FamilyLife Retreat in Victoria Day 1

Sweater is from {Bootleggers} I stole it for $4.99!

So I am about to get a whole lot of real with you guys! It’s been a good long while since I have used this blog for a diary entry which is something I commonly did in it’s inception back in 2009.

For those of you who don’t know Brendan and I got married on August 1, 2008. So 8.5 years of marriage with two toddlers 2 and 3. We without a question care for each other and love each other, however, life does get in the way if you do not prioritize and communicate.  We have gone through some significant changes over the past year and quite honestly are just still trying to adjust!  When we both recognized that there was a huge barrier in our communication we decided to look for a way to carve out time for just the two of us to sort of hit it head on. We decided that this Year our News Years Resolutions were going to be about the two of us.  My mother in law  (because I talk to her openly about my life and struggles not because she is prying) suggested Family Life. If you have never heard of it, Family Life is a Christian based marriage retreat dedicated for married couples at all stages of life. When we saw the Victoria option we booked it in the New Year and were grateful to have something to look forward to and to escape the snow if only for a few days.

Because these are not just my issues they also involve my life partner I won’t go into too much detail as it just wouldn’t be right, I will say that this experience was very rewarding and would highly recommend it. Also that people are people and everyone struggles. No one is perfect…I do have a beautiful family, I do have a lot to be thankful for, I am guilty of posting only the “good” photos; But I am a flawed human being just like everyone else. I am a bit of an introvert (ok a lot introvert!) so by the end I was feeling emotionally taxed because talking doesn’t come easy for me, but in all actuality it was exactly what we needed to do.

The Delta hotel was just gorgeous and right on the water These photos were taken just right outside the hotel. They give you time for breaks, lunch outings and date night. It was great that it gave as an opportunity to explore while also being in Victoria for a purpose.  There wasn’t anything weird that happened, meaning you actually didn’t meet anyone or break off into large groups. The focus is about the two of you and thats it.  There were two instances of marketing/sales for a financial group and some of their recommended books but it was short and no pressure.

We were able to check into the hotel early on Friday which on the schedule for the evening was 6-9PM which had us worried because we eat dinner around there.  I reserved a couples massage at the Delta Spa for 12:45PM (I had Karl and I am not even kidding you if you are local or have a chance to see him…he is just wonderful, super peppy and energetic but I found it to be genuine and refreshing) Afterwards we took advantage of the Delta’s Happy Hour at the Restaurant in the Hotel called Lure. We got some snacks to hold us over for a late dinner.  It was incredible and we really loved the happy hour pricing. we liked the atmosphere and the water view so much we decided to go ahead and book a dinner reservation for 9:30 just in case the whole rest of the retreat decided they were going to do the same thing (ended up being a pretty mellow evening). We both ordered the three course dine around option and LOVED it! I had the most to die for salmon with lime avocado puree I was in heaven! They even accommodated my chocolate request for dessert instead of what was on the menu as I am a die hard chocolate lover. Both times we were at Lure that day we had great service and just thought our food was exceptional. I wish I could remember the name of the Carmel chocolate beer that I ordered but I can’t for the life of me…That was a huge deal also! So delicious!  I don’t have any photos of the food because neither of us took our phones 🙂

If any of you had any specific questions if this is something you are considering doing I am happy to answer them directly.