This blog is coming to you from the Quiet Zone

As I type this week's blog, I am lying in a king size bed, surrounded by 7 pillows, in a "Quiet Zone" at a Crowne Plaza in Philadelphia! I have left Liesel and Nathan behind in Cleveland :-( and flew to Philadelphia tonight for business. I will be attending a training course for 4 days before flying back! My hotel room is situated on the "Quiet Zone" floor, and one has to enter their room card into a slot in the elevator before you are able to select the quiet zone floor on the panel! The Quiet Zone concept is as follows: No housekeeping or maintenance activities on this floor between 9PM and 10AM. People are requested to keep the noise levels down as they move around the floor. Each room has a king size bed with 7 pillows (I am still trying to rearrange them- probably throw 5 of them onto the floor!), and duvet. There is also a package containing a sleep mask, ear plugs, and a lavender aromatherapy spray for the linens! There is also a specially developed CD with relaxation tracks in the CD player next to the bed!! I am looking forward to drifting off to dreamland shortly after publishing this blog!

On Friday night, Liesel and I left Nathan with a non-family babysitter for the first time! We were invited to a dinner party, so we had to find a baby sitter for Nath, and only the best would do. We were fortunate enough to get daughter of our pastor to come, and she was fantastic. Nath seemed to get along well with her, and she said he was the easiest child she ever babysat!

In the meantime, Liesel and I were having a wonderful time at the dinner party where we could meet some new people and get to know others better. We were significantly younger than the other guests (we have been married for 5 years, and the next youngest couple were married for 18 years), but we all had an enjoyable evening of good fun, food and laughter!

This Saturday, Liesel, Nathan and I went to go and have a look at the new Gold's Gym opening up near our house. It is a 3 floor structure that has all the latest a greatest fitness equipment. There is a Cardio movie theater where they project movies onto a large screen with full surround sound, while you give your heart a workout on a variety of Cardio machines! They show a different movie every day. Then there is the spinning room that has the biggest ceiling fan that I have ever seen, that covers the entire room! Imagine Nathan's delight when his eyes caught sight of this!!! Then most pieces of equipment have their own flatscreen TV attached to it so you can watch a movie or anything else you desire! There are also headphone jacks on each machine for you to plug into to listen to whatever kind of music inspires you to perspire! THis place is tenfold better than Liesel's current gym, and the monthly costs are practically the same. So it did not take a much convincing to get her to sign up at Gold's Gym. Even Nathan will benefit as the kiddies area is about 5 times larger, and they have lovely structures for him to climb and explore.

Now its time for me to test out the Quiet zone, and recharge my battery for tomorrow's training. Afterwards I plan to hit the mall here, which is the largest mall in the USA! There are plenty of restaurants, stores and movies to keep me entertained for the week! Until next week, sweet dreams!