Our Fabulous Anniversary Weekend

How time flies! I cannot believe that LL and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary this past weekend! It just does not seem possible! LL was so sweet and was able to convince the hospital staff to let us both have a half day on Friday so we could go away for the weekend. He wouldn't tell me where we were going (typical for him... he loves surprises! Have I mentioned we were on our honeymoon for almost 3 days before I knew our final destination? Yup, we spent a night a Philly, flew to LA, spent the night in LA, and then finally he told me the next day we were going to New Zealand!) Anyway, he ended up taking me to Hershey for the weekend. Hershey is actually pretty close to us (about an hour and a half away) and about 5 minutes from where I used to live in Hummelstown, but I had never been to the swank Hotel Hershey or any of the fancy stuff there. Here is the beautiful hotel and some of the gardens:



And LL booked us a whole weekend there, including dinner at the award-winning restaurant, the Circular Dinning Room. I had actually researched taking LL there for our anniversary--they have this really neat 6 course dinner called "The Chef's Table" where the chef serves gourmet food and comes out and talks about each course. I knew LL would love it, and tried to book it for us the next weekend after our anniversary we had free (I didn't know we could get off for our anniversary) but they weren't doing the dinner on the night we had available. Anyway, it ended up not mattering because that is the dinner LL picked for our anniversary! It was so neat, and we got to try all kinds of fascinating gourmet foods. How funny is it that we planned the same thing for each other?!? Here are a few pictures of the private dining room, and us dining. Unfortunately, we had someone take a picture of us together, and it came out fuzzy. So sad! But I am going to post it anyway because you will get the idea.





I would tell you the menu, but it was very long and involved and included words like "emulsion" and "compote" and other fancy foodie-speak. But of course, I HAD to take a picture of dessert! YUM-O!


When we got back to our room, I discovered that LL had ordered the deluxe hotel package, complete with this beautiful turn-down service and chocolate-covered strawberries! SO fun!


Part of our package also included room service breakfast, which I have rarely had. I thought it would come on a little plastic tray with a cover on it, but not at the Hotel Hershey! We got a whole table, complete with white table cloth, wheeled into our room! I had apricot-raisin-pecan french toast with honey apricot syrup, and LL had eggs benedict. SO good!


It was incredibly good! Well, at least I thought it was incredibly good... poor Ll woke up saying he didn't feel very well, and after one bite of his breakfast, he said "I think I'm going to be sick." And then he was. Poor thing. First time in the 5 years we have been married he has had the stomach bug! Luckily, he wasn't sick again, and started to feel better after that. So we relaxed for the rest of the morning, until it was time for my next surprise... a spa appointment at the Hershey Spa! My sweet hubby had called to see if they did massages for pregnant women, and they actually had a special prenatal massage! They used lots of special pillows so that I was able to lie on my stomach (something I haven't done in probably a good 6 months) and on my back without lying down flat (which I learned the hard way is not a good idea, when I almost passed out at my ultrasound appointment from being on my back too long... yes I am special). Anyway, it was wonderful and soooooooooo relaxing. After the spa, we decided to check out the Hershey Outlets, something I always love. We decided to cancel our fancy dinner reservations since LL was still a little queasy, so we had lots of time to shop. We found our weakness, a kitchen specialty store, and had to buy some fun new kitchen gadgets we didn't already own, and then found the Carter's outlet, complete with 40%-60% off fall and winter apparel.... and so of course we had to buy a few things for baby Reitz! She now has a winter jacket (a must for a Northern baby born in November!) and a few new outfits. Southern friends, we saw a store that reminded us of our Mississippi days... Strasburg Children? Sound familiar? I saw LOTS of bubble suits and smocked outfits, and LL said "oh, we should go in there and buy something Southern for baby!" Well, as much as I love y'all, I almost DIED when I saw a sweet little dress for $80.00 ON SALE! AT AN OUTLET! Sorry Southern friends! Looks like baby is going to have her Christmas picture taken in a Carters outfit! LOL.

After our day at the outlets, we opted for a light dinner, and just relaxed for the evening (well, mostly relaxed... watching Miss State and Penn State both lose was not so relaxing), and then had dessert at another one of the Hotel's restaurants. LL had chocolate pie and I had Reese's peanut butter pie. I LOVE Hershey! :o) Sunday we had brunch and then drove home, in time for my niece Autumn's 2nd birthday party that evening. It was a great weekend. Happy anniversary LL!