Celebrating 5 years

Kale and I decided to celebrate our 5th anniversary with a weekend getaway. We had his parents come down for the weekend to babysit, and we booked a local B&B. It was a Wine and Roses package, including 2 nights, chocolates, massages and dinner for two. Sounds nice right? We were in the heart of Lancaster county, in an old Farm House. It was a really neat place with lots of history.

Here's where I'm still a little confused. It was our first B&B experience. I guess I had expectations about what I thought it would be like. Our first impression was just weird. It was so strange to be staying in a stranger's home. They were a really nice family, young couple with children. The biggest problem I had was that I felt like I needed to whisper the whole time. If I was quiet, I could hear their conversations. So, I'm sure they could hear us also. The second biggie was the food. I guess what I had expected was a fresh buffet of foods in the morning. When we arrived,the Innkeeper said that our breakfast was already in the room! What? How can that be? Well, apparently, a nice Amish neighbor makes baked goods and these cute little egg casseroles. All we had to do was heat and eat!

Now, I looked at this food in shock. You mean I have to microwave my breakfast?!?! I did take pictures of these surprisingly tasty treats and casseroles. The baked goods were so yummy, we couldn't wait to finish them off in the afternoon. However, when we returned to our tidy room, the treats were gone! Seriously? We did get a replacement later in the evening for our next days breakfast though.

Ok, one more thing. The main reason we chose this particular B&B was because it had an outdoor hot tub. Nice. The weather didn't cooperate for most of the weekend. So, Saturday night after our romantic dinner for two, we were ready to soak! Only to find out that it was cold! Apparently, something happened to the heater and it wouldn't be hot until the next day. As we were checking out!

Now, the good part was the romantic package. The wine, chocolate covered strawberries, dinner reservations (later than we would have like, but delicious), and the massages (oddly scheduled during checkout time, but amazing). We also toured the Julius Sturgis Pretzel factory and Wilbur's Chocolate factory on Saturday afternoon.

It was really nice to get away and spend alone and undistracted time with my husband. I did miss my babies terribly though! I also loved waking up on Sunday morning to the clip-ity-clop of the Amish buggies going to church :) They rode right passed our room. The weather was perfect on Sunday, so lots of Amish and Mennonites were out riding their bikes and walking to church also. My favorite buggy was the one with a little boy looking out the back window of the buggy. He was so cute.

Overall, it was strange, but good. Definitely an adventure and I love a good adventure. I'm already planning my next one. Might even try another B&B, who knows!

Oh yeah, one more thing. While we were at dinner, they snuck in and sprinkled rose petals on our bed and place a hershey's kiss on each pillow. Romantic? However, they stole one of my dozen roses to do that. Weird? or is it just me? All I could think was great, they killed my rose and now i have to clean up the mess! LOL! Maybe I'm just not a B&B kinda girl.

Click on the link to see the pictures :)
http://www5.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1991696008/a=39577534_39577534/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

First Day of Preschool 9/10/09

My big boy eating his breakfast on the big day!

Dressed and still eating.

Waiting patiently for mommy and Julia.

The classic ready for my first day of school picture.

One last goofy smile before the teacher takes me out of the car :)

Not surprisingly, Ryan couldn't wait for his first day of preschool. Julia and I were looking forward to it as well. Not that we wouldn't miss Ryan, but we were looking forward to some girl time. Ryan went happily and returned even happier. He loved his first day. His favorite part was playing outside and his favorite friend was, "Noah, because he shared with me". How sweet is that?

I was so excited for Ryan, but as soon as we pulled away, I looked back at the empty seat. For a moment I had that panicked feeling, "what have I done? I just left my son with strangers!" Tears welled up, but I didn't cry. I missed him already......

Well, the time went fast. Julia and I went food shopping and then hung out until she got tired. I had to wake her up to go and get Ryan. He was so excited to see us and tell us all about school. He came home with a sticker that said, "Ryan had a great first day at preschool." And he did.