A small part of our Group at the Farewell Dinner.

Forever Families Retreat 2007 St.Petersburg, Florida- As most of you know, last year I took on the huge task of planning the First Annual Forever Families Retreat for adoptive families all across the nation. We had over 45 adopted kids and their families this year and there were kids from the USA as well as all corners of the globe. It was such a magical week and we formed friendships that I know will last forever. It was a lot of work for something I'm not getting paid to do but seeing all the children together having so much fun made it worth every moment of my time. We loved the Tradewinds Sandpiper Resort so much that we've decided to go back next year for the 2nd Annual Forever Families Retreat. I know I have a lot of other adoptive families that read my blog so I wanted to post these photos for your enjoyment. If you want to attend next year please join our yahoo group at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/adoptioncruise/. The rates and booking contract are in the files section and the dates are July 20-25, 2008. You can also email me at adoptioncruise@yahoo.com but I'm fielding a lot of emails there so my response time may be a little slow. Enjoy the photos!!!!!

Starbuck and a surf board..what more could you need for the beach?
The girls chatting by the pool.
Perfect size waves for kids to play in.
Some of our new friends!
What a beautiful sunset!

A game of ball in the courtyard.
Bella found her new passion for the waves!
Mackenzie teaching her new friend Daniel to jump.
Best Buds
Can we swim now?

We made sure to schedule plenty of downtime for just relaxing. The Tradewinds has everything we needed for a perfect group vacation.

We wanted the kids to experience something relating to their homelands and since we had a lot of Russian adoptees this year we decided to go to a Russian Restaurant called St.Petersburg Nights. The owner Ilona was wonderful and opened the restaurant 2 hours early for us and they had great entertainment for the kids. It was nice for the parents too because we actually got to enjoy our meals while the kids blew off some stream. I love the musical chairs pic!

Here are some action shots from our Pirate Cruise on the Forever Families Retreat. We made so many new friends and planning is already in progress for next year. As you can see we had a LOT of fun!

The kids had a blast hunting for buried treasures on the beach!

This is right before we got soaked to the bone in terrential downpours.

The only way I make it into family photos these days is if I take one of myself. hahaha Couldn't resist posting one of just us :-)

It was SO HOT!