11 years and counting!!

And I can still remember the details like it was yesterday.  Like most brides our wedding day was one the happiest days of my life – I was marrying my best friend after dating for almost 6 years.  Now 11 years later, 2 boys and we are still so very happy and can’t believe how God has blessed us so much.

For our anniversary last weekend, we packed up and headed to The Cloister at Sea Island for one night.  We had never been there but we had a gift card for a one night stay, so what a great time to use it for our anniversary – NO KIDS!!!

After dropping the boys off with my parents on Saturday morning (they were pretty excited to be headed to Nini and Papa’s) we were off for a couple of days of relaxation.  They were ready for us to leave - all packed at the door.

 The weather was not participating that day – the clouds were dark and 70% chance of rain for that day – thunderstorms and all, but we were determined to make the best of it.  Since we were so early before check in we decided we would look around the downtown area of St Simons Island first, but as soon as we parked the bottom fell so we decided to go find lunch first – Bubba Garcia’s a little Mexican place.  Let me just say what would we have ever done before our smart phones.  These things helped find our way as well find places to eat.

Well, the rain continued so we decided to go ahead to the hotel in hopes we could check in early.  Well, that didn’t happen so we walked all around this beautiful historical resort and took it in since this might be our only time there.  We really had no idea what this place was all about until we saw pictures dating back to 1928 hanging in one of the many halls of presidents and other famous people visiting The Cloister and planting trees.  Their trees were all around the property.  It was pretty amazing to see such history with this place.  We were pretty blown away.

Inside The Cloister

Jason checking out one of the atriums

This is a tree that President Carter planted.

More trees planted by famous people.

Check out the roads - they are made out of brick pavers.  The entire Cloister Grounds are made like this.

This is the hot tub in the fitness area - it's kind of hard to see but the water goes off into a waterfall to a hot tub down below.

Here are the steps to the hot tub down below.

Yes, this is in the bathroom

The back of The Cloister

While we waited on our room to be ready, we played ping pong and I guess I must have beat him pretty bad because he looks pretty tired here - not really, Jason is VERY good at ping pong - those college years paid off :)

Our room was in the Beach Club, which had the pools and of course the beach. Our room was quite impressive – no ocean view or anything – but it was actually a suite, which I didn’t think I reserved, but we would take it.  One huge king bed, a very nice living room, and 2 FULL BATHROOMS!! 

We headed out to dinner that night at Crabdaddy’s, which was a very good seafood restaurant. 

One great thing about going off with no kids is that we weren’t woken up at 7AM or earlier so we were able to sleep as long as we wanted – no special agenda except to check out by noon. 

Once we checked out we headed back to the downtown area of St. Simons Island since it was a much nicer day.  We had one of the best breakfasts I have ever eaten.  These pancakes were the biggest, thickest and best I have ever eaten.  Jason finished his meal and had to help me finish them, but we didn’t and hated to waste them.  

Downtown St Simons Island is of course right on the water and has a very nice park and playground area with huge trees.  

Around 2:00 we started to head home, which was very sad because we had enjoyed our weekend getaway.  Hopefully we will be able to enjoy more of these quick getaways.  It’s amazing how refreshing a quick night away is and I feel it is a great way to keep our marriage strong – so hopefully the boys were good for Nini and Papa.