Jon and I went to Minneapolis this weekend to celebrate our five year anniversary {July 30}. We had a wonderful time {made even more relaxing knowing our girls were well taken care of – Thanks Abdos!}. I have a confession: We didn’t take as many pictures as I {pr maybe even you} might have expected. From the moment we arrived in Minneapolis, all responsibility, even photo taking, went out the window.

We started the weekend off by driving this:

2010 Chevy Camaro – Awesomeness

We stayed on the 16th floor of the Marquette in downtown. We love tall buildings and lots of crowds, so we were delighted with our view:

Minneapolis reminded us a lot of Austin. Which in of itself made us love the city. One of the coolest things we came across was public bicycles. Minneapolis has this bike rental program called Nice Ride. The idea is to rent bike for a day, month or even a year, then when you are done riding, return it. There were return kiosks all over downtown, so finding and returning the bikes were quite easy. I loved it. Although, there were times {say 5 o’clock traffic} that I was less than confident riding on the streets. But, Minneapolis is incredibly bike friendly, so after the first few minutes I realized most drivers were use to having cyclists riding along side them {not something I can say is as true here} and I stopped worry so much and went with the flow.

Our three main goals of the trip were 1) sleep in, 2) eat at a really nice restaurant, 3) plan nothing. That last one was easy. Aside from our couple’s massage on Saturday {which was as nice as it sounds} we made no plans. And while I doubted I’d be able to sleep in, I actually did. I woke up at 6:30 on Saturday, went back to bed and then got up for the day at 7:30. However, Sunday morning I slept till 8:30. I couldn’t recall sleeping that late since Julia was born. Talk about a nice way to start off your Sunday!

As for eating at a nice restaurant, we had dinner Saturday night at 112 Eatery. The atmosphere was a little louder and less romantic than I had originally wanted, but rather than sitting across for one another, Jon and I sat side by side, which actually made it more romantic. And the food? It was worth every penny. We had scallops with mushrooms, a pasta with lamb sauce and this amazing green bean and feta side dish. Oy! It was so good, I dreamed about it that night!

Here we are all dressed up for our night out:

We got home on Sunday night around 8. The Abdos weren’t home from church yet, so we were able to unpack our bags before getting the girls. I’ll admit – I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be “ready” to start being mama again. Even as we pulled into town, I kept thinking “I don’t want to go back to reality just yet”. But when we saw the Windhamettes for the first time, I was thrilled. Hannah caught us through the window and just stared in puzzlement. Once she figured out what was going on, she just started laughing. It was really sweet and made me glad to be home.

And now, as our week has started and life moves on, I can look back at a wonderful time spent alone with Jonathan and rejoice in God’s blessing in our marriage.