A milestone weekend

On May 23, Zac and I will have been married for a whole decade. That makes us feel old, but it's a great thing to celebrate. And celebrate we did, this past weekend. A ten-year anniversary seemed like a good excuse to get away for a weekend and let the grandparents take care of Annika. The thought of going anywhere far without our girl was too daunting for me, so we opted to spend our time at nearby Catalina Island—close enough to get back if needed, but still "away" on a vacation island. Zac did the planning. He had booked a nice hotel for us to stay in, but the week before our trip his uncle hooked us up with one of these condos [left]. It turned out to be cheaper than the hotel and infinitely more romantic!

Friday afternoon we took the ferry from Long Beach and when we got there, the only thing I wanted to do was take a nap. So after checking out our digs and marveling at the view, I conked out on the bed for two hours. Zac hopped into this handy golf cart that was included with our accommodations (golf carts are the primary mode of transportation for tourists on Catalina) and took some time to explore the island.


I woke up in time to get ready for our anniversary dinner at the Catalina Country Club. I ordered this salad with shaved vegetables, fresh sea bass, rice, and sauteed greens:



. . . while Zac ordered the lobster bisque and pork chops with apple-cranberry sauce.



We were full after our meal and opted to let our food settle while we wandered the shops and looked for a place to have dessert. We found a nice little bakery where we shared a dark chocolate truffle cheesecake. (My midwife informed me at my last visit that I could stand to indulge in some calorie-dense foods like cheesecake, so I took her up on it! Not that I wouldn't have anyway.)




Once back at the condo, we hung out on the deck enjoying our view. After spending some peaceful time together, Zac told me to wait there while he went inside. He returned with my anniversary gift: a beautiful poem composed for the occasion, adapted from one he recently discovered and enjoyed by William Wordsworth. Now, if you know Zac, you know this isn't the sort of thing one can easily imagine him doing. He is left-brained through and through and not what one would consider the "poetic" type, but the man does have a way with words. And he knows the way to this bookish girl's heart.


Saturday morning the sun woke us around 5 or 6, but I was able to go back to sleep until 8. It was such a great feeling to wake up with no one else to take care of. Zac had gotten up with the sun and decided to get out and putt some golf balls, so I had some time to myself. Here is the view I enjoyed from our deck:

Mid-morning, we headed downtown for breakfast, and then tooled around the shops awhile. We had received a text message from Zac's dad that Annika wanted us to bring her a little boat, since we had gone off on a big boat. We found her a cute little red painted wooden sailboat for $3.00, which she loved and of course promptly broke. Zac tore off the rest of the sail for her so she still has a little rowboat as her keepsake.





The highlight of our morning was a couple's massage that Zac had scheduled for us. We are both suckers for any kind of massage, and we both agreed that these were the best massages we'd ever had. It was an hour of pure bliss.


The next item on our agenda was to go snorkeling: a first for me. Putting on this wetsuit was about as challenging for me as actually snorkeling, but I managed to get into it. The water was COLD, but the wet suits were thick, and being pregnant, I actually had more tolerance for the cold than Zac did. I have no idea about the names of the fish we saw, but we did see some nice ones. It felt good to just float on the water with my face down, once I got used to the weird feeling of hearing myself breathe through a little tube and feeling out of breath from the cold. It was a great first experience for me, but after 30 minutes we'd had enough.



Next, it was back to the condo to shower and get dressed for dinner. This time we visited a popular steakhouse, and ate enough that dessert wasn't even a consideration (we would wait for the Ben & Jerry's in our freezer at "home"--also on the recommendation of my midwife. Hee-hee!). Once back at the condo, we decided it would be fun to watch a movie. We found Sweet Home, Alabama playing on cable--just the kind of enjoyable but fairly mindless entertainment we wanted.


Sunday morning we packed up and enjoyed breakfast at a local pizza place, which turned out to be a great choice. Hawaiian french toast with coconut syrup and macadamia nuts was a first for me. We arrived early for our ferry so that we could try to get a good seat this time, though we still ended up without much of a view. By that time I was ready to get back and see Annika. She and the whole family were there to greet us when we got off the boat in Long Beach, and she clearly hadn't missed us. Her weekend was a memorable adventure too, and I'll post on that as soon as I can get the pictures from Grandma and Grandpa. Our little getaway was everything we'd hoped it would be, and we are so grateful for Annika's wonderful grandparents, great-grandma, auntie, uncle, and cousin who kept her happy all weekend.