Holiday Weekend in Naftalan

Last week was the end of Ramadan and a couple days off of work for Jason. We decided to take advantage of the long weekend and explore a different city in Azerbaijan. There are quite a few mountain and ski and other holiday resorts within just a few hours of Baku that we've heard good things about. We did some research and decided to go to the Garabaq Resort and Spa in Naftalan. It was a 3.5-4 hour drive from the city and the girls started to get a bit restless (and didn't sleep as long as we'd hoped despite leaving at their naptime), but we arrived and met up with the Knox family who had decided to join us for the weekend!

Madi and Cooper have quickly become bff's and Madi also loves Cooper's older brothers, Connor and Logan. Madi affectionately refers to them as "my boys" and spent the weekend asking where her boys were the little time they were apart.

The hotel itself was beautiful and had a lovely outdoor pool, a nice spa that Kathleen and I visited, all-inclusive meals, and loads of stuff for the kids to do - play area for babies, arcade for older kids, playground nearby, mini golf, and bikes to ride around. There was no shortage of fun during our stay!

We had a two-bedroom family suite that included a living room / dining area. And if you look behind the dining area there's a door. That led to the Knox family suite which was a mirror image of our setup. It was great to just open the doors in the morning when the kids were up and to visit after they'd gone to bed.

The hotel staff found out that the twins would be turning one during our stay there and surprised them with a cake Saturday evening (since we were checking out on Sunday, their actual birthday). The girls didn't quite know what to think of the sparklers on the cake!

We had a bit of trouble and delay getting home on Sunday...the AC wasn't working in the van when we started to leave and the check engine light was on. Jason discovered the engine belt was gone and we ended up having to wait an additional seven hours at the hotel for a new ride to come. It was definitely not ideal, but the hotel was incredibly accommodating and let us use our same room for the twins' nap and didn't charge us anything additional even though we stayed well past check out.

We finally made it home late Sunday night with loads of amazing memories with the Knox family. Looking forward to our next adventure together with them!