Monday, February 27, 2012

Getting Away

This weekend Matthew and I took our first ever getaway without the kiddos.  Matthew had earned a safety award at work which we redeemed for a bedandbreakfast.com gift certificate.  We decided that we wanted to go to Michigan and go skiing and then  stay at a B&B.  Having never stayed at a B&B before, I researched extensively to find one that I thought we'd enjoy.  We finally decided on Castle in the Country in Allegan, MI.  It looked gorgeous, and it was only 8 miles from the ski resort.  


Let me tell you, this place was NOT a mistake.  It was beautiful and every detail was thought out by the owners.  The house, and specifically our room was gorgeous. 


The breakfasts were delicious, and the nighttime cookies were yummy!
On our first night there, we were treated to a snow storm that left 6 inches of the fluffy white stuff covering everything.
This is the snow coming down on Friday night.


By Saturday it was just picturesque! 

Friday evening, we went to a restaurant just down the road called, The Grill House. 

It opened in the 1830's as a boarding home for lumberjacks and according to legend has a ghost named, "Jack" residing there.  There were two menus to choose from, one of which was the "grill menu" where you got to go in and choose your own steak and then grill it yourself in their grill room.  Matthew loved doing this, and we had a phenomenal steak dinner compliments of the chef! 

 It was a fun and unique dining experience!

Saturday, we headed over to Bittersweet and enjoyed a day on the slopes.

Then Saturday evening, we took the suggestion of the B&B owners and headed to Fennville, MI for dinner.  Salt of the Earth was another unique dining experience featuring all local and organic ingredients.  They even made their own ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise.  After enjoying another wonderful dinner, we made the trip back to Castle in the Country to relax and contemplate how we need to get away a little more often!

We had a great time reconnecting and relaxing, but we spent a lot of time talking about our boys and how much they'd have enjoyed some of the things that we did.  It makes me thankful that generally we're people who tote our kids along when we travel. 

The only traumatic part of the weekend came when we were skyping with the boys before they went to bed and Eli vomited all over Grandma's computer.  Nothing like a little cyber vomit to liven up the party!

We had planned to stop and pick up a little something for the boys on our way home.   Then we realized that we had to take a different route to get to my parent's house where the boys were.   We still figured that we'd be able to find something along the way- but alas, there was nothing!   We were disappointed, but still wanted to figure out something so we ended up bringing the boys this, from Michigan of course...

Meet Sheldon Bo Beldon!


He actually hails from a PetSmart in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, but it's the thought that counts, right?

We had an amazing weekend, but we were so happy to be back and be greeted by our boys' smiling faces! 
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