Weekend Away

I still need to post about Stephen's birthday, but before too much time goes by, I wanted to post about our weekend away.

At the end of 2013 when life was crazy, Stephen and I kept saying we were going to get away one weekend when things calmed down.  We got through 2013 and thought life was going to slow down, but it didn't.  The beginning of 2014 was rough.  In the first 4 months, we lost 2 grandparents and my great grandma (I still need to write about this- just not ready to), we found out I was pregnant and I was sick and exhausted, and Stephen moved jobs within his company.  Spring came along and life just got busier.  One day it finally hit us that we were about to have a newborn and if we didn't get away now, we wouldn't be able to for a very long time!  So I booked a trip for us the first weekend we could get away, despite being 32 weeks pregnant and it being August!  We decided on the JW Marriott Hill Country Resort.

Friday night I met my Mom to drop off Stephen.   We met at Fuddruckers to have dinner.  Stephen wouldn't let us leave Fudd's without playing a game.



Then we went over to Toys R Us, because Roslyn wanted to get him a birthday present.  He used to be afraid of these rides, but he likes them now.





I need to stop here and talk about how amazing my parents are.  In the past 3 years they have been there for us whenever we have needed them.  Stephen has his own room at their house, clothes, toys, etc.  If we ever ask them to watch him for us, they do.  They both work and are busy, but they are always there when we need them.  They come to our house if we need them to, pick him from school, etc.  They are just so wonderful!  Stephen loves being with them and we never, ever worry about him when he is with them.  Stephen and I always talk about how incredibly lucky we are to have them and to get a break every now and then!  Thank you Mom and Dad for everything you do for us!!!!

Saturday morning we got up early and headed out.  We stopped at the San Marcos outlets to go to Polo and Pottery Barn.  We got some great deals at the Polo store and I am pretty sure both boys have enough Polo to last quite some time!  Whoever said boys were cheaper than girls never dressed their little boys in Polo!!!  The Pottery Barn outlet was a bust, but that was ok.

It was lunch time so we made a little detour to Gruene to eat at the Gristmill.



We sat down and I saw this on the table and immediately thought of my brother.



Aaron LOVES Lawry's seasoning.  Really my whole family does, but Aaron really does!  So I took the above picture and sent it to him and told him this was his kind of restaurant.

The food was great and the weather was prefect!  We were under the shade and it was so comfortable and nice to be outside.





I look awful here, but we didn't take that many pictures of us, so I figured I would post it.  Do you see how swollen my ankles are?  They are so painful!



We left Gruene and headed towards the JW Marriott Hill Country Resort.  We drove through the back roads instead of going back to I-10 and it was so nice.  We also drove by the summer camp, T Bar M, that Aaron and I went to as kids.  The hills were just so pretty to drive through.

We got to the resort around 2:30 and checked in, but our room wasn't quite ready yet, so we decided to walk around some.   We checked out the inside of the resort and then walked around outside and found some chairs to relax in.





The weather was just perfect, I couldn't believe it was August in Texas and we were sitting outside at 3 pm and actually comfortable!  We realized this weekend that the humidity was drastically less here than in Houston.

We went to see if our room was ready, but it wasn't so we sat down in some chairs in the lobby.  I looked over and just thought about how lucky I was to have this man.



Our room was ready around 4:30 so we went up and checked it out.  The rooms are very nice.  Here was the view from our patio:







Here is a panoramic view:



We relaxed some in the room and then went to eat dinner.  The resort has 3 restaurants to choose from plus a bar and a restaurant at the pool.  We had a great dinner and then changed into our swim suits to go swimming.

The lazy river and activity pool are open until 8 and the adult only pool is open until 10.  Since it was Saturday the pools we very busy when we first got there, but now they all calmed down as people were going to dinner.  We went around the lazy river a few times and then went to the adult pool.  It is an infinity pool overlooking the golf course and was just beautiful at sunset.



We practically had the whole pool to ourselves.



The "backyard" is right next to the pools and they had live bands out there each night and activities for families.  This resort is definitely geared towards families, but we still had a great time.  We hung out in the pool and watched the families gather on the golf course and play.  It made us miss Stephen so much!  There were so many families with two boys who were throwing the frisbee or baseball and we talked about how that would be us in 5 years.



We relaxed in the pool for a long time and then Stephen got in the hot tub for a while.  We went back to our room and watched a movie and called it a night.

Sunday, Stephen was playing golf at 8 am, so he was up and out early.  I woke up around 7 and couldn't go back to sleep, but it was SO nice to just lay in bed in a dark room.

Stephen took these pictures on the golf course.  He said it was one of the prettiest courses he has ever played (and it better have been for how much he paid!!).  He was paired up with a guy from Houston who actually owns a ranch in Palestine with his brother and Dad and it is right around the corner from Steve and Nancy's ranch.  Such a small world!







While Stephen was playing golf, I got a prenatal massage.  I have been in a lot of pain lately and needed a massage so badly!  She really worked on my hips and it made a huge difference! I felt amazing afterwards.

Stephen and I were done about the same time and met in the room.  One thing about Stephen is that he loves to get away and relax, but he can't sit still or in one place for too long.  He didn't want to go sit at the pool all day, so we decided to get out and go find somewhere to have lunch and drive around for a while.

We had a great lunch at Olive Garden and then drove around some neighborhoods around the resort.  Just driving around the area was pretty and different than Houston.  So many hills and rocks.  It was nice!

We got back to the resort and headed to the adult pool.  We relaxed for a few hours in the pool and met some people who lived in Gruene.  It was nice to talk to them and just relax.

We got out of the pool and went and changed.   There was another live band out on the backyard that was really good.





You can make smores every night so we had one.  It was delicious and fun!







The adult pool is just behind these plants.



This is the view from the infinity edge of the adult pool.



We went to the sports restaurant for dinner and it was SO good!  Really, really good food.

They also had live music inside and the band tonight was a country band.  They were very good so we sat and listened to them for a few hours and people watched.  The inside of the resort was so nice.









Here is the view from our room at night:



Sunday night I was feeling so relaxed.   I have had miserable swelling in my feet and calves for almost 2 weeks and finally Saturday night all of the swelling was gone.  My body has been hurting so much, but I was finally feeling better.  Too bad I can't lay in bed, get a massage, and spend the day in the pool for the next 7 weeks!

Monday morning, we were both awake at 7, but once again, it was SO nice to just lay in bed.  It was also the first night in about a month that I didn't wake up every 2 hours to go to the bathroom.  I felt rested and amazing!  We layed in bed until about 9:30 and then got up and got ready for breakfast and packed our stuff.  We went down and had a buffet breakfast that was SO incredibly good!  Buffets can be hit or miss, but everything we had on this one was great!  All of the food at the resort was really great.

After we checked out we headed home to get our little boy!  We missed him SO incredibly much!

We picked him up around 2:30 and came home and played all afternoon.  At one point he took my phone and started taking pictures.  He loves these magna tiles we gave him for his birthday so he took some pictures of them.  I love his little toes peeking out here.





We had such a wonderful trip!  Just writing about it makes me want to do it all over again!  I absolutely love every minute I get to spend with my husband, just the two of us.  We have an incredible life that I don't take for granted, but we are busy and having time to re-connect and just be together is so wonderful!

Thank you again Mom and Dad!  This wouldn't be possible without you!  Y'all are the best!!!