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Sunday, March 27, 2011

getting out of dodge

A gift of a night away from it all.  One night.  The first night away from my children ever.  One night to spend with my husband of almost 6 years.  You get an offer like that and it is a no brainer.

Chad and I went to Lancaster to a little place called Willow Valley.  The rooms were lovely.  Our room had a little living room, as you can see below, but we weren't in there much.


Is that a little troll door in the corner?  We weren't sure and we weren't finding out.

This is the place where the magic happened.....

....and by magic, I mean the death of a little person that seems to have just been folded up in our bed. 

And what is that thing on the dresser??  I had to call the front desk to find out.  It is a television.  Do you believe they make them that flat and skinny?  I guess we are still living in the 90's with our 500 pound, bootylicious boob tube at home.  What can I say, my husband is a butt man. 

And this confectionery delight was waiting for us upon arrival.  Two warm and gooey walnut chocolate chip cookies.  This was the most decadent thing I ate the whole time...and I ate a LOT of food. 

 So of course we check out all of the fun stuff in the hotel and we find what else....the gym!  Is it weird that Chad and I spent the most time during our tour in this place, just trying the machinery?  My favorite thing was the treadmill with the television attached and free headphones to use!  A television attached to the machine!!!  What will thy think of next?!  I love it!

This place was for the kids and it was awesome.  Chad and I said that since the pool area closed at 10, we would wait until 9:45 and go crazy in the kids pool!  But alas, there was a family in there and we didn't want to be two adult bullies.  Next time, kid pool....next time. 

 This was the adult pool and we swam in it a little.  Notice the gym in the back and how you can watch the swimmers while running on the treadmill.  I guess they were smart in that building schematic.  The men can stay motivated to keep building muscle by watching women in swimsuits and the women can get their motivation to burn fat by comparing themselves to the women in said swimsuits.  Win/win.

 This was my favorite room.  It would be nice to have a reception here.  Although it looked like France circa a long time ago...I would constantly be looking up and being on the lookout for feces and pee to be dumped out of the windows and onto the streets.

 So we were perusing the magazine that was in the hotel room of things to do in Lancaster.....can someone tell me what a dog has to do with selling beer?  Poor thing looks drunk himself.  Must be a Lancaster thing.

 And one more thing....what the heck is a cloister?  All I know is there are many in Lancaster and the word just sounds dirty.

This was the view from the outside of our sister hotel at around sunset.

Here we are, the happy couple.  Little do you know this is the third shot because in the previous two, Chad is making faces at me....I adore my husband.

Here I am showing off my acrobatic ability....

....and here is Chad showing off is lack of acrobatic ability.

Do not be alarmed.  This is in fact another sighting of my man feet.  Not unlike the sun during an eclipse, do not look directly at them or you will fry your eyeballs....  :)  Can you guess which ones are mine? 
 
Quotes from our night away:
"I am going to eat my face off at this buffet!" - Chad
"Isn't it a little odd that a horse and buggy is parked outside of a 7-11?" - Me
On our way back to our room after our dinner buffet "Is there a Dairy Queen near here?  I refuse to be done eating for the night." - Me
"You are a lot more fun when you are away from the kids!" - Chad to me
 
 
 
Bye bye, Lancaster.  It was fun while it lasted.

Monday, March 7, 2011

blooms already?

There actually are flowers blooming...inside a greenhouse, that is.  Here are some photos I snapped during our family Longwood Gardens day this past Saturday.  Although the last photo was from the mulch in the parking lot so there actually are blooms outside!!  Spring, we're coming!  :)  

Sunday, March 6, 2011

inappropriately dressed


Last week, Evie and I dropped Eli off at preschool and we went for a midday jaunt.  I wasn't sure where we were going to go, but I had my trusty Canon with me.  I drove to a place where I just love to go and let my kids run free, pet animals, feed horses and jump off of rocks:  Springton Manor. 


The weather was cool, but was even cooler because of the wind.  And the place was filled with squishy grass.


But we were lucky to be there to see many pregnant animals, one of which I thought was this goat.  I thought this particular goat was pregnant because we were told two goats were pregnant and could give birth any day.  The other reason was that this goat didn't move the whole time we were there, no matter how close we came to it.  Ah, the days when I was 9 months pregnant and not wanting to move no matter who came near me or how close they came.  Just wasn't worth the effort.  I understand you goat.  Say hi to your motha for me.  (random SNL skit reference) 


It was interesting how Evie has changed even from less than 6 months ago.  She loves to walk and prefers it over the stroller.  I can just let her go and explore and exclaim 'Cat! Cat!' over and over again.  I let her pet the animals and just be curious and free.


...except when squishy grass was involved.  The shoes she was wearing and even the clothes showed that this jaunt to Springton wasn't planned and I did have to run interference at times.  I mean, wouldn't you if your adorable daughter was wearing these adorable shoes??  :)


The horses didn't come over so we could feed them grass.  But Evie sure did enjoy gazing at them grazing.


When we were on our way out, one of the caretakers took us and ushered us into a barn.  We weren't sure what we were going to see, but lo and behold...a mere hours old lamb.  The mommy gave birth that morning.  What a treat to see!  And every time they made any sheep sounds, Evie would squeal with laughter.  So we weren't dressed for the weather or the conditions, but what we saw was amazing!  :)