Marriage Retreat In Paradise

Go Ahead and Be Jealous. It's Understandable ;)

It's common here at Schofield (not sure how the rest of the ARMY does it) to organize Marriage Retreats (also known as Strong Bonds) for deploying soldiers and upon return. These retreats are organized by the unit chaplain's office. We've once before stayed at a hotel on the ARMY's dime for a leadership retreat--click here for a refresher. I have also a few friends participate in these Strong Bonds retreats and after talking to them I didn't really have high expectations.

Now don't get me wrong-we are ALWAYS willing and thankful to stay at a Hawaii hotel for free--i just wasn't expecting too much in the line of rest/relaxation and quality time with my soldier nor was i expecting the seminars to be very good. Man was I WRONG!

Thursday afternoon we checked in to the 5-Star JW Marriott Ihilani Resort and Spa at Ko Olina. Walking into the front revolving doors into the atrium/reception area Nora's first words were "Wow!" (and she continued to say that everytime we walked through for the next 3 days--i mean, i was pretty stunning).

The one thing I was most worried about for the weekend was the sleeping arrangements with the twins. We have NEVER slept in the same room before, and i wasn't sure how it was going to go. But, we walk into our hotel room and see that is a handicap room and is huge! Score! There was actually a foyer to the room, a huge hall closet, a bathroom 5 times the size of ours at home, a separate room for the toilet and very nice room with the most comfortable beds and a huge balcony overlooking the gardens, fish ponds, and with a view of the western ocean and mountains. Really? This is ours for the weekend?

The balcony with the double sliding glass doors and plantation shutters was my favorite part...and i think it was the kids favorite too! the bathroom could have easily slept quads, all in their own crib. Thankfully we only have twins, but it was nice to have their own space to sleep in so that we didn't have to go to bed at 8pm too! view of the ocean and fish pondsthe pretty mountains and garden
watching the "fishies" --the ponds actually have koi, small sharks and sting rays--very cool to a 21 month old!

After checking out the rooms, we went downstairs to check the kids into the on-site childcare facility. That's right. Free, On-Site Childcare! Admittedly i was a little nervous about this at first. But the room was set up really fun with LOTS of toys and activities. The people running the program also had quad strollers to take the kids out on walks to see the fish. Nora and Holden ran straight for the toys and NEVER LOOKED BACK. Although there was a little ping of hurt, I was one proud mama at how open my kids are to new situations and people. They stayed in the childcare the first night for a few hours while we had dinner and walked around and then Saturday they stayed from morning until lunch time and then again that night so we could have a "date night". This is huge when you live so far from home and family and NEVER get free childcare. I literally didn't know what to do!

we walked out to the beach to watch the sunset. the leeward side NEVER disappoints.

Another awesome perk of this retreat was the all-inclusive food part! Some of our meals were provided during our seminars, and the rest we were given vouchers for to eat at one of the 3 restaurants in the hotel.

Nora was SO excited to get blackberries for breakfast For our date night we at at Azul, the signature restaurant in the resort. It was fantastic--and one of the finest restaurants we had ever been to (until later on in the week for Mike's Bday!) Since we had the vouchers, we decided to go ALL OUT and just pay the difference. 5 courses--drinks, good atmosphere. Very Awesome.
mike's fresh catch plate

As you can see we were COMPLETELY SPOILED. We so blessed to have even had this experience, but then that isn't even all!

I can't end this post without a word about the Marriage Retreat Seminar. Our Chaplain and his wife did a great job leading and no matter where anyone is at in their marriages, it is always good to have a refresher--something to remind you of why you are married to being with, as well as give good tips on how to make things better in your day to day life.

Without going to deep into it all-- a few things that Mike and I really took away from the weekend was:

1. Not to Sweat the Small Stuff

2. Be Intentional--go out of your way EVERYDAY to make your spouse feel loved/respected--don't just assume they know

3. Forgive--it's key--CRUCIAL. Forgive and never bring it up again--the same way that our Lord does for us.

Like I said in the beginning, it was an AWESOME weekend--it's understandable if you are jealous. I'm still in shock myself that we were just GIVEN this opportunity.