Celebrating our anniversary a little early in the Catskills - early June, 2012

Charlie told Katie back in April that he had a good idea to celebrate our Anniversary this year but said he was going to keep it a surprise and that we should celebrate a few weeks earlier than our actual anniversary so that Katie is not too uncomfortable later in her pregnancy.  Charlie planned everything for the weekend of June 2nd and told Katie that we were going on a weekend getaway and to buy a maternity bathing suit and that we will be able to bring the dog.  Katie was intrigued but didn't ask too many questions.

We left work early on Friday June 1st and once we got in the car, Charlie told Katie that we were going to a Resort and Spa that he found in the Catskill Mountains (only about an hour and half drive from our place).  We arrived at the Emerson Resort and Spa alittle bit before dinner and explored the grounds.

There was a nice pool and even a fenced in dog park (hence the reason why we brought the dog).  Of course the dog park was a big hit with Griffey and he even met 3 other dogs that were vacationing there.  The resort has a lodge type feel and our room actually looked like a log cabin, which was really cozy.

Another part of the surprise was that Charlie had booked a pre-natal massage for Katie for Saturday morning (he scored major brownie points for this ).  We went to one of the two restaurants for dinner which was a nice restaurant with views of the creek/mountains in the background.

Saturday morning, we had breakfast in the other restaurant on the resort's grounds which was very delicious and afterwords Katie headed to her massage appointment and Charlie went for a run at the nearby Ashokan Reservoir.  Katie was really thankful for the massage which really helped with some of her pregnancy aches and helped her relax.  Below are some of the pictures from Charlie's run.

Afterwords for lunch we drove into the town of Woodstock, which was only 10 minutes from the resort.  After doing some google searches, we learned that the famous Woodstock music festival was named for this town, but wasn't actually held in Woodstock.  It was held in Bethel, NY about 40 miles away.  Woodstock was a town where Bob Dylan lived, and it had a good name for the event.  The town of Woodstock was still a mecca for artists and musicians.  The town is really cute with lots of local shops some living up to the hippie stereo-type more than others.  We grabbed lunch at the Landau Bar and Grill and found a cute candle shop in which we bought several locally made candles.

After tiring ourselves out in Woodstock, we headed back to the room where Griffey was waiting for us and to go to the dog park.  For Saturday evening, we drove the other way to the town of Phoenicia, New York and found a local pizza place (Pizzeria Brio).

Sunday we hit the dog park one last time and then headed back to Jersey.  Charlie did such a great job at finding this place and Griffey agreed that it was the best family vacation ever.  (well actually I think it was his only vacation other than trips to Ohio).