Anniversary Trip

Our actual anniversary is July 9th and we will have been married 5 years! Since we will be a little busy with a newborn at that time we decided to celebrate early. On Friday (June 4th) we left later than I had wanted to but thankfully did not run into much traffic. Once we got close to the hotel we got a little lost. Thankfully the GPS on Jonathan's Iphone was a tremendous help and we found the hotel. We always stay at La Quinta because they have free breakfast and we are enrolled in the rewards program, so we get emailed discounts and once we get so many points we can redeem them for a free night's stay. Well right when we pulled up I could tell the hotel was not what I had in mind. Even though it was an Inn & Suites it looked old and run down. We got checked in but needed to shower before going to dinner. I realized we had no towels. The front desk person said they were in the drier and would take 30 minutes. So we waited on towels and showered. As we started to get ready I saw a bleach stain on the front of the shirt I had borrowed from a friend. Jonathan realized his pair of black socks were different socks, different thicknesses, and one had a hole in the toe. We just had to laugh wondering what else was going to go wrong. Thankfully I had grabbed another nice shirt as we headed out the door. We enjoyed a nice seafood dinner at Pappadeaux, which was not crowded, and we managed to make it to Wicked at 7pm and get a great parking spot. It did not start until 8pm so we walked around and found our awesome Orchestra seats at the very back, so no one was behind us. What made the show even more interesting was that two understudy's were filling in for two pretty important parts, one being the Wicked Witch. She was so good, I cannot imagine how much better the regular person sings. The show was awesome. I was so glad Jonathan enjoyed it, not being a fan of musicals. We had listened to the soundtrack on the way up so that he would understand more of what the story was about. Saturday morning we got to sleep in until 9am. I can't remember the last time I did that.....college maybe. Something I was looking forward to at breakfast was yogurt and muffins, neither of which this La Quinta offered. We had to wait on coffee to be made and there was only one waffle maker. We were thankful though for a free breakfast. I enjoyed bagels and cereal, and Jonathan a Texas shaped waffle. We had no plans for the day, which was very rare for me. I usually have a set time for things and a plan mapped out for the day. It was a different feeling not knowing what we were going to be, but nice and relaxing. We headed to Northpark Center mall, not too far away to walk around. Since we got there by lunch time we headed to the food court. I spotted an interesting place labeled Which Wich. It was pretty neat. You wrote on a bag which sandWICH you wanted and checked off the toppings, similar to Subway but better. We enjoyed our sandwiches and strawberry shake, then decided to see Robin Hood. After the movie we drove around a found a nice park by an airstrip. I fed the ducks some crackers and Jonathan enjoyed seeing the planes land. We headed back to the hotel to freshen up before going to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, which Jonathan had never eaten at before. I ordered Herb Crusted Salmon and Jonathan Filet Mignon. Oh how good it was. Thankfully Waco doesn't have one though or we would go broke. We then enjoyed a scrumptious Reese's Peanut Butter Cup cheesecake. I am so glad we split it! We then went back to the hotel STUFFED, ready to relax and wade in the indoor pool. Much to our dismay our keys did not work on the side door to get in the building or for our room. Another strike against this hotel. It was just crazy how things kept messing up, but we didn't let it get to us. It was actually pretty funny. We then headed to the pool, which turned out to be only 3'4", so wading meant getting on our knees. The hot tub was out of service, not that I could get in it, but it would have felt nice on my feet. Jonathan then noticed a light floating in the pool but still attached to the wall of the pool. Thinking that is not very safe we headed back to the room to relax. Sunday morning we got up and headed to the church plant from the original church that we met at. Jonathan's best friend, Thomas, and my roommate from college, Johanna, attended there with their spouses. We enjoyed visiting before church. After church Thomas introduced us to a roofer who was going to be heading to Hewitt due to the recent hail damage in the area. He wanted to see our roof and give an estimate. We were thankful for this connection and left church looking forward to seeing Hallister. It was a wonderful trip. We are so thankful for Hallister and now look forward to being parents of TWO children.