a royal anniversary...

June 14th was Stephen and my 17th wedding anniversary--WOW!!! Because our anniversary fell on Steve's weekend to work , we decided to celebrate it this weekend.

Friday morning, we got Michaela off to school and dropped Emma Shea off with Ms. Holly. Once we were children-less, we headed north to Walworth Castle Hotel in Darlington.

The Walworth Castle

We had a great time stopping along the way when we saw an interesting 'tourist' sign, eating at a historical pub----without the usual "parent" talk!!!!, driving three hours without hearing, "I have to go potty." and talking without hundreds of interruptions:):) And of course, we LOVED our hotel suite. We stayed in the King James suite--he stayed in what was our lounge (living room) in the 1600's. Our bedroom was in the tower--2nd window up.

And while I usually do not take pictures of the hotels we stay in....I have added some because I usually do not stay in a castle from 1066!!

Our royal chamber

The fabulous jacuzzi

Our lounge--King James stayed here (without the plasma tv of course:))

This morning we woke up and went horse back riding--that is what we did on our first date. Can I just say, English saddles are not comfortable and riding a horse was alot less painful 21 years ago! We then headed back to pick up the girls with a few sightseeing stops in the rain on the way home.

This is how you keep them in line!!!!

Thank you Chuck and Holly for watching the girls for us!!!!!