Surprise!!

We are not big birthday people. We don't ignore them - but usually there is not a lot of fuss involved beyond a special dessert and a card. But this year I got the crazy idea to "kidnap" Spencer and whisk him away for a day of pampering. So after many, many, MANY, phone calls and small feats of trickery, I got everything cleared and ready to go. His birthday was Friday, the 28th. As he was having early morning coffee with a friend before work (or so he thought, heh, heh, heh) I barged in and we began the day with a massage at Z salon. I have been fortunate to receive such indulgence twice before, but this was Spencer's first massage experience. I think he's hooked. He even had some crazy talk of giving up golf...

Now that we were nice and relaxed we had a nice brunch and I sent him off to Weissinger Hills to play a round of golf with his friends.

While he was playing golf, I got to go to the barn. Now, stick with me here. A retired couple at our church (one of the sweetest people you'll ever meet) allowed us to spend the night at their barn. I'm not sure why it's called a barn - because I grew up on a dairy farm, and this is nothing like the barn of my memories.

Here it is from the front:
Now if the story ended here - it would still be a great story. But just look at what's BEHIND the barn:

It's too bad we don't fish. I would be willing to get out there and stick my feet in the water and relax a little. But I'm married to Spencer. Which means I'd be out there alone. And since it was his birthday, we had no physical contact with nature. But we looked at it a lot. Beautiful.

Here is the inside of the "barn" with a little kitchenette and sitting area.

And theeeeeere's FRANK! (run! run! he's gonna gitcha!) this is only funny if you've wathced the Disney Cars movie more than 300 times.

Just kidding. Here's Frank. Frank is a neighbor that comes by often to fish in the pond. As some point in one of our conversations Frank told me, "I done got me some bluegill but now I'm a gonna see if the bass are bitin'" I was pretty impressed by this. How does Frank know how to tempt one type of fish vs. another onto his lures? Is it the bait? The way you throw the line in the water? My father is rolling his eyes right now. He cannot believe that he raised a daughter who is unaware of such things.

I love that Frank has his own seat. It's just an old bucket with a pillow on top. But you can tell it's gotten a lot of use.

So Spencer came back from golf and we went to eat at a fabulous restaurant. We returned to the barn stuffed, happy and relaxed. The next morning we were allowed to sleep in as long as we wanted. No kids. No schedule. Just sleep. We got up at 6:30. Sad, isn't' it?

But why not when you can look at this:

Sunrise:

See? That's worth getting up for, right?

Just to prove that the "barn" is not all fluff and flowers, I thought I'd show you what's in the other half. Again, my father is saddened that I can't tell you what these big green machines are. But I know they work on a farm.

Now that little one is a mower. HA!

We left the barn mid-morning and ran errands (amazingly fast when there are no little ones involved) until lunch time where we joined Mimi and the kids and officially returned from birthday bliss.