A much better break

Thursday was my birthday - the 34th one, for those who are still counting. I had a very good birthday. My mom fixed me a chocolate Checkerboard cake - one of my favorites. And, I received several nice gifts.

Elizabeth was very excited to have another birthday in the house. And, since she had recently had a lot of practice, she was very good at helping me blow out my candles and open my presents.







Then, I received the best present of all last night. At the suggestion of one of my brilliant sisters, David and I managed to get a night away through a combination of my mother trading nights off and us arranging for a babysitter to come over to help with Elizabeth this morning.

This was only our 2nd time away without the kids since Elizabeth was born, and since the first time took place right in the middle of David's Bells Palsy scare, I'm afraid it didn't really count as much as we'd hoped.

We took full advantage of it by staying at a wonderful bed and breakfast, the Burlington's Willis Graves Bed and Breakfast Inn. This place was highly recommended to us by friends of ours, and it definitely lived up to the billing. If you go, and we strongly recommend that you do, stay in the Williams Rouse Retreat. It's in the upper level of a rebuilt log cabin and comes complete with a jacuzzi tub and steam shower. Ahhhh..... Then, breakfast this morning was absolutely wonderful. We ended the trip by stopping by the Cincinnati Art Museum to get some culture.

It was a very nice and much needed break...much better than my last one, which by the way does seem to be healing nicely. I'm going to chance a game of tennis on it tomorrow, then if that doesn't bring any pain back, I may even try running again next week. Wish me luck!