In the last five years, Daniel and I have only been away from our kids overnight on three occasions. And each time we were not actually alone.
Our first night away was for a church retreat when Jack was around Isaac's current age. On that trip, the girls and guys were split up, and we slept in bunk beds.
The other two times involved me being in the hospital – first for pre-term labor with Isaac and then for Isaac's birth at 40 weeks (so technically Isaac was there). None of these trips were remotely romantic in nature.
Daniel and I agreed that we were long past due a night to ourselves, but trying to work out an overnight sitter for one night (or more) for our anniversary that falls a week before Christmas can be challenging. Thankfully it worked out that Daniel's dad and his wife were able to come to our house to watch the boys, but they were only available during the week. It's a good thing Daniel has a lot of vacation time saved up.
For our time frame, I thought we should just stay in town, preferably with a view of the river. Daniel agreed. So he booked a night at the Bluff View Inn – a historic bed and breakfast in the art district of Chattanooga.
The inn is part of a property called The Bluff View Arts District that encompasses 1.5 blocks of historic significance including the oldest bed and breakfast in the city, the oldest artisan bakery, an art gallery, and also three restaurants: Tony's Pasta Shop and Trattoria, Rembrandt's Coffee House, and the upscale Back Inn Cafe – which unfortunately for us is closed on Mondays.
With reservations for Monday night, we were a little concerned when Isaac developed a fever on Sunday and spent the day snuggling with us. He seemed to bounce back on Monday so we decided to keep our plans.
We left our boys in good hands and headed to town to check in. We started our evening with dinner at Tony's Pasta Shop then headed across town to The Hot Chocolatier. We have dined at Tony's on numerous occasions but The Hot Chocolatier was new to us. It did not disappoint! Daniel had the Raspberry Hot Chocolate while I tried the Smore's Hot Chocolate and we split a slice of their Squirrel Cheesecake. It was all incredibly rich and delicious! I actually couldn't finish my hot chocolate. I can't wait to go back and try more of their offerings.
Tuesday morning we enjoyed sleeping in (which never happens at home!) before walking over to Rembrandt's Coffee for our complimentary breakfast. On the weekend, the Inn has breakfast in their Maclellan House, but during the week Rembrandt's is where you get breakfast. Rembrandt's is one of our favorite local coffee houses, they serve a good breakfast as well.
After eating, we wandered through the art gallery before heading back to our room to sip coffee on the balcony, waiting to the last possible minute to check out at noon, and head back to reality.
Our night away was a long time coming and reminded us that we probably need to do this more often than once every five years! Hopefully for our 15th anniversary (next year), we will do more than one night away!!!
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