My face might still be frozen...

Ryan gave me an awesome gift for my 30th birthday. A weekend away, just the two of us! My birthday was in September and we FINALLY figured out a time to make a break for it so we dropped Ruby off at Nana and Papa's and drove up to Traverse City on Friday night. My face might still be frozen. It truly was one of the coldest weekends I've ever lived through. We stayed in the Park Place Hotel so we could walk downtown whenever we wanted. We had such a great time eating out, sleeping in and doing whatever we wanted. Such a great break for me as I gear up for baby #2 in 3.5 months and such a fun time together.

Saturday we braved the -4 degree elements by walking out on the ice at Mission Point Lighthouse. The snow was up to our knees on top of the ice, which made it an interesting hike away from shore. The wind was whipping and we seemed to be the only humans who chose this activity on this day. The pictures look like we're Eskimos on the Alaskan tundra... but actually it's just Pure Michigan.

Since we were already frozen solid, we decided to do some cross country skiing. Unfortunately for me, my snow pants no longer fit over my belly, so I wore long underwear with sweatpants on top and Ryan's running pants on top of that. I looked so awesome while skiing the Vasa Pathway at 24.5 weeks pregnant. haha.

Then it started snowing, a lot. Before we knew it we were completely covered in white. Ryan had snowflakes stuck in his eyebrows and eyelashes. It was so cold out the flakes didn't even melt when they were on our bodies! That's really really cold.

One of the best parts of our day was that we both were trying to speak each other's love language. Basically, I spent quality time doing activities that Ryan loves to do together and he spent time using words of affirmation to tell me I was a trooper and how pretty I looked with snowflakes covering my face.

Ryan took me to dinner at Poppycock's on Saturday night. It was such a great meal, great atmosphere, and especially great company. We even ordered dessert! So fun! After dinner we caught the 8:30 movie at the State Theater downtown. I loved "The King's Speech" but Ryan wasn't very into it. Mostly I was just really excited to be out past 8pm doing anything! haha.

Sunday morning we woke up to 3 more inches of fresh fallen snow. It was a beautiful sunny day, but still more frigid temps than anyone could handle, so after a delicious breakfast at Amical, we got in the car, drove up the coast of the Lelenau Peninsula and enjoyed the sights. Very elderly of us, but we are both 30 now, so I guess it's okay.

I'm so thankful for Ryan, for his love for me, for how funny he is and for the fun times we have together. I love that he planned this weekend away for us to be together, spending time as a couple. Happy Birthday to me!

Soundtrack of the weekend: Ray LaMontagne, "God Willin' & The Creek Don't Rise"