Earlier this year, Stable Boy had been asked to speak at an end-of-season wrestling banquet. One of the organizers works at the Hilton Garden Inn in Idaho Falls. As a "thank you" for speaking, she gave him a gift certificate to the hotel. It was good for one free night's stay in the "King-bed Jacuzzi Tub Suite" with two free breakfasts in the hotel restaurant. I swiped that certificate out of Stable Boy's planner when he was in the shower Friday morning and spent much of the rest of the day making arrangements.
One of Stable Boy's favorite meals is chicken enchiladas, so I made that for our dinner. I popped it out of the oven and into an insulated carrier right before I left to pick him up from work. The kids helped me throw together a salad and cut up strawberries for our dessert of angel food-strawberry-shortcake with real whipped cream. The older girls helped put together our over-night bags and we stashed everything in the back of the van.
I only told Stable Boy that we had dinner reservations in IF at 5 pm. He had no idea where we were going. He didn't remember the name of the hotel on the certificate, so when I told him to turn into the Hilton, he was still clueless. As we walked up to the hotel doors, he asked, "Do they have a restaurant here?" It wasn't until we approached the reservation desk that he started to figure it out.
It went perfectly! The only thing that might have made more fun would have been if the hotel was close enough that I could have had the key in hand and dinner fully set up ahead of time. As it was, we returned to the car, gathered our bags and food and had a romantic dinner for two in our hotel suite.
At 7, we went to the cheap theater for a movie. Stable Boy had a choice of "The Host" or "G.I. Joe". He went with the Joes. Then we went back to the hotel for a swim and to relax in the hot tub.
In the morning we went for a leisurely jog along the river for an hour, then got cleaned up and enjoyed a delicious breakfast.
We've never really done a weekend getaway like that. It was marvelous. I highly recommend it! Thank you to my neighbor for keeping an eye on my kids and to the Hilton for a relaxing and enjoyable stay!
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