July 5th

Mornin' family and friends. Happy belated 4th of July! The computers were ALWAYS busy yesterday--everyone catching up on holiday greetings, maybe--so I jumped on for a quick note this morning before I finish packing and we head off to the airport for an early flight.

As I write, there is a major lightning show going on out there with thunder I can hear even inside this huge hotel with the background music loud as it always seems to be in the lobby here. I've seen more lightning here in the Bahamas in the past 9 days than I think we see all year in Phoenix. I got up early to watch the sunrise on the beach yesterday and lightning accompanied that, as well, but it was much farther out to sea than today. Right now it's directly overhead, but as fast as most of the storms seem to move here, it should move out before our plane takes off in three hours.

I will post pictures after I get home. Uploading them will use up time I don't have this morning.

Okay, I know I am probably the last woman in the world to finally experience snorkeling, but it is definitely my new, very favorite thing in the world to do!! 8 of our team went out on a catamaran yesterday morning and were in the water checking out the fish for nearly an hour. I hung back on the boat at first to capture pictures, and from that vantage point, it looks odd--lots of bodies just floating in the water, occasionally kicking their fins. Once I put on my mask and got in the water, I was completely hooked. The tropical environment was stunning. One woman in another party who was with us said she's snorkeled lots of places and this was the best ever. So I am sure that once again, we were blessed with a PEAK experience.

The afternoon was devoted to shopping for souvenirs--for some of us--and beach time afterwards. We had dinner as a team together, decided that our community dinners together were far superior (really and truly! the food at this resort has been disappointing, but if that's the only complaint besides the mosquitoes, pretty darn good week!), and then had a box seat on the beach for an absolutely incredible fireworks show! None of us had ever seen anything like it, and the 4th of July isn't even the Bahamas holiday. Yet another example of wonderful hospitality from a generous people.

I'll give an update or two once we are back home. We have lots of pictures and once we collectively upload those, I'll let you know where to find them. Let us know what you thought of our blog and our daily adventures. We've missed you.