Valentine's Weekend

Well, FireMan hit it out of the ballpark with this one.

He has never done anything so romantic, so special for me. Actually, no one has.

Yep, he got it right.

Planned it for months. Which is, in & of itself, worth major brownie points. Voluntarily got dressed up, something very uncharacteristic of him, so bonus points there. And took his hunny out of town for the weekend.

At this point I feel I should clarify that this is VERY atypical of FireMan. Very. Romance, well, it's not exactly his middle name or anything.

Every Valentine's Day (four of them) we've shared thus far has gone something like this (yes, this includes both dating years, and married-but-pre-baby years):

we say we're not doing anything for Valentine's Day.
so I get him a card.
he stops at Kroger on his way home and picks up: (insert choice here: bag of chocolate [why pay extra for the heart-shaped box], cheesy stuffed animal [which I still love, by the way], bouquet of whatever flowers might be left [which explains why I ended up with yellow miniature roses one year]).
he walks in the door with said last-minute gift.
I act surprised, because I actually am. (apparently I have a memory problem, and every year forget that even though we say we aren't doing anything, he stops at Kroger).

I just want you to realize how HUGE this romantic gesture was. Huge. Big. Really, really big.

Okay, got it? Good. Then I'll proceed.
I didn't know where we were going until we were halfway there. He accidentally said something about having to be "on board" by a certain time. After a few guesses, I got it. Only because one of my friends from work had taken a girlfriend there a few years ago, and had asked my opinion on it. Otherwise, I would have been completely clueless.

And it was wonderful.

Saturday night he took me to My Old Kentucky Dinner Train!

don't we look snazzy?

It was really neat, totally unique, and a great surprise. Since it was quite a drive from our home, FireGirl spent the night with my parents and we got a hotel in nearby Louisville.
Sunday we slept in, enjoyed the continental breakfast at the hotel, then slowly started making our way back to Ohio to pick up FireGirl. We stopped at the Carrollton Outlets, but they were closed, then took the scenic route back.

Stopped for a mile hike at General Butler State Resort Park.

FireMan at the overlook, General Butler State Resort Park

I'm laughing. I forget why.

the view from the top

Had lunch at a local burger joint along the way, and stopped at the hospital to visit FireMan's uncle, who was recently admitted.

By the time we got to my parents' house, FireGirl was already taking her afternoon nap, so we played cards with my folks for a couple of hours until she woke up. Then we got her all packed up, and decided to head to a park for the first time in 2011! She had to keep her coat on, and we didn't stay too long, but we all had a blast. She definitely didn't want to leave.

Going down the slide with Daddy. They do this at least once every time we go to the park.

And then she decided she wanted to go down with Mommy. First time I've gone down the slide with her.

Dinner at a McDonald's on the way home (FireGirl's choice), then back home to get back into the groove and start the normal work week on Monday.

All in all, a very enjoyable, wonderful, awesome, Valentine's Weekend.

Thanks for checking in!