Mommy Daddy Day.

{The Bavarian Belle}

Last week Jon and I had to have a heart-to-heart about the fact that we've become so busy with everyday life, the only time we have left over gets split among three children and there is nothing left for each other.  This year we will celebrate seven years of marriage but we've both been feeling like we are just two people in the same house trying to get through the days.

We agreed that we need to make an effort to spend some time together alone every once in a while so we have a chance to talk about something other than what needs to go on the grocery list. 

{One of many covered bridges}

We had the week off to work on the cottage and celebrate the fourth, but Jon decided to play hooky on Friday so we could go on a day trip while the kids were at daycare.  We searched online for day trips and settled on a neat little German town two hours away called Frankenmuth.

Our first stop of the day was the Bavarian Belle for a river boat ride, we wanted the eleven o'clock sail before it got too hot as it was supposed to be over 100 degrees.

We started our day by witnessing two guys groping each other in one of the shops where we stopped to use an ATM and wouldn't you know they ended up on our boat practically cheek to cheek with us.  Hand holding or arms around the shoulder I have no problem with, what was absolutely disgusting was that the fronts of both their necks were pure purple with hickeys, who does that?

But right there when I was being all judgey, one of the boys asked if we wanted him to take our photo when he saw us struggling to do the one armed trick.

It was a one hour boat ride down the Cass River with ducks and seagulls following us begging for popcorn, Jon was trying to get one to eat out his hand but no dice.

Our boat cruised past a mother and baby deer which was pretty cool, they didn't seem bothered by us I guess because they see it come through multiple times a day. 

When we got right up on them the mother slowly turned and headed for the woods but baby was circling around frantically because he had to go potty!  I had no idea how deer pooped but turns out they hunch up just like a dog.  Fun fact of the day.

{Jon likes to take pictures of reflections on the water}

After the ride was over we went further into town searching for one of the two famous restaurants that serve chicken, we found out afterward that the same guy owns both the Bavarian Inn and Zehnder's, right across the street from one another?  Not sure why.

Our lunch was good, the restaurant was decorated authentically and waitresses are dressed in German garb, the atmosphere was neat but damn I've gotta bet German people are super fat! Along side the fried chicken they serve stuffing, mashed potatoes, buttered noodles and bread.  Can you say carb fest?

After the carb overload, we walked around downtown and in each shop that sold fudge we said we would come back and get it so nothing melted in the hundred degree heat.  Do you think we ever went back?  The biggest upset of the day.

We toured the cheese house...I can't bring myself to type the house German-style.  Again we walked away empty handed for fear our cheese wouldn't stand the heat. 

The last stop of the day was Bronner's Christmas Wonderland which they claim is the largest Christmas store in all of the WORLD.  I order personalized ornaments off their website quite a bit so it was nice to actually walk through the doors and be mesmerized with everything Christmas, including the music they pipe in.

I did get choked up when I walked by a Christmas village, not sure why.  I just stood there looking at how beautiful it was and remembered how much my grandma loved Christmas I think...damn carolers and their old time vintage faces!

Our only purchase of the entire day was a personalized ornament with Jon's call number for the fire department on it which turned out really cute. 

So we finally took some time away from the kids to reconnect a little and agreed that we need to do it more often.  It's so easy to make today's needs the priority and forget that the foundation needs to be maintained or else a house will come crumbling down around you.