Conference Getaway

This past weekend Kevin and I were able to participate in a conference we've wanted to attend for years. Past conferences always required extensive travel and made it unreasonable to plan for, so when we found this one was going to be held this year in Orlando we were excited and began to make plans to attend!!

Cameron graciously watched the girls and kept the house running for us as we were away for the weekend. It was so nice to be able to get away and enjoy this time together listening to a wide array of wonderful speakers, enjoying a beautiful hotel and of course just spending time together.

The conference was held at the Renaissance Hotel in Orlando, Florida.  It's a beautiful facility and everything was well run and so orderly.  We participated in the meal service the conference offered for a few key meals and enjoyed some of the other restaurants, snacks we'd brought to have as we relaxed in our large and nicely decorated room, and of course took advantage of the Starbucks there in the lobby.

Lobby view from the fourth floor just walkway just outside our room.

The various speakers were really interesting and since there were far more than you could see, because they had a wide variety to choose from in various conference halls, we ordered a DVD set to be able to see them all here at home and to watch again the speakers whose messages we may have attended, but would love to hear again.  On Saturday the weather changed and the light rain fore casted turned into a downpour with lightening and thunder and also a tornado warning.  We checked in on the kids as it was the same there for them, and we watched the wild weather from our room while we took an afternoon break.

Kevin's on the phone with the kids and though hard to tell through the heavy rain, the wind was REALLY blowing these trees near the pool area below.

 Then after a few hours, it all stopped and the sun made a brief appearance before beginning it's descent in what created a lovely sunset.

The sun as it was setting, colors were more vibrant than appear in my photo.

Photo of the evening view overlooking the pool from our room. Quite a difference from the crazy weather just a few hours earlier.

Had a great time and loved getting away to enjoy this event!!!