This past week Justin and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary! In the past, we celebrated our anniversary by taking a little trip away. Year 1: Savannah. Year 2: Beaufort/Savannah. Year 3: St. Augustine (remember that was also when we found out we were pregnant!). This year, we went back and forth and debated taking another trip away, with a baby. Savannah holds a very special place in our hearts. It is the place after all where Justin fell in love with me, proposed and we were married there. As much as we would have loved to walk through the moss-draped trees and go to the beach (I am slightly depressed that I haven't gone to the beach yet this summer, the first time that I can remember!), we had a hard time picturing it being a relaxing and enjoyable anniversary with a little man in tote. Savannah this time of the year is brutally hot and we didn't think we would enjoy strolling through the streets, constantly fretting about whether he was too exposed to the sun, getting too hot, etc. We also knew that a beach trip wasn't going to work out either since Zach can't wear sunscreen yet and the sand would just be too much for him. Let's also not forget a 5 hour car ride, which would probably turn into a 8 hour car ride.
Ultimately, we decided to stay home and find ways to celebrate locally. Justin had three days off, and since we are now a family of three, he came up with the idea of celebrating our anniversary all three days, with three activities on each day. He got to pick the ideas for day one, I got to pick the activities for day two and day three was a collaboration of ideas.
Day One: (Justin's Day)
We started off day one by getting donuts from Carolina Mountain Bakery. Justin loves donuts and this is the only place that he has found locally that has donuts good enough for him. We dropped the little man off at Grandpa and Nana's and were off to our first activity: Carolina Theater to watch 'Mud' in the sofa cinema. Being from Burbank, Justin loves to go to the movies. This one was unique in that instead of the traditional stadium-style seating, the theater was filled with couches for you to relax and watch the movie.
We picked up the babe and were off to The Biltmore for our second activity: Afternoon Tea at the Biltmore Inn! Throughout the past four years, we have been many, many places for afternoon tea (I think we counted around 10). We had a very nice time as a family of three, sipping tea, munching on mini sandwiches and devouring the delicious scones and desserts. We also had a pretty spectacular view!
Our last activity for day three was Sante, a wine bar in downtown. We put the babe down to bed for the night, under the watchful eye of his Gramma, and headed downtown. We split an order of a flight of wine, which consisted of two red and two white half glasses, as well as a trio of dips: Spinach, Bruschetta and Hummus.
Day Two: (My Day)
Unfortunately, it was very rainy on my day so we were not able to follow through on my activites as planned. We started off the day with a hike at Rattlesnake lodge. It was kind of rainy and very foggy and we aren't even sure if we were hiking on the right trail.
Our second activity was suppose to be a picnic at The Biltmore next to the sunflowers, but due to the rain, we had to come up with a back-up plan. We headed into downtown again and got dinner at Strada, a little Italian place.
We strolled through downtown and went to my last activity: dessert at Old Europe cafe.
Day Three: Happy Anniversary!
On our actual anniversary, we dropped the babe off at Grandpa and Nana's again and were off to the Biltmore to beat the rain. We stopped off at Dough, a new bakery, and got sandwiches, Israeli couscous salad, sweet potato chips, sparkling sodas and tirimisu. We set up our blanket along the sunflowers and enjoyed a little picnic and exchanged anniversary cards. It started to drizzle so we packed up and walked through the gardens near the winery and then drove through the main gardens.
We picked up the babe and headed home, only for his Gramma to watch him for the night. Our second activity was dinner at Curate. It is considered one of the best restaurants downtown. Curate is a Spanish tapas restaurant. The last time we were at Curate was our last date before our little man was born. We had a wonderful time at dinner and the food did not disappoint either. Our meal consisted of: Gazpacho, Spanish style bruschetta, creamy chicken fritters, meatballs made with pork from a very rare pig, lamb skewers and papas bravas (these all had fancier Spanish sounding names!) For dessert, we got the very special dessert which the restaurant only makes for special occasions. It was a chocolate potato paper topped with sea salt, dried cherries and hazelnuts. Again, the meal was fabulous!
Our third activity was to go watch the sunset on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
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