sarasota and recital time

I finished reading my sister's exciting home-building blog, and realized that it has been a VERY long time since I have entered anything... So, update it is.

Rick and I went to Sarasota, FL; April 28 through May1. He earned the trip through his company and we stayed at the Ritz. The lap of luxury is a very cozy place. We lounged on the beach, at the pool, in our room. The service was simply amazing and the food.. incredible.

The first evening we arrived and attended a dinner on Lido Beach. After we took our shoes off and placed them on the beach carpet; yes, there is a each carpet; we enjoyed live music and a terrific buffet while seeing Rick's company friends.

The next day, we kayaked at the Mangroves.... there were ONLY 100 other kayakers; so the main wildlife were the people with paddles..... guess we were too wild for the regular species! Anyway, the magrove tunnels were unusual and reminded me of someplace Indiana Jones would go.

We were entertained later by a comedian the company flew in and on another night by a small circus performance; all at the Ritz ballrooms.

We came home May 1, to Kendra's track meet and piano recital being the next day! Mom and Dad had homeschooled the kids while we were gone. THANK YOU! and did alot of recital cooking the day we arrived home. Thankyou for that, too. They were SUCH a help!

What a day May 2 was. Late morning and early afternoon was recital setup, then the track meet, and then the recital.... I do not recommend a track meet on recital day... People did try to mention this to me, but it just seemed a shame to miss something that was so important to Kendra. She loves track. Anyway, because of the tight schedule, the margin of error from the time we flew home to recital time was extremely small. I will confess, part of me does enjoy this pressure.

There were some things about the evening that I would do differently, but overall it was really great. All the musicians did so well. Of course, Kendra played, but Mariah played on the piano, too. Andrea and her instructor played the cello, Chip was on guitar and Stephanie played the violin. Chris manned the punchbowl and Rick worked hard on set-up and with the tear down workers.
I am thankful for the money that was brought in, as well. The night paid for almost all of her camp expenses. Thank you, Lord! She is really excited, and I dare say a little nervous about camp. I hope it will be fantastic.