Break could not have been better. I was with people I enjoyed, we stayed with a friend's wonderful grandmother who made us wonderful food, and of course, we had wonderful amounts of sun.

My car of five guys drove down to Sarasota, Fl on Saturday the 22nd and got there on Sunday around 4 in the afternoon. As soon as we got to Tyler's Grandma's house, we were treated to fresh popcorn, soda, and fresh squeezed Florida orange juice! After showering up, and settling in, we were treated to our first meal of the week which set the bar high for the rest.

Later that night we played some cards with Mary (our host) and her sister and then finally called it a night. The next day we packed up and lathered up and headed to the beach to get our first dose of vitamin D. We caught up with some other G- Towners and spent the majority of the day swimming and basking in the sun.

That night we were treated to a great Amish meal. I was pleasantly surprised to know that there is a large population of Amish and Mennonites in the Sarasota area. The buffet was amazing and we all left the restaurants feeling like we might just fall over from how much food we had eaten.

Tuesday we continued our day long visits to the beach. We packed up sandwiches every day and enjoyed lunch right out on the sand. By the way, the sand in Siesta Key is as white and as soft as powdered sugar. It was amazing! The ocean wasn't too cold, but the pool back at our house was much much warmer!

We made use of the pool on Wednesday after deciding the beach was much too cold and windy for us that day. We traveled to the mall after the beach to walk around for a while, and on the way there, a van pulled up next to us and the driver proceeded to tell us he was originally from Elkhart. What a small world!!

Wednesday night we piled in the car to go watch the men's baseball team play about an hour away from Sarasota. The game looked grim for the first few innings, but towards the end the guys made a huge come back tying it up. One of the umpires though, negated one of our runs due to a discrepancy, and we weren't able to make another comeback in the time left. They guys put up an amazing effort though. Though we were in Florida, the cold weather that day made us feel right at home and we all bundled up for the night.

Thursday was still a bit cool, but warmed up throughout the day. The 20-30 of us out on the beach joined up for some sweet games of volleyball. The guys I was with played some of the girls on the Goshen volleyball and won both times. In their defense, they had been out in the sun more, and I'm sure that the heat was taking its toll. :-) On our way out of the beach that day, I stabbed my foot on a stick in the sand. It went in between my sandal and my foot and I stepped down on it. It's still healing, but unfortunately I've been walking with a limp now!

Friday was our last day at the beach. We spent time cleaning out the car in the morning, then took off for some last hours in the sun. I ran out of suntan lotion and probably got a bit burnt from those last few hours. Once it was time to leave, we grabbed our stuff, cleaned off and hit the road for home.

Car travels aren't necessarily my most favorite trips to take, but both trips to and from weren't that bad at all. It was dissappointing to be back in the snow when I got back, but its been nice to hear people say "you're tan" especially because I never tan at all!

Anyway I've got bookoo amounts work to do, and a meeting in a little bit. Hope you enjoyed the update!