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Casey decided to take a couple of days off work this week so that we could spend some unhurried family time together.   Within the first  day of his respite, the yard maintenance guy hired by our landlord accidentally shattered a three by eight foot window when his weedwacker hit a rock, our TV blew out during a movie and our garage door went on the fritz.   So we decided to let the gremlins have our house for the night, and we checked into a five-star resort.   Actually, it is a spot Casey has stayed in for business many times, and since he has an alumni connection with the director of sales, he finangled a great rate and a room upgrade at the last minute.

Let me tell you, sometimes twenty-four hours is all you need for a stellar vacation.   We dropped Dudley off at a cage-free kennel for the day and night, and arrived at our resort at 10 AM yesterday.   As we were too early even for an early check-in, we changed into our bathing suits and played at the pools (there  were eight pools there, all connected with waterfalls and walkways), stopping only for a pool-side lunch, until our room was ready.   Once we checked in, we got Kenny to nap in the stroller and parked him in the shade while Casey and I laid in the sun and read books.   Later, we cleaned up in the spa-like shower in our room and headed to the  fantastic hotel restaurant where we shared an appetizer and an entree (but we didn’t share our martinis!).   Kenny, ever the adventurous eater, relished his share of the spinach linguini with garlic cream sauce and the chicken katsu.   We topped it all off with an ice cream sundae from the kid’s menu, and fought for the last bits of decandent hot fudge sauce.   Back in our room, Kenny went to right sleep in the crib without a hitch, and Casey and I sat on the balcony, drinking a bottle of good  wine we had brought from home, and talking as we watched the sky turn dark over the mountains.

We got up this morning for a huge breakfast buffet, where Kenny once again out-ate me, then another romp in the pool, and a chance for Kenny to run wild on the bocce ball lawn,  before showering and checking out exactly 24 hours from when we arrived.   We picked up an exhausted Dudley on the way home, and here we are – feeling as if we’ve had a full relaxing vacation, and we were only 9 miles from our house!   Kenny and Dudley are napping, Casey is running errands, and I am “recovering” from our whirlwind trip.   The best part is, we still have the rest of the weekend to spend together.

I can’t believe we only have a week and a half left here in Arizona before returning to Maryland.   We are so blessed to have the unique opportunity to live in two places that are so different, each with their own beauty and charm, and with good friends to boot.     Time flies when it’s time well spent.