Weekend Vistas.

The last weekend of February took Buck and me to The Grand Hotel in Fairhope, Alabama for a Young Lawyers meeting for Buck. In a nutshell, The Grand Hotel is my happy place. I grew up going there as a child and just love being on the bay. It's a peaceful, southern, slice of heaven. And, I loved being there with my one and only for a special getaway (our first getaway since weaning Small Fry!). We had dinner functions both evenings, and Buck played golf with lawyer friends Saturday and had meetings on Sunday. So it was a pretty filled weekend. But, I had plenty of time to relax, to stroll, and to read. I loved every minute!

We had a bit of an adventure on our way down -- literally at the 1/2 mile to The Grand Hotel sign we blew a tire. Just a pop sound and then a whooshing. I calmly said, "I think you blew a tire" while Buck pulled off the road and said "We sure did." No cussing, no anger. Just calm. He went right to work unloading the trunk to reach the spare, jacking up the car, and replacing the bum tire. I busily googled "Fairhope tire stores" and called a mom and pop store close to the hotel to see if they had the tire we needed. In a matter of minutes, we were on our way. Sweet Buck dropped me off at the hotel and then went to handle the tire. We were lucky -- the tire workers were amazed the huge bolt that went through our tire didn't do more damage. We were safe, and that's what matters.

After a sweet visit strolling through hotel grounds with my best friend from law school and her two little ones, I reunited with my hero Buck and then headed for a walk past the gorgeous old homes on the bay. I captured this photo on my iPhone of the sunset, which I stopped to watch while I listened to some of my favorite Christian music. It had been a bit of a rough week -- a young church member had died in a plane crash leaving his wife and two young daughters. While we weren't personally affected, the situation shook me and just made me re-ask God some questions I'm pretty sure I won't get the answers to on this side of heaven. I think He used His sunset to remind me that even through the clouds, His LIGHT is there.

After a sweet weekend away from our boys -- and a lovely homecoming to them waiting on my in-laws' steps for us, backpacks on, ready for Mommy and Daddy -- we headed to the farm the next weekend to enjoy some gorgeous weather and get some farm chores done (Buck's chores, not mine). We had some nice family time, though I think I always come home from the farm more tired than I arrive at the farm. I beginning to understand why -- pre-children -- Buck would return from the farm and just want to sleep the rest of the day. I didn't get it at all -- but now I do! I need a day of vacation to rest after an action-packed, sleep-deprived farm weekend. I didn't take my camera, but did capture these amazing rainbows on my iPhone. He is faithful and keeps His promises!

The first double rainbow I've seen in person! Wow! Fawn was amazed and impressed!