Green Holiday: Anniversary

Joshua and I just celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary this last weekend. We talked about a lot of options on where we wanted to go, but the consensus was ultimately that we wanted to try a "Stay-cation"... a Be a Tourist in Your Own Hometown idea (Google it, it's huge). Heading out to the oceanfront during tourist season is something we haven't done in the five years we've lived here, but heading down in the beginning of spring seemed like a fair idea.

Joshua and I usually see our anniversary weekend as a great way to put our feet up, relax, eat great food, soak in a spa, get a massage, enjoy a celebratory drink and take it slow. Of course, with a toddler, all these things are not usually possible, but since Aoife is so much a part of our family and a part of our love we thought it would be great to make it a family getaway. Our prayers were answered as we woke up Friday afternoon to a weekend forecast of mid-70s and all sun.

The Accommodations:

• We really love the attentiveness and individual personalities of small business bed and breakfasts. We decided on the Beach Spa Bed and Breakfast, an eco-friendly B+B just three blocks from the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. It won awards from B+B.com as the #1 spa in America. We can totally see why after we experienced such fantastic customer service, delicious breakfasts, lovely room and amazing spa shower (not to mention extreme graciousness with us for travelling with our toddler)!

The Food:

• We wanted to eat at local small businesses that were tasty and close to our B+B so we could leave our car parked all weekend. Here's what we came up with: We ate Friday night at Pi-Zzeria, where we shared a great huge salad and a small pizza (sans pepperoni and mushrooms, of course). They brought out a little lump of pizza dough for Aoife to play with while we waited for food since it was so busy, but the wait went quickly and the company was fantastic (as always).
• Saturday afternoon we picked up curried chicken sandwiches from Taste Unlimited for a picnic on the beach (that was the plan anyway... we were too hungry to walk any further so we gobbled it up on site!).
• Saturday night, Joshua and I enjoyed a really amazing intimate dinner at Zoe's. A girlfriend came by to watch Aoife so we could enjoy our anniversary dinner alone. Steaks, Scotch, edamame hummus and chocolate souffle were the orders of the night and we had a wonderful time in their really funky and comfortable dining room.
• Sunday afternoon we stole our first taste of frozen custard for the season at Kohr's at the beach. Unfortunately, Aoife missed the taste since she was already napping, but we were too happy to be driving in the car with the windows down eating custard to notice!

The Entertainment:

• Friday evening, we went to the Virginia Beach Convention Center to check out the sports expo for the annual Shamrock Marathon. The marathon took place on Sunday, but on Saturday they ran some shortie fun races, including an 8k. Our B+B was only two blocks from the race route, so runners and family members and friends were jogging up our street both Saturday and Sunday morning, making it exciting to sit back on our deck and enjoy our coffee.
• Saturday morning, Aoife got to dig her little shovel in the sand and make sandcastles at the oceanfront with her favorite friend, Amanda, while Joshua and I enjoyed a couples' massage in our suite. The married couple that performed our massages made us melt into the spa tables and completely soothe away all our stress and knots. It was completely delightful.
• Saturday afternoon, after we got Aoife all cleaned up from her beach excursion and we nibbled a bite to eat, we headed out for a round of putt-putt at Jungle Golf, just three blocks from our B+B. We loved showing Aoife the elephant, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, giraffe and gorilla! Of course the sunny weather drew out huge crowds of people, but it was fun playing around with the family!
• After loading up Sunday, we enjoyed a little picnic in a local park and decided we weren't quite ready to head back home, so we called up our local family farmers at Pungo Naturals to see the newborn baby sheep and baby goats. There's nothing quite so sweet as newborn animals!