A birthday away

Happy belated birthday, David!

My fabulous hubby celebrated his 28th birthday on Sunday, Feb. 24. I decided it was high time we have some time to ourselves, so I locked in my mom to babysit Noah, and I planned a mini trip for just the two of us!

We braved the weather on Friday night (if you recall... that was one of the days it was miserable outside with snow, sleet, rain, etc.) and managed to hit clear roads by Akron. Three hours and one very sleepy baby later, we arrived at my folks' house in NE Ohio.

Saturday at Noon, we hopped in the car and zipped to Erie, Pa. We caught the 1:30 showing of Sweeney Todd. It was excellent, but it actually made me sick to my stomach from all the blood. It's one of those musical films, and this one is particularly dark. Still, a good flick.

On the way back from the movie, I caught an unusual sight out of the corner of my eye. There was a dancing jellybean on the corner in front of a Jelly Belly store. I thought it warranted a picture.

We then drove to the glamorous Red Roof Inn and relaxed for a while... then it was off to the casino! For the record, I ALWAYS lose. I play the nickel slot machines, normally up to $40 for an entire night, and I lose it all. David, on the other hand, ALWAYS WINS. The first time we ever went to a casino together, he walked up to the first slot machine he saw and won $800 (I think) on the first pull. And then he went to a different slot machine a few rows over and won several hundred more. I cannot relate to this kind of luck.

BUT! Saturday night was MY night. At one point, I was up nearly $200 on a penny slot. And I won $100 on a nickel slot. Woohoo! We didn't walk out of the casino with those winnings, but we did walk out with some of the money we brought.

For once, David was not a big winner. He was up a bit here and there, but away it went.

By 10 PM that night, we were exhausted. We called a cab to take us back to our hotel, and had to wait an hour for it to arrive. The ironic twist to that story is that our hotel was less than a half mile away... but it was not a safe walkway, and it was freezing that night. So we waited.

I didn't sleep so well that night either. I was starting to get that pre-cold drainage, and I couldn't seem to moderate the heat in our hotel room. (Seriously what is the deal with those hotel-room heaters??) But, it was GREAT to sleep in Sunday morning. I think I made it to 7:30 or so. What a treat!

We made it back to my parents' house that day before they got back from church. It was such a good feeling to see Noah being carried through the front door. We missed him so much!

All in all, a great weekend. I would love to take more mini-vacations. Babysitting anyone???

More pics to come...