Marriage Retreat/Family Weekend

This weekend, Jerry and I had the chance to go on a marriage retreat weekend to The Lodge in Cloudcroft, New Mexico sponsored by the Army chaplain's office.

We decided to make it a family weekend and bring the kids with us instead of finding a babysitter.

Jerry and I had classes to attend in the morning and evening, but the rest of the time was spent having a great time and bonding as a family.

Here are some pictures of the accommodations.
By the way, I took all these pictures. I am getting used to my new camera now. 

The first thing the kids wanted to do was go out and play in the snow. Josh found a frozen waterfall out back and was amazed. He kept breaking pieces off of it to keep as a souvenir.

We explored the entire Lodge the first day.  Josh's favorite part was the tower. He wanted to go up there all the time.

Trina's favorite spot was this balcony. She spent most of here time here reading.

Jamie's  favorite place at the Lodge was the fireplace. He would have stayed there the entire time if we had let him. If he wasn't with us, we knew just where to look. Inevitably, this is where we would find him.

There were two chess sets in the lobby, so Jerry taught the kids to play. Trina  would have sat there all night playing, but after Jerry beat her twice, he was ready to stop.

And the boys played all evening. Even though they really had no idea what they were doing.

The meals were all included, so each day we got to eat in the fancy hotel restaurant. The kids were on their best behavior most of the time and we had wonderful family dinners at the beautifully set tables.

I think my favorite part of the weekend was the sunsets. Friday, the family enjoyed it from the wall to wall windows in the dining room. Saturday evening, I had some time to myself and decided to get some good shots from different places. I started outside and ended up at the top of the tower. I can't decide which I like better; seeing the sun peeking through the trees as it goes down or being above it, watching it disappear into the valley.
Both were incredibly spectacular.

It truly was a magical weekend. I really hope we can do it again soon.
I highly recommend unplugging from the rest of the world and just enjoying your family from time to time. And there is no better place to do that than from the top of a snow covered mountain in the middle of winter.