Romantic Getaway

I should be writing. But, I am unmotivated as yet. Can't get the hang of a schedule this week!

So, it's what you've all been eagerly awaiting instead - a recap of my romantic weekend getaway!

My parents graciously agreed to run herd on our four offspring over the Memorial Day weekend so that my husband and I could celebrate Twenty Years of Marriage (and coincidentally, my husband's 47th birthday as well).

We dropped the kids off Saturday afternoon and headed out. We stopped at a thrift store (be still, my heart!) to see if Bob could find some jean shorts. Nope, but we found lots of other goodies, including wine glasses which would come in handy later.

Our destination was Muskegon, on the coast of Lake Michigan. Our hotel was inland, however. I had reserved a suite at a mid-priced hotel which included an in-room Jacuzzi tub, a love seat, a balcony overlooking the (indoor) pool, a kitchenette, and a loveseat. We think this hotel is undergoing some transitions and our room was comfortable, but not pristine or luxurious despite all the amenities. It was clean, though, and met our needs just fine.

After settling in, hunger overtook us, and we settled on eating at a nearby Asian buffet. Bob's method is to try everything, including baby octopus. Ew. I couldn't. I usually stick to the old standby's, but this time also tried Crab Rangoon, which was quite tasty.

The Jacuzzi was quite something and we enjoyed it for a long time, with glasses of wine and candles all around. We also watched some television. Over the weekend we caught parts of several movies - Purple Rain (which we both love - go figure!), Titanic (I love it, him not so much), What Women Want (amusing), Dreamgirls (I want to see the rest), and something with John Candy and Ally Sheedy (I could have cared less, but Bob wanted to watch it). There was also some horrid reality dating show with some guy called Flavor Flav or something equally as inane. That was on ALL the time, as well as unending episodes of SpongeBob and Suite Life of Zach and Cody. We didn't watch any of those for more than a minute. Not much variety on television, really. LOL

But, no, we didn't only watch TV. (heh heh) On Sunday, we drove to the lake shore and dipped our toes in. It was quite chilly and the sun was out most of the day, EXCEPT when we were at the beach. That's ok, though, as we were only planning to walk on the sugar sand, not swim or even sunbathe. I'd like to take the kids there to swim sometime.

Seeing the sights of Muskegon filled the rest of the early afternoon - the marina and beach cottages, etc... The sand drifts up onto people's yards and driveways and there were numerous signs for "Free Sand". We saw one sign that read "REALLY FREE SAND" and another for "FREER SAND" - we giggled at that.

Subway for lunch and then Best Buy to browse and Family Christian Store, where I got some clearance bargains. We never get to shop together without kids, so that was fun. We went back to the hotel for a swim and then out to eat at another buffet - Golden Corral. Also very yummy with a huge variety of food! More Jacuzzi time in the evening - I want one in our house! lol

Monday was the end and time to say goodbye to Muskegon and hello to real life again. We had lunch with my parents and collected our girls and their cousin. We then went over to my sister Denise's house where the boys now were staying and spent a lovely afternoon there. Our drive back home was punctuated with a stop at Baskin Robbins.

Reconnecting with each other and romancing each other were the goals of this weekend. Success! It's nice to see that we still love each other and have something to say to one another even when the kids aren't around. I think we'll try this kind of getaway as a more regular event now that our kids are old enough to do without us for a short time.

I didn't take many pics at all, but here is one of each of us at the beach. Yeah, I know, I should have tried harder for photo opps, but, well, I just didn't. :-)