The Ocean

Neither Derek not myself had ever seen the ocean before. That is, before our most generous gift-trip from my mom and Brian to Virginia Beach. They paid for us to stay at the Hilton. The HILTON!!!! Our hotel was on the beach. It. Was. Fantastic!

When we checked in, I mentioned that we were celebrating Derek's birthday (the BIG 3-0!), and we got upgraded to the executive 21st floor. You needed your key card to even get to this floor on the elevator. There was a "club" that had snacks and a mini fridge with tiny, cute glass bottles of pop. We sat in the lounge and looked out over the view while we waited for our room to be readied for us.

Our room was awesome! It was by far the fanciest room we've ever stayed in. It had an ocean view and a cute patio (too bad it was a bit too chilly to really enjoy it). The bathroom had a tv and telephone in it. It was the fanciest bathroom I've ever showered in.

We took a ton of pictures. It was pretty cool on the beach, but the sand was nice and warm. We enjoyed dinner at one of our fav restaurants that we only go to when we visit a larger metropolitan area (i.e. outside of Wisconsin), Macaroni Grill. Derek and I ate at this restaurant a lot when he would come and visit me when I lived in Virginia back in our courtship days. So, it holds special memories for us when we eat there. We had lunch at the hotel restaurant, and Derek had one of the best crab cake sandwiches I've ever tasted. In fact, I stole half of it. I was too wimpy to order my own, but if we ever go back, I definitely will be getting my own.

On the second day of our trip, we checked out of our room and hung out at the beach. Then, we visited a state park that had sand dunes. It was so much fun. This was also our very first weekend trip sans baby. My mom kept Faith for us for much needed grandma-baby time. We enjoyed some time to reconnect again as just a couple. What a blessing all around!

Now for some pictures...I enjoy taking pics in black and white, so the majority are in the median. Oh and of course, all pictures are copyrighted 2009. Hope you enjoy!

(Our hotel. Our patio is the very top floor, second one from the left.)

(A beautiful sunrise from our patio. Derek was up early and caught this amazing view)

(The view of the city at sunset from the roof of the hotel courtesy of Derek.)

(The hotel lobby had this really cool seashell water fountain that changed colors.)

(I love this picture. We could be on a vacation in Maui for all you would know by the looks of it!)

(The ocean)

(At the state park.)

(Those are birds on those posts, out on the water. It was pretty far away, and we didn't even see the birds until I zoomed in on my camera.)

(I always enjoy taking artistic pictures. Yeah digital cameras!)

(Derek took this really cool picture.)