10 Years!

Wow 10 years!! How can that be? Well Austin and I have been thinking about this anniversary for awhile and what we would do. At first we really wanted to take a big trip since our 5 year was a cruise. We contemplated New York. The more we thought though and the closer it got it just seemed too hard logistically to do. Its hard to get away this time of year. With Lindsay's birthday and both kids in school full time and given my parents age I just hated to leave them a week. We finally agreed staying close to home would be better. We also wanted to save up for our next big trip with the kids. Family time is very important to us both and we want to make most of our big trips with our kids so that they have experiences and memories as they grow.
We decided on Nottoway Plantation and wow I am so glad we did. First of all it was a low key no stress trip. We planned 1 night away from home on a Friday. This way my parents could pick the kids up from school and keep them the one night. It happened to fall the weekend of the Santa Breakfast at Lindsay's school so they did take them to that.
So Friday morning I got both kids to school then came home to pack up our stuff. Due to a very busy week yes we had to wait until the last minute. So it took us about an hour to get everything together and be ready to walk out the door. We dropped the kids' stuff off at my parents then hit the road. It was so nice just to get out on a beautiful day and drive. We did so many things like that when we were dating and first married. We took our time driving to the plantations. We took the scenic drive along the river which was really neat. We got to Oak Alley right around lunchtime. So we went to eat at their restaurant first thing. The food was delicious and a meal without kiddos was truly a treat. After we finished eating we browsed the gift shop then set out to tour the grounds. We first toured their new slave exhibit. It was very interesting and very sobering. I am glad that they are starting to feature the slave history as well as the plantation owners. I felt like I learned a few new things. Next up was the tour of the big house. I had forgotton or learned new things there as well which was cool. The house was decorated for Christmas which I think made it even more special. After we finished inside  the house we spent some time outside on the property. The weather was just gorgeous! Once we finished up we hopped in the car to drive down the road to Nottoway. Once again we took the scenic route. We arrived there around 4. We were able to go to our room freshen up and relax for a bit. We were given a schedule of events for the night which was awesome we had no idea so there was lots of activity and things to do! We walked around and enjoyed the grounds before dinner b/c we knew it would be dark afterwards. Everything was decorated so beautiful! We went to eat shortly after. They had food outside on the grounds but since it was our anniversary afterall we decided to go ahead into the restaurant and par-take there. It was a nice quiet, romantic dinner. We don't go out a lot especially by ourselves to a romantic restaurant so this was nice. Afterwards we went outside to the porch to see the lighting of the bonfires. We sat and took in the sights for a bit before walking around. We just walked and talked and enjoyed the scene. It was so much fun!! I really cannot wait to take my kids back and my parents I think they would all love it! We went up on the levee to get a closer look at the bonfires and to warm up! So romantic! I just loved it! Afterwards we made our way slowly back to our room. We were anxious to get in our pjs and just relax. We watched a Christmas movie and just hung out and went to bed early! Again so nice!!
That morning we woke up got dressed and went to breakfast. We enjoyed a leisure breakfast before hitting the road for home. We were anxious to get back to our babies!