Strong Bonds Marraige Retreat

My husband and I just got back from "Strong Bonds", an Army Married Couples Retreat. This one was held down on Jekyll Island, GA. We were originally placed on the alternate list due to a mix up, so when we got notified (consisting of me being in the chaplin's office on a seperate matter when someone else cancelled their slot, the chaplin looking at me and saying... guess what, you are get that slot!) on Wednesday that we were going Friday, we had some fast moving to do. We arrived Friday afternoon, to find out that the place the retreat was arranged at didn't have enough rooms and had placed a few of the couples - including my husband and myself - in the next hotel over. Now, keep in mind, while the hotels were not far from each other, they were far enough to warrent use of vehicles rather than just "walking next door". Well, we got checked into our appropriate room, which was a hotel room, rather than a condo (timeshare style) like the other place, but we at least got to makeup for it with an AMAZING view... our room was on the very end, so from our balcony, we had a completely unobstructed view of the ocean (I got pictures that I will post later... I got a couple photos from my cell phone, but my desktop doesn't have a reader for my camera card and I have to wait for my husband to get me the adapter to load the pics!). Despite the distance, we opted to walk down to the retreat along the beach since we had plenty of time, and collect some shells. I also collected a sandcastle, in my SHOES! The sand was so fine it was going between the mesh in my shoes and my socks. It took us about a half hour or longer to walk there, since we were taking our time, but it was enjoyable, although cold - wish I had taken more than just my thick hoodie. Walking back was another story... it was dark, so dark that you could see all those tiny stars that are usually washed out by the lights of the city and stuff... not that night with no lights around, you could see EVERYTHING. It looked like someone had taken a bottle of glitter and just sprinkled the whole thing over the sky! But, of course, the bad part... it was so dark, I couldn't see the ROCKS I kept tripping over! But we made it back to the hotel safe. And the next morning we were up early enough to watch the sun rise over the ocean!! We drove to breakfast, since we didn't have time to walk again, had our classes that day, and then the "boys" had their "homework"... plan a romantic date out with their wives... no dinner in the hotel rooms, no double dating, just you, your wife, and go away (although we all had to eat in the hotel resturants unless we wanted to go off the island). So we went to the Sea Turtle Center - which cost $6 an adult and was closing in 15 minutes, so we opted out of that (money is tight for us). Next stop... Peir Road, sort of like a historic shopping area that you walk through - closed! Arr... I told the chaplins next time make it date LUNCH, so stuff is open when we go. So we went down to Driftwood Beach just in time to photograph sunset while collecting sand and shells, getting pictures of jellyfish (that we realized were dead when we found about five or ten along the shore), then a nice evening at the hotel resturant, where we had an awesome soup called "Brunswick Stew". Johnathon planned on looking it up online, but the next day, on the way home, we stopped at Peir Road again while the shops were open, and I found a postcard with the recipe on it! So I got that one and a couple others for my scrapbook for souveniers. I got a photo mat and printed off a picture of me and Johnathon, and I am going to glue the shells to the mat and buy a shadow box to put it in so I can display the shells from the beaches of Jekyll Island.