Over the weekend, I officially turned 31. The process of getting older is not nearly so bad when your husband plans a whole weekend away for the two of you! In fact, it actually gives you something to look forward to. Several years ago, when Josh asked me what I wanted for my birthday, the only thing I could think of was, “A day off”. And so we started the tradition of taking at least an entire day off for my birthday day….but this year Josh did all the planning and scheduling of babysitters and took me away for the entire weekend! We had so much fun! The best part was literally just not having ANYTHING we needed to do…no set schedule, no other people to consider or take care of. Just us! We didn’t take a whole lot of pictures while we were gone, but I’ll share some that we did take!
On Friday, we were able to leave about 10 am because Josh had scheduled a manicure/pedicure appointment for me at about 10:30. After my appointment, we went to the lilac garden in Woodland, Wa. It was beautiful and this is where this picture was taken. Next year we’ll have to go back perhaps a month or so earlier…the lilacs were fading, but still it was a beautiful place. I love lilacs! We then had lunch and made our way to Seattle, where we checked in to our nice hotel and then decided to do some shopping.
People always do *I think* on vacation, what they can’t normally do at home…for some parents that might mean get a whole night of sleep…but for us, we almost always get a full night of sleep, so we did the opposite. We went to see a movie at 9:50. We saw Date Night and both enjoyed it. We would NEVER be able to see a movie that late normally!
Saturday was a pretty full day. In the morning we went to Pike Street Market, because of course, you can’t go to Seattle without going to Pike Street. We got coffee at Starbucks and breakfast at the French bakery… Yum. We walked around for quite a while and around lunch time decided that we were not hungry but tired. So we went back to the hotel and took a NAP! Another thing we never get to do! Then we went out for a late lunch and came back to the hotel where I took a bubble bath (another thing I almost never do!) and started to get ready for the Seattle Symphony.
We had it on good authority that the symphony was a black tie-ish event, so we spent a good amount of time Friday night and Saturday afternoon shopping for an outfit for both Josh and I…which of course I didn’t mind. Josh needed to own a suit anyway for business reasons so it was a good time to purchase one. And my dress? I found it at Ann Taylor Loft at the mall. Have you ever owned a dress that fit you like it was made for you? I haven’t until now. I spent $50 for it, which is WAY more than I normally spend on clothing, but I think it’s probably going to be worth it, having a lovely black dress that can be dressed up or down and fits me so well. I just wish that we had some better pictures of the dress.
After the symphony, we went for dessert at the Cheesecake Factory…where we, of course had cheesecake… MMmmmmmm.
On a side note, we were at the restaurant at about 10 pm… I kept noticing that there were a LOT of families there with really small children eating dinner at that hour. Is that normal for a city? It seemed so strange to me that there would be so many small children out at a restaurant at that hour…
On Sunday we had the privilage of attending Mars Hill church and seeing Mark Driscoll in person! I have to admit to being a little star-struck. I am (we are) huge Mark Driscoll fans. We have watched his Peasant Princess series 5 or 6 times now and find it to be one of the best sermon series on marriage ever made. He is such a great preacher and I just totally respect his heart and his ministry. So since we were in his neighborhood, of course one of the things I wanted to do was to go see him in person. I wish we would have gotten a picture of the church building…that was the most surprising thing to me. From the outside, you would never guess that it was a church. It looks like a large non-descript warehouse…which it probably used to be! Very industrial looking and right in the heart of the city. It was so strange seeing Mark preach in person rather than on video. My biggest surprise in seeing him in person was that he had really big feet! =) But the music was great and so was the sermon. My only disappointment was that we didn’t get to actually talk to him as he was nowhere to be found after or before the service.
After church we found this very cute little farmers market place. I actually liked it even better than Pike Street! There was vendors selling everything from antiques, to used clothes, to flowers, to food. This photo is of me standing next to some sort of strange vehicle that was a food vendor. It was giant and hilarious. I’m pretty sure that they sold pork items. But at this place, I found some super cute cowboy boots. Which if you know me at all, you’ll know I have been looking for for quite some time! We were having such a fun time walking around this place that we lost track of time and when we looked to see what time it was, we were late in leaving and were both sad that the time had passed so quickly.
All in all, we had a super great weekend…my only complaint was that it should have been longer! Thank you to my awesome husband who put so much work and thought into this weekend to make sure that we did things that I would enjoy. And thank you to all 5 babysitters who watched our kids!
So glad you had a wonderful time and enjoyed Seattle, isn’t it fun! I can’t wait to go back!
So incredibly awesome that you have a husband who is INTENTIONAL about dating you! I am so proud of you for going on vacation & not feeling guilty about it! I couldn’t think of another mom that needs a vacation more than you. You are the super mom of 5 cute kiddos who is constantly serving others. So glad you got some great “you” time to recharge your battery for you busy life!
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