Surprise Hayward Birthday Weekend
I know this is a little late BUT this post is what we did for my birthday! I wanted to share how much Marcus did and all we enjoyed! (With a little family photo session at the end :D)
November is my birthday month! I have always been big into my birthday and I think a large part of that is coming from a big family. One day out of the year was my day and I LOVE my birthday! This year Marcus gave me the option early on, do I want my birthday gift to be a surprise or do I want to know. I decided to live on the side of whimsy and be surprised. Then a week later I caved. "You can tell me it is ok." My feeble attempts were futile, until about a week before. Marcus caved a little and gave me 5 questions I could ask and he would answer them honestly. I LOVED this part. I thought through my questions and decided to ask one to help manage me expectations. "Will I be in any way holding, touching, feeding a Red Panda by Monday?" (Red Panda's are my favorite animal and a very high bucket list item to have a live encounter with some day). The Answer was a No. Among a couple of other questions that were more fun than anything I did get out of him that we were leaving the state! I was SO excited!
I took Friday off at his request and after a day at the office I came home to Marcus handing me my weekender bag and telling me once I filled it up we were hitting the road! I took off for my bed room as fast as I could and with permission looked in his bag to get a good idea of what to throw into mine.
3 pair of underwear and 3 pairs of socks. That was all the information I needed to help fill the amount of days we would be away! With a little more hints from Marcus as he watched and packed more things into the truck, I left the bathing suit at home and 30 minutes to an hour later we were on the road! Dunder was coming with us.
It wasn’t until about 2 hours in until Marcus told me what was going on. He had booked us a weekend getaway to a WI Cabin. I was so excited and was pleasantly surprised! This year my family has been talking about renting a cabin for a week where we can all enjoy water sports and fellowship together. Marcus took that and put it on a little trial run. The second part of the surprise was that the following day my whole family would be joining us!
PS Dunder exhausted himself out with how excited he was to be on this adventure he slept most of the way. When we finally came rolling into the small town, it was dinner time. We stopped at a local pizza place grabbed one and then headed to the cabin. We pulled up to this dark wood log cabin that was so cute, even in the dark.
What felt really different from the city was even just unpacking the truck it was eerily quiet. Not something we experience very much living so close to a highway. The cabin was so cozy with a fireplace and plenty of space. All the decorations looked like they were just shopped out of Hobby Lobby’s cabin decor with Moose, Deer, and fish hanging on the walls. With wood panels and dark green carpet, it was perfect for a weekend getaway.
The downstairs had a pool table so after some curiosity exploring, we played a couple of rounds of pool. And I didn’t know this but I married a pool shark. Marcus grew up with one in his house so naturally he is amazing. ( and super proud of that fact).
We ate pizza with the fire blazing and just enjoyed a night of hanging out.
The next day I woke up to a stunning view of the lake that this cabin had been built on. The cabin was higher on the hill so it just held a stunning higher view. We explored outside and found stairs headed down to the water, a little fire pit on the side of the house and a front yard made for throwing Dunder’s Frisbee.
We walked the streets around the cabin and just took a relaxing day at the cabin. Reading some of the books they had there while basking in the sun on their over sized chair. It wasn’t until about dinner time until the rest of the family started pulling up!
We made enchiladas’ thanks to my mom’s hard work at prepping everything for us! Round 2 of pool broke out which is where I found out my sister and father are also amazing at pool. Apparently, this is a talent that skipped over me in my family.
After everyone was assigned a room and chilled with the fireplace on we all headed to bed.
Saturday morning after breakfast, I rounded everyone up to do a couple of quick family photos on the road leading to the cabin! It just struck me the day before how beautiful it was. I am glad we were able to get some family photos to document the time together.
That evening we celebrated with some presents and Dorthy Ann’s Bakery cake. (the one with raspberry filling)
I am so grateful and excited to share this little adventure weekend. My heart was so full.
