Anniversary Getaway

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.

Our room was upstairs in the Martin House with a balcony that offered views of the Tennessee River below, a view of North Shore and Signal Mountain to our right and the city of Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain back to our far left.

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!!!

Daniel is 35

Another year is in the books for Daniel. It is hard to believe that he is already 35 (and that I will be in a few months). 

The last couple of years have been a bit of a blur. Between Daniel's crazy work hours and raising little ones, the days are both long and short. We blink and another day, month, year has passed us by.

We have been desperately trying to find ways to embrace this stage and to take advantage of the short time we have with each other and our boys. Thankfully Daniel was able to have his actual birthday off (after the last year, I will never take Saturdays for granted again!) and we were able to spend some quality time with family.

We started our morning by sleeping in. Winning! Then went to Lookout Mountain for a 3-mile hike at Lula Lake.

After our hike we stopped at the newest location of Mojo Burrito (one of our favorite burrito joints) in St. Elmo at the base of Lookout. The food was fantastic (as usual) and we loved the outdoor dining space.
 

Daniel's mom and sisters met us at Mojo and then we all went back to our house to celebrate Daniel's birthday with delicious cupcakes they had brought with them from The Painted Cupcake in Nashville (this is becoming a tradition). 

After cupcakes and visiting, Daniel and I cleaned up and left our boys in the capable hands of their nana and aunts and made our way downtown to the Bluffs View Art District for coffee at Rembrandt's Coffee House (a favorite, and also becoming a tradition).

We savored our coffee and the much needed date (though we did end up talking about the boys a bit). The best part of Daniel's day (for him) was that when he was parallel parking our car, some young whipper snappers walked by and said, "That guy must have a back-up camera." Indicating that Daniel did such a good job parking there was no way he could have done it in one shot without a camera. Kudos to my husband and his proficiency at parallel parking!

The boys had a wonderful time with our family and it was nice to have an evening off from bedtime duties.

Sunday after church, we met Daniel's dad and his wife at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, Abuelo's, in Hamilton Place. We discovered this restaurant while I was pregnant with Isaac and we love their chips and salsa.
 

We are so thankful Daniel was able to be home with us for his birthday and that we were able to see his family and pack a lot into our weekend.

Happy Birthday, Daniel. We love you to the moon and back and I look forward to many, many, many more years together!

Recipe for a Happy Birthday

1. Rent a cabin in the woods.

 2. Fulfill a lifelong dream.

3. Eat at good restaurants {those you love and some new ones for good measure}.

4. Take a hike.

5. Or two.

6. Meet friends for dinner followed by coffee and dessert. 

Dinner was at Tony's Pasta Shop & Trattoria – our only complaint is that we wished we had ate outside. The food was excellent. Afterwards we went to Rembrandt's Coffee House for coffee and dessert – definitely our favorite coffee house in Chattanooga.

Happy 30th Birthday Daniel! I am so thankful that I am a part of your life.