Weekend Getaway 2014

Last weekend, Sean and I had the chance to get away.

I'm talking, a full-out, no kids, tons of sleep getaway.

It was AWESOME!

About 18 months ago, we had a getaway (which was also awesome!), so we were very eager to have another chance to recharge from our parenting role. Parenting is an honor...and also exhausting. Breaks are always much appreciated!

So for my 30th birthday (yes, I'm now in my 30's), my mom offered to stay overnight with our kids so that we could have a mini vacation. I took that opportunity to ask our good friend, Miss Jo, if she would be willing to take a second night so that Sean and I could have the full weekend to ourselves. Between my parents and Miss Jo, the weekend was well covered, and we had nothing to worry about. We are so very grateful for such kindness!

Like last summer, we chose to just stay local for our getaway. We headed to North Kansas City where I found a great rate on a hotel. It was far enough away to make it hard to run back home if we forgot something, but close enough that we could get there in about an hour if there was an emergency.

It was a good location, especially since our hotel came with a free breakfast! It wasn't just any breakfast either. They had hot skillet sandwiches, pancakes, french toast, biscuits and gravy, pastries, parfait bar, etc. For a free breakfast, it was quite the spread! And the room itself was actually a suite with a separate living area and wet bar. I got it for only $89 per night! Yeah, go ahead and be impressed! ;)

We used the same strategy for this getaway that we used last time. We saved up our gift cards so that we could really live it up without having to spend too much out of pocket. That is totally the way to go!

The first night, we checked into our hotel and headed to Hereford House for dinner. Believe it or not, in the 13 years I've lived in Kansas City, I've never been to a Hereford House. Crazy, right? So we headed over there and had their awesome 4 Course Dinner for Two. Yummy! The best part was that we had gift cards to cover the whole thing. :)

We were pretty much exhausted after that though. Steak dinners will do that to a person, so we headed back to the hotel, watched the end of The Hangover, and crashed hard. We managed to get 10 glorious, uninterrupted hours of sleep that night. No kids crawling into bed with us. No early "I have to go potty!" emergencies from 3-year-olds. Nothing. Sleep is probably my most favorite thing at this point in my life. It's so underrated with preschoolers.

After that we headed to Zona Rosa for some shopping! We stopped by a great little store called Heavenly Oils and Vinegars and did the equivalent of wine tasting...only with high quality, flavored oils and vinegars. We are now the proud owners of Tuscan Herb Olive Oil, Blood Orange Olive Oil, 18 year Balsamic Vinegar, and Cinnamon Pear Vinegar. Looking forward to cooking and making salad dressing with those!

We also did a bit of Christmas shopping and "Congrats kids, you were good while we were gone. Have a book" shopping at Barnes and Noble. Again, using gift cards that Sean had tucked away.

Also, if you are wondering, you can now pick up the 2015 Hot Guys and Baby Animals Calender (seriously, who buys this stuff?!)

So here is a fun story about Sean and his underwear. Just to get it out there, he DID say that I could post this, so he isn't being blindsided by it.

Sean has a tendency to either only remember his underwear or forget it all together. The weekend after we got married, we just stayed in the KC area to save money. The evening that we got to our hotel, Sean opened his bag and realized that the only thing that he had packed was...underwear. Nothing else. Yeah, imagine finding out that's all your hubby has on your wedding night. LOL!

So we got to our hotel last weekend, and he opened his bag to find that while he managed to remember everything he forgot that first time, he managed to leave all of his underwear at home.

I suppose the obvious thing that I should glean from this is that I need to start packing for him, but it's way more fun to find out what has made it into the bag. Hehe!

So Walmart was definitely on the list of places we needed to stop at while away on our weekend. We weren't going to drive all the way home for underwear.

We did find a couple of other interesting/cool things while we were there though! I've decided that Baby Ruth's are going to be my new breakfast protein bar!

And Sean found two superhero costumes on clearance for $1.67 each.  

Then we went back to the hotel for a nap. True story. When you are parents, you sleep if you have the opportunity. Lol! We were planning to have a fun evening out on the town, so we wanted to be able to stay awake long enough to enjoy it!

We went to McCormick and Schmick's on the plaza for dinner. It is probably my very favorite restaurant in Kansas City, so it's a real treat to get to go there! We also got the famous Chocolate Bag for dessert. You seriously have to see this thing in real life to believe it! It's literally a chocolate bag, filled with white chocolate mouse, fresh berries, and a raspberry reduction sauce. And it tastes even better than it sounds. Holy moley!

We went from there to catch a 10:30pm movie. We rarely go to movies anyway, but one that late? Definitely not since our pre-kids days! We saw the new Gone Girl movie. It was actually a pretty close adaptation of the book and not half bad. I wasn't a big fan of the lead actress who played Amy though. Her acting felt stiff the whole time. Maybe I'm the only person who thinks that though.

More sleep, hotel breakfast, and we stopped by IKEA to satisfy my curiosity. I hadn't been before and everyone was raving about it, so I asked if we could see what was there. It was fun...but way overwhelming. So many people and so much stuff. Goodness gracious! Lunch was a quick one at my favorite Mexican food restaurant, and we headed home to see the kids.

The kids had a GREAT time while we were gone! My parents took them out to Winstead's (like a Steak and Shake) for lunch on Saturday, and Miss Jo swung them through the McDonald's drive through for McGriddles for breakfast on Sunday. Not to mention all of the fun they had at home. I think they were happy to see us, but I don't think they missed us too much while we were gone. :)

BIG, BIG, BIG thanks to my parents and Miss Jo for letting us getaway! It was so nice to have LOTS of sleep, be able to eat our meals while they were still warm, and get a chance to reconnect and have conversations that are so hard to make time for in the busyness of life. Yay!

Last weekend, Sean and I had the chance to get away.

I'm talking, a full-out, no kids, tons of sleep getaway.

It was AWESOME!

About 18 months ago, we had a getaway (which was also awesome!), so we were very eager to have another chance to recharge from our parenting role. Parenting is an honor...and also exhausting. Breaks are always much appreciated!

So for my 30th birthday (yes, I'm now in my 30's), my mom offered to stay overnight with our kids so that we could have a mini vacation. I took that opportunity to ask our good friend, Miss Jo, if she would be willing to take a second night so that Sean and I could have the full weekend to ourselves. Between my parents and Miss Jo, the weekend was well covered, and we had nothing to worry about. We are so very grateful for such kindness!

Like last summer, we chose to just stay local for our getaway. We headed to North Kansas City where I found a great rate on a hotel. It was far enough away to make it hard to run back home if we forgot something, but close enough that we could get there in about an hour if there was an emergency.

It was a good location, especially since our hotel came with a free breakfast! It wasn't just any breakfast either. They had hot skillet sandwiches, pancakes, french toast, biscuits and gravy, pastries, parfait bar, etc. For a free breakfast, it was quite the spread! And the room itself was actually a suite with a separate living area and wet bar. I got it for only $89 per night! Yeah, go ahead and be impressed! ;)

We used the same strategy for this getaway that we used last time. We saved up our gift cards so that we could really live it up without having to spend too much out of pocket. That is totally the way to go!

The first night, we checked into our hotel and headed to Hereford House for dinner. Believe it or not, in the 13 years I've lived in Kansas City, I've never been to a Hereford House. Crazy, right? So we headed over there and had their awesome 4 Course Dinner for Two. Yummy! The best part was that we had gift cards to cover the whole thing. :)

We were pretty much exhausted after that though. Steak dinners will do that to a person, so we headed back to the hotel, watched the end of The Hangover, and crashed hard. We managed to get 10 glorious, uninterrupted hours of sleep that night. No kids crawling into bed with us. No early "I have to go potty!" emergencies from 3-year-olds. Nothing. Sleep is probably my most favorite thing at this point in my life. It's so underrated with preschoolers.

After that we headed to Zona Rosa for some shopping! We stopped by a great little store called Heavenly Oils and Vinegars and did the equivalent of wine tasting...only with high quality, flavored oils and vinegars. We are now the proud owners of Tuscan Herb Olive Oil, Blood Orange Olive Oil, 18 year Balsamic Vinegar, and Cinnamon Pear Vinegar. Looking forward to cooking and making salad dressing with those!

We also did a bit of Christmas shopping and "Congrats kids, you were good while we were gone. Have a book" shopping at Barnes and Noble. Again, using gift cards that Sean had tucked away.

Also, if you are wondering, you can now pick up the 2015 Hot Guys and Baby Animals Calender (seriously, who buys this stuff?!)

So here is a fun story about Sean and his underwear. Just to get it out there, he DID say that I could post this, so he isn't being blindsided by it.

Sean has a tendency to either only remember his underwear or forget it all together. The weekend after we got married, we just stayed in the KC area to save money. The evening that we got to our hotel, Sean opened his bag and realized that the only thing that he had packed was...underwear. Nothing else. Yeah, imagine finding out that's all your hubby has on your wedding night. LOL!

So we got to our hotel last weekend, and he opened his bag to find that while he managed to remember everything he forgot that first time, he managed to leave all of his underwear at home.

I suppose the obvious thing that I should glean from this is that I need to start packing for him, but it's way more fun to find out what has made it into the bag. Hehe!

So Walmart was definitely on the list of places we needed to stop at while away on our weekend. We weren't going to drive all the way home for underwear.

We did find a couple of other interesting/cool things while we were there though! I've decided that Baby Ruth's are going to be my new breakfast protein bar!

And Sean found two superhero costumes on clearance for $1.67 each.  

Then we went back to the hotel for a nap. True story. When you are parents, you sleep if you have the opportunity. Lol! We were planning to have a fun evening out on the town, so we wanted to be able to stay awake long enough to enjoy it!

We went to McCormick and Schmick's on the plaza for dinner. It is probably my very favorite restaurant in Kansas City, so it's a real treat to get to go there! We also got the famous Chocolate Bag for dessert. You seriously have to see this thing in real life to believe it! It's literally a chocolate bag, filled with white chocolate mouse, fresh berries, and a raspberry reduction sauce. And it tastes even better than it sounds. Holy moley!

We went from there to catch a 10:30pm movie. We rarely go to movies anyway, but one that late? Definitely not since our pre-kids days! We saw the new Gone Girl movie. It was actually a pretty close adaptation of the book and not half bad. I wasn't a big fan of the lead actress who played Amy though. Her acting felt stiff the whole time. Maybe I'm the only person who thinks that though.

More sleep, hotel breakfast, and we stopped by IKEA to satisfy my curiosity. I hadn't been before and everyone was raving about it, so I asked if we could see what was there. It was fun...but way overwhelming. So many people and so much stuff. Goodness gracious! Lunch was a quick one at my favorite Mexican food restaurant, and we headed home to see the kids.

The kids had a GREAT time while we were gone! My parents took them out to Winstead's (like a Steak and Shake) for lunch on Saturday, and Miss Jo swung them through the McDonald's drive through for McGriddles for breakfast on Sunday. Not to mention all of the fun they had at home. I think they were happy to see us, but I don't think they missed us too much while we were gone. :)

BIG, BIG, BIG thanks to my parents and Miss Jo for letting us getaway! It was so nice to have LOTS of sleep, be able to eat our meals while they were still warm, and get a chance to reconnect and have conversations that are so hard to make time for in the busyness of life. Yay!

10 Random Facts About Me

I like to write my "What I'm Into" posts at the end of every month, but they are more general than this list. If you were ever curious about just how weird I am, this will give you a definite glimpse into that.

1. I always keep a stash of Garden Salsa Sun Chips on reserve. They are my favorite chips, so I'll often buy 4-5 bags of them when they go on sale, and then slowly dole them out until the next sale cycle comes around. I'm on a mission to never be caught without some readily available.

2. I have a major phobia of raw chicken. I have to immediately bleach my entire sink and all counters after dealing with it. And whole chickens are even worse! I've been known to completely alter recipes just so that I don't have to deal with the whole chicken.

3. I can't squish a bug. The whole crunching shell, legs, body thing gives me the willies. I will either flush it down the toilet (if I'm pretty sure it can't swim), scoop it up and take it outside so that it gets a second chance at life, or slap it with a shoe while dancing around and screaming. But if there is any other adult present, I make them deal with it.

4. I'd rather scrub a toilet than do laundry.

5. I've stopped following recipes 100%. I always end up tweaking it a little bit. And then I tweak my tweak the next time.

6. If I go more than three days without writing, I start to go into withdrawal.

7. Right now my ideal vacation consists of at least 48 straight hours of sleeping. No interruptions. No demands on my time. Just a dark room, extra pillows, a down comforter, and room service (and no bill. Ha!).

8. Purple is my default eye shadow color. It's been that way for years. I've branched out a bit, but I always find myself going back to that color.

9. I am terrified of the Muppets. Terr-i-fied. Sean has a bunch of Muppet movies, but he knows that he has to watch those when I'm not home. And yes, it took me quite awhile to be able to cope with Sesame Street on in the house. Hey, some people are afraid of clowns. I'm afraid of Muppets. Don't judge!

10. Talking on the phone makes me super nervous. I think it's because I feel like I'm on the spot. If I'm answering phones or making calls as part of a job, that's different. I have no problem doing that. But personal calls? I really try to avoid those. Yeah, I never said that my quirkiness makes sense. Hmm...there must be an underlying reason why I went with writing as a career choice...

Am I super weird? Or do you have quirks too? Leave me a comment with something weird about you!

This post may contain affiliate links. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

I like to write my "What I'm Into" posts at the end of every month, but they are more general than this list. If you were ever curious about just how weird I am, this will give you a definite glimpse into that.

1. I always keep a stash of Garden Salsa Sun Chips on reserve. They are my favorite chips, so I'll often buy 4-5 bags of them when they go on sale, and then slowly dole them out until the next sale cycle comes around. I'm on a mission to never be caught without some readily available.

2. I have a major phobia of raw chicken. I have to immediately bleach my entire sink and all counters after dealing with it. And whole chickens are even worse! I've been known to completely alter recipes just so that I don't have to deal with the whole chicken.

3. I can't squish a bug. The whole crunching shell, legs, body thing gives me the willies. I will either flush it down the toilet (if I'm pretty sure it can't swim), scoop it up and take it outside so that it gets a second chance at life, or slap it with a shoe while dancing around and screaming. But if there is any other adult present, I make them deal with it.

4. I'd rather scrub a toilet than do laundry.

5. I've stopped following recipes 100%. I always end up tweaking it a little bit. And then I tweak my tweak the next time.

6. If I go more than three days without writing, I start to go into withdrawal.

7. Right now my ideal vacation consists of at least 48 straight hours of sleeping. No interruptions. No demands on my time. Just a dark room, extra pillows, a down comforter, and room service (and no bill. Ha!).

8. Purple is my default eye shadow color. It's been that way for years. I've branched out a bit, but I always find myself going back to that color.

9. I am terrified of the Muppets. Terr-i-fied. Sean has a bunch of Muppet movies, but he knows that he has to watch those when I'm not home. And yes, it took me quite awhile to be able to cope with Sesame Street on in the house. Hey, some people are afraid of clowns. I'm afraid of Muppets. Don't judge!

10. Talking on the phone makes me super nervous. I think it's because I feel like I'm on the spot. If I'm answering phones or making calls as part of a job, that's different. I have no problem doing that. But personal calls? I really try to avoid those. Yeah, I never said that my quirkiness makes sense. Hmm...there must be an underlying reason why I went with writing as a career choice...

Am I super weird? Or do you have quirks too? Leave me a comment with something weird about you!

This post may contain affiliate links. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

Funny Thing Happened on the Way to St. Louis...

My husband came up with the title for this post while we were sitting in the emergency room.

If you've been reading since the beginning, you will know that we make an annual pilgrimage to the emergency room. In 2011, Sean went for what we thought was appendicitis. In 2012, Sean was back in the ER when he poured boiling water on his hand. In 2013, it was Elijah's turn to visit the Children's Hospital for breathing difficulties.

Apparently in 2014, my number came up.

Originally, this was supposed to be a post all about my trip to St. Louis. Our church has really taken an interest in ministering to families with special needs kids. Believe it or not, 7 out of the 15 kids currently in the preschool class at church have special needs. The Children's Ministry Director invited the moms of the special needs kids to attend some workshops with her so that we could all be on the same page. It was going to be a whirlwind trip. We were planning to leave Thursday evening and return Friday evening.

Quick trip, but an awesome time with other ladies who understand raising kids with special needs. I was really looking forward to it!

Instead, I ended up with my own special needs.

On my way down the steps in front of our house, with my overnight bag in tow, I slipped and fell. I felt the pop as I landed and searing pain ripped through my right leg. Sean heard my screaming from inside our house and came running out to see what happened. He tried to help me up, but my right leg wouldn't hold my weight. I kept saying, "Give me 5 minutes! Maybe the pain will go away!" *sigh* Yeah, that definitely didn't happen.

I did eventually make it to the car (with Sean half carrying me), but instead of driving to meet up with the other ladies and head to St. Louis, Sean drove me to the emergency room.

I have to say, the Saint Luke's Health System is as good now as they were when I was on bed rest with quadruplets. It's almost like we can't stand to be away from them long, or we find a reason to visit.

So what's my prognosis?

I broke the fibula in my lower right leg. The break is about two inches below my knee, and the pain radiates down through the ankle because of how the muscle is attached to the bone. I can't put any weight on it for the next 2-4 weeks, which means I'm essentially on bed rest again. It will take 6-8 weeks to fully heal.

I'm currently rocking a nice pair of medical grade crutches, and hoping to borrow one of those orthopedic boots from someone when I can start transitioning back to using my leg.

Also, two-year-olds don't understand what a "broken leg" is. Instead, they think my splint is some fun new toy to ride on, and that my crutches are the ultimate item to swing around. I have to mostly stay upstairs on my bed because they keep climbing, jumping, and jarring my leg. Ouch! I'm trying to be careful that they don't set the healing back, because I really want to be up and around as soon as possible.

I'd like to add that this is the first time that I've broken a limb. I had no idea how much I took my legs for granted until I only had one that would hold me up. Little things like going to the bathroom take f-o-r-e-v-e-r.

Fun times! What can I say? We like to keep it interesting over here!

Oh, and for those of you who are wondering which child had the best reaction to all of my new accessories, Ellie is the winner. She keeps saying, "You're stuck!"

Yes, Baby Girl. I'm pretty stuck for awhile. Oh, and please don't slide down my leg.

My husband came up with the title for this post while we were sitting in the emergency room.

If you've been reading since the beginning, you will know that we make an annual pilgrimage to the emergency room. In 2011, Sean went for what we thought was appendicitis. In 2012, Sean was back in the ER when he poured boiling water on his hand. In 2013, it was Elijah's turn to visit the Children's Hospital for breathing difficulties.

Apparently in 2014, my number came up.

Originally, this was supposed to be a post all about my trip to St. Louis. Our church has really taken an interest in ministering to families with special needs kids. Believe it or not, 7 out of the 15 kids currently in the preschool class at church have special needs. The Children's Ministry Director invited the moms of the special needs kids to attend some workshops with her so that we could all be on the same page. It was going to be a whirlwind trip. We were planning to leave Thursday evening and return Friday evening.

Quick trip, but an awesome time with other ladies who understand raising kids with special needs. I was really looking forward to it!

Instead, I ended up with my own special needs.

On my way down the steps in front of our house, with my overnight bag in tow, I slipped and fell. I felt the pop as I landed and searing pain ripped through my right leg. Sean heard my screaming from inside our house and came running out to see what happened. He tried to help me up, but my right leg wouldn't hold my weight. I kept saying, "Give me 5 minutes! Maybe the pain will go away!" *sigh* Yeah, that definitely didn't happen.

I did eventually make it to the car (with Sean half carrying me), but instead of driving to meet up with the other ladies and head to St. Louis, Sean drove me to the emergency room.

I have to say, the Saint Luke's Health System is as good now as they were when I was on bed rest with quadruplets. It's almost like we can't stand to be away from them long, or we find a reason to visit.

So what's my prognosis?

I broke the fibula in my lower right leg. The break is about two inches below my knee, and the pain radiates down through the ankle because of how the muscle is attached to the bone. I can't put any weight on it for the next 2-4 weeks, which means I'm essentially on bed rest again. It will take 6-8 weeks to fully heal.

I'm currently rocking a nice pair of medical grade crutches, and hoping to borrow one of those orthopedic boots from someone when I can start transitioning back to using my leg.

Also, two-year-olds don't understand what a "broken leg" is. Instead, they think my splint is some fun new toy to ride on, and that my crutches are the ultimate item to swing around. I have to mostly stay upstairs on my bed because they keep climbing, jumping, and jarring my leg. Ouch! I'm trying to be careful that they don't set the healing back, because I really want to be up and around as soon as possible.

I'd like to add that this is the first time that I've broken a limb. I had no idea how much I took my legs for granted until I only had one that would hold me up. Little things like going to the bathroom take f-o-r-e-v-e-r.

Fun times! What can I say? We like to keep it interesting over here!

Oh, and for those of you who are wondering which child had the best reaction to all of my new accessories, Ellie is the winner. She keeps saying, "You're stuck!"

Yes, Baby Girl. I'm pretty stuck for awhile. Oh, and please don't slide down my leg.

A Weekend Getaway for Just Us!

It's been three l-o-n-g years since Sean and I have had a break, other than the occasional dinner out. The kids are 2.5 years old now, but since I was so sick while I was pregnant, I'm going to say that it's been three years since we've been able to stop long enough to reconnect.

Happily, that is no longer the case!

A few really wonderful people from our church came over to our house, took control of toddlerdom, and let us escape...for the entire weekend!!

There is no way to even begin expressing how much it meant to us to have that time to reconnect and not worry about the kids. I can't remember being that relaxed in a really, really long time.

So in true blogger form, I documented our weekend with lots of photos! This is a super long post, but I don't want to forget anything in the future, so it's all going to be typed out here. Read on, if you wish!

Friday afternoon, Cheryl arrived at the house and took the reins. We managed to leave before the kids got up from their afternoon nap, so the transition out the door was pretty painless. We told them before they went to sleep that we would be back in a couple of days. I'm still not sure if they understood what we were saying since we haven't ever done this before, but they knew everyone who stayed with them, so I'm sure that helped.

Then we jumped in the car and drove....down the street to the Holiday Inn. No joke! Well technically, we did stay in another state, but seeing as how the Kansas/Missouri state line is only 8 minutes from our house, and the hotel was only 15 minutes from our house, we stayed pretty close. I bid on the hotel through Priceline and got a great deal on it, but didn't know where the hotel was exactly until the reservation went through. We pulled up to the hotel and realized that we were right next door to Children's Mercy Hospital. I guess if there had been an emergency, we would have beat our kids to the emergency room!

Hotel on the left--Hospital on the Right!

Then we took a nap. Oh yeah, we are a super exciting couple! (I hope you can hear the sarcasm!) I tell you what, naps are one of my most favorite things regardless of what day it is and what's going on. Since we were on vacation, no way were we going to miss a nap!

When we woke up, we headed out the door to V's Italian Restaurant. We had a Groupon, so decided that this would be a great time to try it. I forgot to take my camera, but you really aren't missing much by not seeing photos of it. It was pretty bland and tasteless as Italian food goes. Not a place I'd recommend or one that we will visit again.

By this point, it was 9pm. We are always home by 7:30pm these days as the kids' bedtime is at 8pm. But we had the whole weekend to ourselves, so we decided to really live it up and drive to The Legends. The Legends is a ginormous outdoor shopping mall with lots of outlets stores, restaurants, hotels, etc. The Legends is also where we spent the first weekend of our marriage, so it only seemed fitting to visit it again.

As we circled the mall, I saw the Old Navy Outlet store and asked if we could stop in there so that I could find a pair of jeans. I hate jean shopping, but the price was good, and I found exactly what I was looking for. I'm glad I seized the opportunity rather than paying full price elsewhere! Sean also found a nice polo shirt on sale as well. By the time we finished at Old Navy, most of the shops were closed, so it ended up being a short visit.

Back at the hotel, we zonked out. Actually, I took Tylenol PM and then zonked out. Uninterrupted sleep. I was determined to make the most of it!

And we did make the most of it! We slept in and missed breakfast entirely (but the extra sleep was totally worth it!). It's been so long time since we slept in. Toddlers do not do well when it comes to waiting for breakfast.

We headed to Providence, New American Kitchen for lunch. I had a gift certificate to try it out, so we took advantage of the weekend and headed to downtown Kansas City. Oh. My. Word. This place is a GEM! Some of the best food we've ever had! We tried six different dishes and were blown away by the consistency of how delicious everything was! At one point, the manager came out, talked to us and gave us each a dessert to celebrate our 5th Anniversary. There were no leftovers. We ate every single bite.

You know what? This post will be way too long if I say everything I want to about this place, so I think I'm going to have to put it in a separate post. Really phenomenal food! Stay tuned for a review on this place. Simply amazing!

After a very delicious lunch, we headed to the West Bottoms to visit a winery. I googled for one, and Amigoni Winery was relatively close to where we were. It turns out that it was an urban winery. Urban wineries are apparently very different from what you'd expect from a regular winery. It was in a very industrial part of the city, with a very modern and trendy feel to it. I'll be honest, I'm more of a romantic at heart, so the winery wasn't really my speed.

The West Bottoms in Kansas City

We tried the $5 wine tasting flight. Prior to getting there, we thought we might hang out for awhile and visit, but the space was really uncomfortable and awkward so we opted to get back in the car as soon as we were finished. Not bad wine, but a weird atmosphere for a winery. I think we'll stick with the country version of wineries in the future.

...and then we headed back to The Legends. I was looking for a red necklace to go with a black dress but never did find one that I liked. We did get a cute, albeit squinty, photo of us though!

The Legends

(Around this time, Cheryl passed the baton on to Matt, Cyndi, and Christa back at our house.)

After heading back to the hotel for another nap (like I said, no one stands between this Mama and her naps!), we got all dressed up for our official 5th Anniversary celebration dinner! Our 5th anniversary was actually in March, but we didn't get to celebrate it until this last weekend. And celebrate we did! We went to McCormick and Schmick's on the Kansas City Plaza and had a second incredible meal of the day.

See that chocolate bag? It really is a bag made out of chocolate! It's filled with white chocolate mousse, fresh berries, and a berry reduction sauce. It's pretty much the neatest, most innovative dessert I've ever eaten. And it's darn good too!

So what does a couple do on their final night of freedom in three years? Well, we decided to hit up our local Price Chopper for a snack run. Why would we get more food after everything we ate that day? The answer is, "Because we could!"

After snacking until 2am the next morning and watching Restaurant Impossible on the Food Network, we slept in again. On our way home the next morning, we stopped by a Bob Evans for a late breakfast (it was very unexciting) and the grocery store to pick up some food stuffs for the coming week (we do have a family to feed, after all).

And went home, refreshed and relaxed, to four toddlers who were very happy to see us after our weekend away.

This was one of the nicest things that anyone has done for us. Taking on quadruplet toddlers is no small feat. We know this from personal experience! And the fact that these sweet people were excited (excited!) to come stay with them blows me away. We are so grateful to Cheryl, Cyndi, Matt, and Christa for taking over the parenting duties for a weekend, so that we could spend some uninterrupted time together!

It's been three l-o-n-g years since Sean and I have had a break, other than the occasional dinner out. The kids are 2.5 years old now, but since I was so sick while I was pregnant, I'm going to say that it's been three years since we've been able to stop long enough to reconnect.

Happily, that is no longer the case!

A few really wonderful people from our church came over to our house, took control of toddlerdom, and let us escape...for the entire weekend!!

There is no way to even begin expressing how much it meant to us to have that time to reconnect and not worry about the kids. I can't remember being that relaxed in a really, really long time.

So in true blogger form, I documented our weekend with lots of photos! This is a super long post, but I don't want to forget anything in the future, so it's all going to be typed out here. Read on, if you wish!

Friday afternoon, Cheryl arrived at the house and took the reins. We managed to leave before the kids got up from their afternoon nap, so the transition out the door was pretty painless. We told them before they went to sleep that we would be back in a couple of days. I'm still not sure if they understood what we were saying since we haven't ever done this before, but they knew everyone who stayed with them, so I'm sure that helped.

Then we jumped in the car and drove....down the street to the Holiday Inn. No joke! Well technically, we did stay in another state, but seeing as how the Kansas/Missouri state line is only 8 minutes from our house, and the hotel was only 15 minutes from our house, we stayed pretty close. I bid on the hotel through Priceline and got a great deal on it, but didn't know where the hotel was exactly until the reservation went through. We pulled up to the hotel and realized that we were right next door to Children's Mercy Hospital. I guess if there had been an emergency, we would have beat our kids to the emergency room!

Hotel on the left--Hospital on the Right!

Then we took a nap. Oh yeah, we are a super exciting couple! (I hope you can hear the sarcasm!) I tell you what, naps are one of my most favorite things regardless of what day it is and what's going on. Since we were on vacation, no way were we going to miss a nap!

When we woke up, we headed out the door to V's Italian Restaurant. We had a Groupon, so decided that this would be a great time to try it. I forgot to take my camera, but you really aren't missing much by not seeing photos of it. It was pretty bland and tasteless as Italian food goes. Not a place I'd recommend or one that we will visit again.

By this point, it was 9pm. We are always home by 7:30pm these days as the kids' bedtime is at 8pm. But we had the whole weekend to ourselves, so we decided to really live it up and drive to The Legends. The Legends is a ginormous outdoor shopping mall with lots of outlets stores, restaurants, hotels, etc. The Legends is also where we spent the first weekend of our marriage, so it only seemed fitting to visit it again.

As we circled the mall, I saw the Old Navy Outlet store and asked if we could stop in there so that I could find a pair of jeans. I hate jean shopping, but the price was good, and I found exactly what I was looking for. I'm glad I seized the opportunity rather than paying full price elsewhere! Sean also found a nice polo shirt on sale as well. By the time we finished at Old Navy, most of the shops were closed, so it ended up being a short visit.

Back at the hotel, we zonked out. Actually, I took Tylenol PM and then zonked out. Uninterrupted sleep. I was determined to make the most of it!

And we did make the most of it! We slept in and missed breakfast entirely (but the extra sleep was totally worth it!). It's been so long time since we slept in. Toddlers do not do well when it comes to waiting for breakfast.

We headed to Providence, New American Kitchen for lunch. I had a gift certificate to try it out, so we took advantage of the weekend and headed to downtown Kansas City. Oh. My. Word. This place is a GEM! Some of the best food we've ever had! We tried six different dishes and were blown away by the consistency of how delicious everything was! At one point, the manager came out, talked to us and gave us each a dessert to celebrate our 5th Anniversary. There were no leftovers. We ate every single bite.

You know what? This post will be way too long if I say everything I want to about this place, so I think I'm going to have to put it in a separate post. Really phenomenal food! Stay tuned for a review on this place. Simply amazing!

After a very delicious lunch, we headed to the West Bottoms to visit a winery. I googled for one, and Amigoni Winery was relatively close to where we were. It turns out that it was an urban winery. Urban wineries are apparently very different from what you'd expect from a regular winery. It was in a very industrial part of the city, with a very modern and trendy feel to it. I'll be honest, I'm more of a romantic at heart, so the winery wasn't really my speed.

The West Bottoms in Kansas City

We tried the $5 wine tasting flight. Prior to getting there, we thought we might hang out for awhile and visit, but the space was really uncomfortable and awkward so we opted to get back in the car as soon as we were finished. Not bad wine, but a weird atmosphere for a winery. I think we'll stick with the country version of wineries in the future.

...and then we headed back to The Legends. I was looking for a red necklace to go with a black dress but never did find one that I liked. We did get a cute, albeit squinty, photo of us though!

The Legends

(Around this time, Cheryl passed the baton on to Matt, Cyndi, and Christa back at our house.)

After heading back to the hotel for another nap (like I said, no one stands between this Mama and her naps!), we got all dressed up for our official 5th Anniversary celebration dinner! Our 5th anniversary was actually in March, but we didn't get to celebrate it until this last weekend. And celebrate we did! We went to McCormick and Schmick's on the Kansas City Plaza and had a second incredible meal of the day.

See that chocolate bag? It really is a bag made out of chocolate! It's filled with white chocolate mousse, fresh berries, and a berry reduction sauce. It's pretty much the neatest, most innovative dessert I've ever eaten. And it's darn good too!

So what does a couple do on their final night of freedom in three years? Well, we decided to hit up our local Price Chopper for a snack run. Why would we get more food after everything we ate that day? The answer is, "Because we could!"

After snacking until 2am the next morning and watching Restaurant Impossible on the Food Network, we slept in again. On our way home the next morning, we stopped by a Bob Evans for a late breakfast (it was very unexciting) and the grocery store to pick up some food stuffs for the coming week (we do have a family to feed, after all).

And went home, refreshed and relaxed, to four toddlers who were very happy to see us after our weekend away.

This was one of the nicest things that anyone has done for us. Taking on quadruplet toddlers is no small feat. We know this from personal experience! And the fact that these sweet people were excited (excited!) to come stay with them blows me away. We are so grateful to Cheryl, Cyndi, Matt, and Christa for taking over the parenting duties for a weekend, so that we could spend some uninterrupted time together!