonial Williamsburg.  There was an art festival going on so we spend most of the morning walking around the stalls.  After a delicious lunch, we packed up and headed back home.

It was a long trip but so worth it.  With the deployment on the horizon we really needed this weekend to get away and reconnect.  It was also great that we could get some quality family time in as well.