FredMcKinnon.Com

I’m home.  I’m finally home.

I’ve been out of the office for 2+ weeks.  School starts tomorrow here so everybody is getting back in gear.

As those who follow this blog already know – I spent a week in Kansas at the National Worship Leader Conference.  I had the privilege of being a speaker at the conference and was on their “New Media” discussion panel as well.  Because of the generous, selfless time of mine and Joy’s parents, we were able to attend the KS trip together, husband and wife, with no kids!

After flying home from Kansas, we took 1-1/2 days to wash clothes, Read more »

So this is the view from our table Sunday evening.  Not bad, huh?  We’re down here in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico during the rainy season, so the rivers are rushing and the water is high over the banks, churning with the brown water from the mountains.  As a result, we’re not seeing the blue water we’d expected but it’s still a beautiful sight regardless.

The mountains are gorgeous and honestly, don’t even seem real.  The grounds here are amazing and there is a constant flurry of people cleaning and keeping this resort picture perfect.

There is some outside wireless signal that sporadically comes in our room which is how I’m able to blog.  Joy is a Matlock freak, and she’s happy that it comes on (multiple times per day) in the morning.  So her “Matlock” time has been my “try to get online if the signal is strong enough” time.

Joy and I have already ventured out of the resort – riding the city bus to the local “Wal-Mart” to get groceries.  We’ve quickly learned to identify the kazilions of timeshare sharks at every block trying to get you to come to their presentation.  Of course, they first pretend to be someone who is just trying to help you.

When we got out of customs, we were told to go to the 2nd gate after the exit and look for men in blue t-shirts with MTS on them for “Miller Travel Service”.  They would have our names on a list and give us a complimentary drive to the resort.  Well we hadn’t even walked 10-steps past the customs exit before a guy in blue shirt says “what resort?”.  We told him and he says “I’m your man”.  He had on a blue shirt, but it didn’t say MTS, so I asked him and he said “yes, MTS”.  He took us to a counter at the airport where we were tricked for about 15 minutes with a review of all the places to go, maps, etc., and he finally got into the timeshare spill and we said “no”.  We left and walked about 50 more feet when we saw the “real” MTS guys who were completely professional.  Ahhh, nothing like being in a foreign country.

Hey Everyone,

Well, sorry it was a quiet blogging weekend … I don’t typically do a LOT of blogging on the weekend, but I do typically try to catch up and read blogs on Saturdays when I can …

Not so this weekend – I made a wild decision earlier this week to sneak off to Orlando, FL with the family so the kids could enjoy the pools, slides, and characters at the Nick Hotel in Orlando, FL. We had a BLAST, and YES – we got slimed … several times. I probably still have some of the green stuff stuck down somewhere.

I don’t often take Sundays “off” … we left Friday (which is already my day off) and stayed Friday and Saturday nights, and got late checkout today (Sunday) and hung around the pools until around 4:00 PM. It was an incredible time for just us … myself, Joy, Jon Michael (7), Will (6), Rebekah (4), and Andrew (2). Kim Dixon led worship at SSCC and I knew it was in good hands … I hung out for her rehearsal with the band on Thursday night and can’t wait to hear more about it tomorrow. (Monday)

The best part is … I xferred points from my American Express Membership Rewards Program to the Holiday Inn “Priority One Club” to pay for the room, so it was essentially a free get-away, except for the gas and food. The A&W, Pizza Hut, and Subway in the “Food Court” of the Mall Area at the hotel were very good, and the prices were the same as if you went out anywhere else. YEAH!

Here are a few Treo shots … I should’ve taken a LOT MORE, and we didn’t even take ANY photos of us (or the kids), but we were constantly getting soaked, so having a camera or phone around was not very practical.

(the Lagoon Pool area)

(the Oasis Pool area, shot from our 5th floor room after the pool closed)

So readers, family, and friends … what did YA’LL DO this weekend?
Fred