a weekend getaway

for me boys are always difficult to buy for.  we celebrate christmas, benny's birthday & love day all back to back - which just complicates my simple gift-giving mind.  i always want to do something sweet for him but i'm not so creative and he likes all kinds of things that i can't really get [like a crapton of expensive electronics, robot dogs, speakers that look like rocks, you know].  so for his birthday i wanted to give something that wasn't a thing.  more like an experience / adventure / date.  now most of the things i think of are girly.  i'm guessing it is because i'm a girl but i think a fella could appreciate them too.  when benny's birthday rolled around i told him to mark last weekend in his calendar but didn't tell him what for.  just to be free.

friday night he found a little note of things to prepare for when he awoke the next day.

we slept in saturday morning [always one of my favorite things]. benny got us donuts and i went shopping for adventuring treats.  we got cleaned up and watched uk play.  the day is getting better and better.

after the game we loaded up our bags & the car and headed off.  ben was terrible to surprise. he must have asked me one million times where we were going.  he guessed everything from laser tag to sky diving.  i told him that his pregnant wife wouldn't be sky diving for a while.  instead we went to a hibachi grill.  i ate so much steak i could barely move.  it was a very yummy place & we got to see all kinds of tricks [love!]

from there we hopped in the car again.  like i said...stuffed with deliciousness.  i took ben to this precious bed & breakfast right outside of town.  now i know something like this is a little 'sweet' for a man but my main thought was just that i really wanted us to get away together.  i wanted to have time that wasn't distracted, planned or interrupted.  time that we don't get a lot of these days.  and time that will probably get fewer & further between as we grow this little family & ben starts working full-time.  i hope we always make time for this though.  i treasure it.

the place was darling.  a big old house out in the country.  horses and rolling hills surround.  it was too cold to wander around for a very long time but we tried to take in the sights.  if i had been really prepared i could have brought some boots and mittens and lasted a bit longer.  it really was a gorgeous day if i could have stopped the wind.

when we arrived the inn keeper told us that no one else would be staying there that night and that she didn't live there so i inadvertently rented a giant, gorgeous mansion / farm for ben and i for the night.  it was fun to pretend that it was ours.  it was so quiet and peaceful.  to ben "quiet and peaceful" might also mean "haunted".  but i'm pretty sure it's not.  the details in the home were perfect.  huge wooden doors, baseboards up to my knees, so much character in every corner.

we played games in the library / study.  towering ceilings and rich wooden walls lined with books.  us playing rummikub & skipbo. i won all the games but ben might have let me.  i brought us strawberries-n-sugar & cinnamon muffins for our evening snack since we were far from civilization.  we watched movies, snuggled and went to sleep very early in our oh so plush king-sized bed. 

breakfast in the morning was to die for.  and i'm not that easy to please when it comes to food.  ugh, i could gobble it up right now.  we were even impressed by the juice!  so funny.

benny, i hope that you had a good and relaxing weekend.  you need that.  time to relax and just be instead of working, planning, organizing and doing.  i loved laughing with you and having our attention undivided.  i love that our real lives are so full & rich but i'm incredibly thankful for a weekend away with you.

you know who else i think loved her first family getaway?  little baby bean...

[we stayed at the ashley inn in bryantsville, ky.  i would certainly recommend it if you're looking for a low-key, beautiful weekend away to be pampered and refreshed.  i feel so excited to return in the fall to celebrate the marriage of our dear friends holly & matt]