My Birthday And Father's Day

Happy Birthday to me. :)

And Happy Father's Day to these two amazing men in my life...

Hope all you awesome dads out there have a wonderful day!!!

Ritz-Carlton Reynolds - Family Of Three Time

Despite the hiccups we had, we had a wonderful little vacation. What I loved the most about it was that it was about the three of us. I love visiting with friends and family of course, but there are those times when I just want it to be about me, Doug and Briana. 

Spending quiet time together...

This short getaway was a great way to jump start our summer break.

Ritz-Carlton Reynolds - Hiccups

I don't want talk too much about hiccups, because I'd rather focus on all the good stuff that came out of the trip. We did have a great time.

As you can see above, it got pretty warm in the afternoons. But we live in Georgia, so you can't do much about that.

 I understand it was Memorial Day weekend, but it should not have taken two hours past check-in for us to finally get a room key (especially when we had requested an early check-in if possible). When I was seeing many guests going to their rooms that came in behind us, it got very frustrating. We were told that we were waiting on our room to be entirely cleaned. Waiting on "one more thing." Doug kept checking with the front desk to get updates. I finally went to the desk, got angry and got us comped $100.

When we finally got to the room, there were still crumbs on the coffee table and on the side table. After. All. That. Ugh. We supposedly waited hours for this so called "cleaning." Really not ok - especially at a Ritz. I think Doug also said the coffee supply was never replenished our entire trip.

Bri was supposed to get her bed made up the first night at 8PM (opening the pullout couch by housekeeping). We came back from dinner and nothing had been done. We had to call to get it done...

 Doug and Bri wanted to go on a paddle boat. It said on the website that they had them. They didn't. They also wanted to go fishing. The hotel ran out of worms - so no fishing.

When we took a tour of the indoor pool (which was in the spa) on Memorial Day, it was messy and no one was around picking up (wet towels laying around, band-aid on the ground, empty cups strewn around, etc.) It was pretty gross. So, we reported it to the spa desk. We were told a big group had just left there and they would get someone in there to clean it up. You'd think spa staff would be on top of that. What is sad is if that was the case, that messy group was comprised of only adults because kids hadn't been allowed in the pool yet that day.

There were a couple other things little things that happened, but you get the point.

I know things happen and not everything can be perfect. But when you pay a bit extra to go to a Ritz, you do expect more. 

I'm not going to say to not go to this Ritz because it is a very nice hotel. But, it was a bit disappointing to have to deal with some of the inconveniences.

I read that Carrie Underwood got married there years ago. I bet if she had wanted to go fishing, they would have found some worms for her. Just sayin'. ;)

Ritz-Carlton Reynolds - Canoeing

Doug and Bri decided to take a short canoeing trip on the lake the morning we were scheduled to leave. I wasn't feeling 100% and needed to pack up, so the two of them went off together.

This is what the hotel looked like from the lake...

Doug said Bri had a great time, but she did tire pretty quickly (hey she's a soccer player - doesn't use her arms all that much - heh)...

After boating, Bri took a quick break in a hammock...

They played a little ping pong before heading back (I could see them through the trees)...

I wish I could have joined them on the lake, but I think they enjoyed their daddy/daughter time together.

Ritz-Carlton Reynolds - Swimming

The pool on Memorial Day was absolutely packed, so we opted not to do the pool that day. We just prefer to avoid situations where we have to hang out with hundreds of our "closest friends." Heh...

 A flood of people must have checked out on Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning, because the pool was much, much, much less crowded after Memorial day. That is when we decided to go poolside...

The beautiful infinity pool...

There was also a hot tub area...

Briana swam and swam and swam for hours...

She loved doing somersaults and head stands...

She did well with swimming on her own, but she didn't want to swim by herself the whole time. That is one of the downsides of having an only child on vacation - no built-in playmate. I had to do a ton of swimming with her. And Doug swam a bit too, but with his complexion, he has to be super careful with being in the sun too long.

Sometimes I wish I could sit and relax by the pool more, but I honestly don't mind hanging out with my gal. One day, she won't want to swim with me anymore, so I better enjoy it now.

She tanned so quickly, even with sunscreen (I'm the same way)...

She did swim a little by herself...

Yes ~ I actually took a picture with her...

 Let me just say ~ because I swim with Bri, I always look like a hot mess by the time I get done with the pool. I honestly don't understand people who can sit by the pool for hours upon end and never get in or ever get their hair wet. They look like fashion plates while I look like a sweaty hag. I get super toasty when I am poolside ~ I have to jump in the pool to cool down. So, I have to accept that I will never be a poolside beauty ~ thank goodness Doug can deal with it. ;)

This is how Bri ended up most days ~ exhausted...

Quick showers each afternoon when we got up to the room to pretty up, relax a bit and head to dinner...

We never utilized the indoor pool because we used the outside one. Kids aren't allowed to use the indoor pool until the late afternoon and we preferred to swim in the mornings and outside anyway.

Next, I'm going to talk about Briana's canoeing adventure.

Ritz-Carlton Reynolds - The Food

Above ~ Briana enjoying a smore that came on top of a creme brulee dish that Doug and I shared. 

I have to say, almost everything we ate at the Ritz was superb. Several evenings, Doug, Bri and I dined outside at Georgia's Bistro...

Our waiter the first night was named Travis. He was fantastic. We liked him so much, we requested him the other nights we were there too.

The buffalo-styled deviled eggs were amazing...

As well as the flank steak with chimichurri sauce...

Bri ordered the mac and cheese several times. I have to say, I took a bite and it was some of the best mac n cheese I've ever had...

We ate our dinner one evening (Memorial Day) and right when we were finished, a rain shower came through. We took shelter at another table under an overhang. And a beautiful rainbow appeared...

Another evening, I ordered a half chicken on cheese grits. So delicious...

Doug's pork chop was so good...

Bri got candy-laced chocolate ice cream...

We spent our morning and early afternoons at the pool. We enjoyed frozen drinks and lunch poolside from Gaby's Restaurant...

These BBQ pork nachos were so yummy (I ate a bunch and felt like I hardly dented it!)...

We also had lunch and snacks in Gaby's as well...

They had some of the yummiest calamari I've ever eaten. So soft, not chewy at all...

One evening, we did eat away from the hotel at a restaurant called "Filet's." It was good - not great. I did get a lobster bisque that was delish, but my steak came out underdone and when I sent it back, it came back overdone. Oh well.

I have to say though, the desserts we ordered there were amazing. Look at Miss B's face when she got her brownie sundae...

Doug and I split a salted caramel gelato with white chocolate covered pretzels throughout. It was scrumptious...

Each night, s'mores were available to make at the fire pit. Due to several rain outs (it liked to rain at night), we never had a chance to actually do it. The food and beverage supervisor of Georgia's Bistro, Kevin, sent a s'mores kit up to the room for Bri since she missed out...

Kevin was a very bright spot during our vacation. Whenever he saw us, he checked in and always had a friendly face and kind words.

We ate breakfast in our room each morning. We either ate something light that I brought from home or a goodie from the coffee shop next to the lobby. We didn't want heavy breakfasts so we could get to get over to the pool to play.

I guess when you are staying at a Ritz, you have to indulge a bit. Indulge we did. :)