For our fourth anniversary, Jeremy and I went to Linville, NC, to spend a nite at the Eseeola Lodge, known better to Jeremy as a place where Bobby Jones spent many of his summers (so where else WOULD we go?!?). Jeremy tried to surprise me with the trip. Little did we know how hard it is to surprise a super sleuth like me.
Though Jones's birthday celebrations meant we celebrated the weekend AFTER our anniversary, it was an amazing weekend at an amazing place. The leaves were pretty much at peak color, and the weather was picture perfect - cool enough to need a sweater but not cold and coat-worthy. It just felt like a textbook "fall" 24 hours.
As we drove around the Linville Golf Club - where Jeremy played his first round in 18 months - I thought to myself, "I am SO thankful we got married in the fall, because every year that we celebrate, it will look like this outside."
I am also so thankful that Jeremy has a taste for the finer things; I tease him all the time about having "Sea Island taste and a Myrtle Beach budget," but he has taken me - who'd been to a lot of amazing places (thanks, Mom & Daddy!) - to some of the best spots I've ever seen.
The Eseeola Lodge is definitely among them. The dinner, for one thing, was one of the top five dining experiences I've ever had. It may actually be top two. Plus, it was fun to HAVE to get dressed up for the first time - maybe since our wedding.
And the macaroons ...
Let's just say we accidentally spent $40 on 9 cookies. Here's how it happened: at dinner, the people at the table across from us were eating something for dessert that we didn't recognize. We went from thinking it was bread to thinking it was hummus, so we asked our waitress, who told us it was a macaroon, which is one of the things they're known for. Did we want one? OF COURSE.
Meals were included in the room rate, so we were definitely up for getting our money's worth. She gave us one to take back to our room. The plan was to eat it in the morning. Of course, that didn't happen. When he took the first bite, Jeremy said, "My mom would love this," so at breakfast the next morning, he asked if there were any macaroons left. That meal was the last service of the season for the Eseeola, so we thought they may be trying to unload them, anyway. Plus, if they were free the nite before, why wouldn't they be the next morning?
The maitre'd asked how many we wanted. Jeremy just guessed, "Four." Minutes later, the maitre'd brought out a box, and we headed back to our room. On the way, we stopped to settle up at the front desk. Jeremy reviewed the bill and asked about a $25 in-room dining charge; the girl behind the desk sweetly said, "That's for the macaroons you just ordered."
Say WHAAAA?????
At that point, though, what can you do? So he signed the ticket, and we headed to the golf course. We ate lunch after the 11th hole. They asked if I wanted any macaroons with my egg salad sandwich, adding that they were cheaper there ($3, instead of $6.25!) than anywhere else on property, so Jeremy decided to buy the five that they had remaining, and that's how we headed home with $40 worth of 9 cookies, which, I'll have you know, his mother DID love.
After all she's done for us, it's the least we could do for her!
Neither one of us can wait to go back. In fact, we're eyeing a trip this spring. We will know, however, that if we want to takeaway macaroons, we should order them at dinner.
I am a firm believer that birthdays should be celebrated extravagantly - though not, necessarily, expensively. I just like lots of celebrations and decorations and as much buttercream as is humanly possible. That made Jones's sixth birthday my kind of occasion. From the time he woke up in the morning until he hit the hay way past his bedtime last nite, some kind of celebrating was going on, and I am so grateful for the way things played out. First up, he opened his gifts from us first thing in the morning, as is our custom. He'd asked for a Herbie car with a wagon behind it (ever since seeing "The Love Bug" on a Movie Nite at church, he's been a little bit obsessed with Herbie) and a $12 digger / dump truck combo from the Dollar General. He got both things he was asking for and a few little extras, to boot - among them dinosaur day-of-the-week underwear and a Captain America racecar that he can paint himself.
From there, he headed to school, but he was only there long enough to go to chapel, because at 8:45, his class and the first graders boarded an HCA bus bound for the US Cellular Center in Asheville. Their first field trip of the year just happened to take place on Bobby Jones's birthday. "Pete the Cat" was the play they saw (Jones even wore a Pete the Cat mask!), and afterwards, they had a picnic lunch at Carrier Park in Asheville. When we were leaving the theatre, Jones told me, "I can still do all the fun things I did when I was five!" He seemed excited - and, quite honestly, surprised - by this fact.
Naturally, I was THRILLED to be along as a chaperone on the big day. I took cupcakes for the kids, all of whom were SO sweet to Jones. They kept coming up and telling him happy birthday. Their great behavior and excellent manners spoke VERY highly of both their parents and their school. I was SUPER impressed. I was even more impressed (or, should I say, RELIEVED) that Jones chose to ride the bus instead of in his mama's minivan. When it was time for me to leave after lunch, a quick kiss and a wave were all I got, proof that six must be a very mature kind of age! After school, we picked up his construction site cake (it had a digger on it; that's why Jones picked it. It's also why I had them write, "We dig you, Jones. Happy 6th birthday" on it) at Ingles and then headed to pick up Jones's Clyde First Baptist buddy Luke, who joined us and our family at Chuck E. Cheese's for dinner and fun. 
Chuck E. Cheese's seemed louder than usual to me. That didn't stop everyone from having a great time - especially Jones, whose favorite ride was probably the Mack. He did it a million times in a row, saying he had to make some "dewiveries." He got lots of great gifts - definitely more than he needed - and then we headed home, by way of dropping Luke off. While Jeremy got the boys ready for bed, I put Jones's new "Cap 'Merica cubbers" (Sissy gave them to him) on his bed. He settled in, all "comfy cozy" and ready to rest up for what we pray will be a spectacular seventh year!
