I have to write a blog post about this for several reasons: 1. I am just so proud of myself for organizing it. 2. I had so much fun and don't want to forget it. This year we celebrated our four year anniversary. As my anniversary gift Adam tore up all the carpet in our house and finished the hardwood floors-hallelujah!! I have been wanting to do a fun thing for his gift but found myself limited by my pregnancy (we had talked about skydiving or doing a paint and pour or something like that). I searched around online (Groupon & LIvingSocial) for ideas near us. Over the past month I put together a little getaway for us. It works out great that Adam is off Thursdays and Fridays and I have a random schedule with nursing. I got my parents to watch the girls overnight (scary!) and put the rest together.
I found a B&B in Kalamazoo for $60 with Groupon, got reservations for the #1 restaurant in the area, and got us tickets to attend Escapology. I did all this without Adam's knowledge!! (Yes, I'm amazing!) I put together a little travel brochure including our itinerary and fun questions for our 2 hour drive with my limited computer knowledge. I gave it to Adam the night before our anniversary and he was completely surprised-SCORE!
My parents got to our house around 10am and we headed out after scarfing down our annual "recreate our first breakfast as a married couple" meal. It had been a hectic morning with the girls and I really needed to get out of there. We left the day after our anniversary, which coincidentally is Colette's "baptism day" so we had taken the girls to mass to get a special blessing from Fr. Vince and then given Colette her gift at breakfast.
The first hour of the drive I needed to decompress. After a hard morning (a hard two days honestly-Colette has been giving me a run for my money) and still processing all that is going on with Baby Barnacle I just needed to rest. Once I recovered Adam and I rewound to us back before we had kids. There we were riding in his black Mazda, just the two of us, laughing and talking and having a blast. The questions were a success in getting us talking and the ride went by really quickly. We got to Escapology a few minutes early so we got some drinks at the gas station to cool off before we went in (90 degree day and no air condition in the car!)
Escapology was awesome! We did a game called (The Antidote) where we were in a lab and had to find the antidote to a disease that had been released into the world and that we had just been infected with. WE had no idea what to expect as neither had done anything like this before so it must have been quite comical for the Game Master to watch on video. You're timed with 60 minutes to get out of the room and have to search the room for clues and such. There were locks everywhere and we had to find a bunch of numbers and codes to escape. The first 20 minutes or so we were a mess but we eventually started to figure things out...really slowly. I felt so dumb as one of the employees had told me that this was the easiest game! We had to ask for a few hints but we eventually won with 8 minutes to spare! It was cool that in the end Adam and I worked as a team.
On our way to the B&B we found a Goodwill that was 50% so we obviously had to stop in. I found some maternity clothes and we got a few things for the girls and then headed on our way. It was little stops like this that were so much fun because we didn't have any kids with us and could just hop in and out! We drove thru downtown Kalamazoo and got an idea of the area-looked like a fun place to walk around in. Our bed and breakfast is associated with the Henderson Castle (which honestly isn't more than a tiny mansion) so we stopped there to check in. The receptionist gave us our key and drove us over to the B&B. It was such a cute house, very "period" with antiques and old paintings everywhere. We would be staying there with one other couple but the house was currently empty. She then left us to our own devices. I eagerly explored every nook and cranny of the house and Adam joked that after Escapology I thought that any door unlocked must be explored! We then went to explore the Castle itself since most of its rooms were unoccupied and could be looked at (each of the 12 rooms is decorated a different theme). The rooftop of the castle had a hot-tub! There was also a sauna and steam room on the floor beneath that. All of those were available for our use! WE hoped we could go to the hot-tub after our dinner as long as it didn't rain (we had brought our bathing suits just in case!).
After exploring the castle we drove downtown to walk around until dinner. We found an awesome little Catholic bookstore where we bought a few things. It was such a breath of fresh air to go into, to talk with a fellow Catholic and be surrounded by so many things that made us feel at home. We stopped in several little artsy shops and got chocolate at "The Art of Chocolate". mmmmmm. Coconut cluster, mango chile truffle and chocolate covered caramel marshmallow made us feel like royalty. It began to rain and we made it to our restaurant right before it really began to pour. We ate at "The Food Dance Cafe" a "farm-to-table" restaurant that was painted with a fairy garden theme!! It was such a fun treat to get to get whatever we wanted and try not to think about cost. Adam got duck and I got steak. We had crabcakes as an appetizer and a blueberry ginger mint crumble for dessert! It was still bubbling when we got it! Everything was delicious and it was just so great to talk with my husband! Who knew?! We sat by a large family celebrating a 1st birthday and when they were leaving the mom came and apologized to us, hoping they didn't scare us out of having kids! Adam and I laughed to think that we came across as childless!! Woohoo!
After dinner we went back to our hotel and got changed into our bathing suits. We got to the hot-tub right as they were re-opening it after the storm!! The rain had cooled everything down and sitting in that hot-tub while the sun began to set was simply glorious. We took a quick dry-off in the spa and then ran to a liquor store down the street to get snacks. Once again, those little store trips were so much fun! We felt so devious for buying $10 of candy and chips!
Upon our arrival back to our B&B we finally met the other couple. Oh. My. Goodness. Meeting them simply made my night. WE had seen this couple earlier at the castle and laughed at their "tourist" appearance! The wife had been wearing a t-shirt with pug dogs dressed as Disney princesses and had a Minny Mouse ear headband on while she snapped photos of everything in site. And the hubby, well, looked like the typical tourist. Turns out that they were celebrating their anniversary too! 13 years July 26th! They had driven up from Chicago and never traveled and were just having the time of their lives. It was the cutest thing.
I relaxed in the shower with the essential oil shampoos provided and put on the B&B robe feeling like a queen. We "ate ice cream" then watched Ocean's 12 while we ate our snacks.
Woke up in the morning feeling like a million bucks, but a little sad too as we knew it was almost time to leave. It took us only about 20 minutes to get ready and packed up and then we went to the Castle for our complementary breakfast! It was so fancy, I felt like we were at Downton Abby. We were served orange juice in wine glasses and given three courses. Our first course was a fruit kabob with a lemon and almond yogurt. Next we had warm croissants with butter and marmalade and then we got scrambled eggs with toast and strawberries. It was all delicious and a perfect end to our trip.
We were on the road by 9:30am, anxious to see our little ladies! Another impromptu stop led us to Sweetwater donut shop. Holy Moley was that a good call! They had donuts the size of plates and they simply melted in your mouth. We got a half dozen to share with my parents. Finished up our car ride with a rosary, more good conversation and a few more fun questions.
I'm sad it all had to come to an end, but I find myself thinking that it also started a new beginning. Adam and I were able to talk about so many things going on in our lives, and I feel a brand new connection to him as well as a new motivation to conquer life together. I love my husband and am so blessed to have had four years with him as my spouse.
