Better Late Than Never

So I know that I promised you photos of our trip down the Shenandoah River and alas ~ they are here! Because I didn't want to ruin our Canon Digital Elf, I bought one of those disposable underwater cameras to document our day on the river. And I'm so glad that I did! Looking at the photos transported me right back to that tube on that beautiful sunny day.

If you remember, Day 2 of Ed's Surprise Birthday Weekend was his actual birthday so I wanted to make sure that we did something fun and memorable. We started the day opening gifts and breakfast at Uncle Buck's. We then headed to the Downriver Canoe Company to grab our tubes and floating cooler.


After some quick prepping of the cooler and our stuff (lots of ziplock bags, snacks and sunblock), the good people at Downriver dropped us off at our launch spot so that we could get started on our 3 hour journey down the river.


The bus driver gave us the very important tip of using our life jackets to connect our tubes together so that we don't float away from each other. Smart man that bus driver. So for the next 3 hours, we relaxed and soaked in all the sun and sights that we could.


The sights were something to be seen...


...and so was this crazy guy.


Can you tell who was taking all the photos? :) The birthday boy was very happy with our day and I have a feeling it will be something we do again in the future. Who wants to come?

Ed's Birthday Surprise Day 2

Happy Birthday Ed!!!! After a restful night's sleep in the cabin, we awoke on Sunday morning to sunshine and birthday gifts!! Ed was a good boy this year and managed to NOT open gifts that arrived in the mail from friends and family until his actual birthday. He dove right in and got himself some awesome loot that included many a Best Buy gift card (courtesy of Joe and Sue), the PlayStation 3 Move console (from yours truly), a game for this new game console (thank you John and Adriana) and a book that he asked for. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, he actually asked for a book. :) It helped that along with this book, there was some cash to put towards his MacBook Pro (thanks Mom M.)!

In addition to his birthday gifts were 2 more clues meant to reveal the day's activity. Sorry there are no pics - was too excited to unveil the surprise that I simply forgot! The clues were this...


...and this.After much speculating about going to a water park, I came clean and revealed that we were going tubing down the Shenandoah River!!! This made him very happy ~ I think he immediately put his water shoes on at that moment!

Before hitting the river we needed some grub so we headed back to Uncle Buck's for a country breakfast. Well...not so much country, but it was mighty fine eats! It was then off to the home of the Down River Canoe Company to pick up our tubes and floating cooler for our lazy river ride. More amazing views ensued on the drive there!

All I have to say was that the day was AWESOME!!! The sun was shining and the river water was nice and cool - it was the perfect afternoon. :) I'd show you the photos of our experience, but they are being held hostage by the Walgreen's Photo Technician until next week so you will have to wait. For the moment...pretend this is us:


The only real difference was that our tubes were yellow, we did not have a child with us and that we lugged a big red floating cooler for all the snacks and beverages I packed. The whole experience took about 3 hours ~ and I can tell you we enjoyed every minute of it. Well, except for the last 30 minutes where we were being attacked by swarms of gnats...but other than that it was great. I will have more details about our river trip once the photos are in my hand.

After cleaning up and changing out of our wet bathing suits we headed into town for some lunch at Artisan's Grill and then back to the cabin to rest and relaxation before heading out to dinner later that night. Remember when I said that we technically had birthday dinner the night before at the Local Chop & Grill House since they were closed on Sunday? Well, a lot of things are closed on Sunday when you are in the country. And if they are not closed, then they are quite dead around 8 pm which was about the time we landed at Sonny's Place Restaurant & Pub for dinner. This is what it looked like when we arrived:


This places was listed 3rd best restaurant in the area on Urban Spoon (Uncle Buck's is #1, Artisan's Grill is #2) so I figured we would give it a try. They are known for their BBQ and I have to say, Sonny's DELIVERED! I ordered the baby back ribs and Ed had the Brisket sandwich and both were REALLY good. I wanted to take a bath in the BBQ sauce that drenched the ribs! You can tell that everything was home made from the mac and cheese to the brownie in the birthday sundae we had after dinner. All in all, dinner was a success.


After dinner we headed back to the cabin, caught the latest episode of "The Killing" on AMC (great show BTW!) and hit the sack. Another good day was had by all in the Shenandoah Valley!

Day 10 - Last Day in Paradise

We can't even believe that this was the last full day of our honeymoon - where does the time go! Seriously...when we are at work, the hours DRAG on, but when sitting by the pool sipping a Sea Breeze time moves at the speed of light!

This morning did not go as planned.

The Plan - sleep and be lazy until our champagne breakfast arrives at 9:30 am.

What actually happened: Out of control air conditioner making lawn mower type sounds wakes us up at 8:30 am.

So it was only 1 less hour of sleep...but I can tell you the sound was not good. We seriously thought someone was drilling a hole in the wall above our bed! Luckily the maintenance guy was at our room in a flash and the AC was fixed fairly quick...but the champagne breakfast did not happen. We got off our butts and headed to the morning buffet for eggs, toast and mimosas (of course!!!).

We thought that the day would be another wash out, but were pleased to see the sun make an appearance - just in time for our day at the resort's "lazy river". We found a lounge under a cabana (in case the looming clouds dropped rain), grabbed 2 blue floaties and were on our way. Now, the "lazy river" is just that...lazy. Well, not when we are in the pool. We decided it would be a perfect opportunity to be competitive and race! I don't think we participated in that much physical activity since we got here - well, outdoor activity that is. (again, sorry mom!) I'm not sure who won, but there were many onlookers who were both mildly pleased by the entertainment and mildly annoyed by the disturbance. :)

It was burgers for lunch and then back to the pool - this time for relaxing. The moment we sat down the clouds opened up and it started pouring down rain. Instead of hiding in the cabana, we figured, may as well hop in the pool! By the time we made our "lazy" lap, the sun was out - and boy did we catch some rays. We were so good ALL week but today we BURNED baby BURN! Needless to say we are resting now in anticipation of our last dinner here at the Excellence Resort. We are headed to Agave for some Mexican food and margaritas. And it's Circus Show tonight in the theater. We already saw it, but I am determined to get some video of the most AMAZING hula hooper I have ever seen. The Foundation girls will really appreciate it!!!

It's time to go home tomorrow which makes us sad, but we are so ready to start our life together as husband and wife in DC. There are so many things to look forward to - but we have to say we are so happy for the memories we have already started creating. :)