Skip to main content

Our Anniversary Getaway & My Thoughts on B&B's

(our room was in that curved part on the left)

Last week Vince and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. Time sure does fly when you're having fun~and raising kiddos:)

(the front entrance of The Williams House)

We don't always celebrate the same way each year. Sometimes it's a quiet dinner out at a favorite~or even a new~restaurant and occasionally it's been an overnight getaway~or even a whole week away for our 10th anniversary.
(a garden fountain)

This year Vince surprised me and planned a little overnight escape to Hot Springs, AR. And to a Bed & Breakfast!
(homemade snickerdoodles~my fave!)

We love to stay at B&B's! We spent our wedding night at a local one (and our favorite!) and have returned to it several times for special occasions. We've also stayed at B&B's in Eureka Springs, AR and Charlottestown, Prince Edward Island. It's always an adventure!

(room decor by a local artist~so cool!)

Each B&B has it's own feel, but in our experience they are generally gorgeous old homes lovingly cared for by the hosts who can't wait to share them with you. The Williams House in Hot Springs was no exception~it was beautiful and the hostesses were great!

(comfy vintage chairs)

Our room was so nice, furnished with wonderful antiques, a huge jacuzzi and a private bathroom. These are definitely things to check out when booking at a B&B. You want a private bathroom! I've only ever stayed at one where I had to share~and that time we only shared with my parents and sister so it wasn't too bad. I don't think I would enjoy sharing with strangers.

(gorgeous antique headboard)

The bed had the softest sheets I've ever felt before! Is that was super-high-thread-count-Egyptian cotton feels like?! I want some!!

The room also had a fireplace, tv/dvd player, comfy chairs, chocolate covered strawberries...you know, all the nice amenities we all love.

(the breakfast room)

Then comes breakfast~my favorite thing about a B&B! This is one of the most important things to consider when booking at a B&B. Does it have individual tables or one big *community* table? We've had it both ways. I definitely prefer the individual table. The concept of the community table is nice, but it's SO awkward. I suppose if you had the perfect mix of people it would be fun because I'm certainly not opposed to talking to strangers (I'm a blogger, for crying out loud, right?!). But without a good mix it's just....awkward. Not bad, but there's just no personal space around a big dining table, right?

(our breakfast table)

The best B&B's have individual tables that are close enough to each other that you can talk to the other guests if you so desire...or you can have your own private breakfast at your own table. It's kind of like the best of both worlds:) Our morning last week was filled with a wonderful breakfast quietly with each other, but ended with a very nice conversation with the couple from Texas at the neighboring table. See? The best of both worlds!

We realized last week that we hadn't stayed at a B&B since having kiddos. We've definitely stayed at them when there have been families and it was fine, but I think I prefer (for now) to keep B&B's all to Vince and myself:) They are such a nice retreat, I don't want to wait 8+ years again!

How about you? Have you ever stayed at a Bed & Breakfast? Do you enjoy them as much as we do?
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Reading Game: A Review

I was excited to receive this review product recently, thinking my 1st-grade-son could really benefit and enjoy it a lot. And I was right! He is having so much fun with this game. The Reading Game is a fast-paced memory card game using words. The game comes with 6 sets of memory cards with 6 corresponding readers. The idea is for you and your student to play memory with each set of cards (playing 6 rounds with each set), after every 2 rounds your student then reads 2 test sentences to see how he is retaining the new words he is learning. After the whole set has been played, he is then ready to read the corresponding reader...and has learned 30 new words! By the time your student has played every set of cards and read every reader, he will have learned 180 words. Of the 25 most common English words, 23 are on that list; of the 50 most common words, 42 are on that list. So this little game of reading really does prepare your student well. The readers are illustrated with cute
Post a Comment
Read more

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat
23 comments
Read more

Door Hanger Chore Charts

My kids have had a chore chart for a while.  It's one of those magnetic boards and they share it.  However, it's not by their rooms and often they (and I) forget to update it.  Plus it's a little bulky.   When I saw the concept of a door hanger chore chart on Pinterest, I loved it!  It was compact, right there were the kiddos could see it coming out and going into their rooms, and it costs almost nothing to make.   I headed over to one of my favorite stores: Hobby Lobby, of course.  They  have these little wooden door hangers for .79.  I also grabbed a couple of packets of decorative buttons for $1.99 each.  I already had the clothes pins and the paint so those cost me nothing.   I began by painting the door hangers (I used tempera paints because that's what I had).  Then I grabbed a fine point Sharpie and the clothes pins and started writing chores on them, making sure to write them correctly so they will clip on the right direction.   The left
17 comments
Read more