Our first family vacation

The main hotel (this should look familiar to Dirty Dancing movie buffs)

The gazebo where Baby informed Johnny of a "situation" with Penny

This is the lake at the Mountain Lake resort. It is one of only 2 naturally-made lakes in Virginia. Due to low rainfall this year, the water level was down.

The boat dock

Our cabin

Lily and me on the porch of the cabin

We just returned tonight from our first family vacation! This trip was a complete surprise to me. I learned of this excursion on Tuesday when flowers were delivered to my work with a card that said that the baby and I were going to Virginia this weekend with Carl. The reason for the trip was to celebrate our dating anniversary (a little early). What a surprise! To top things off, Carl took us to Mountain Lake, the film location of Dirty Dancing, one of my all-time favorite movies. The resort is in the mountains of Virginia and is just what our family needed - some r &r in peaceful surroundings.

Lily was truly perfect from start to finish on this trip. We did not even have any meltdowns on the 6-hour drive there and back. As Carl said, there are not many 22-month-olds that could sit through a four-course dinner without any problems (the normally forbidden fries that Lily was served was one of the main reasons for her contentment during the meal). The only disruption she made at all was when Carl excused himself to go to the bathroom at the end of the meal, Lily (very loudly) announced to the entire restaurant that dada was going "poo-poo potty". Everyone got a good chuckle out of that , except for maybe daddy.

Overall, the trip was wonderful. The surroundings were so serene, you couldn't help but feel relaxed. And, of course, I LOVED the Dirty Dancing connection and seeing first-hand the backdrop to the movie. Despite having a bit of a cold and some major allergies acting up, I truly had the time of my life, and I owe it all to Carl and my baby:)