Danny and His Girls: The big 3-0

This year Danny turned 30 and we went all out. The week before his birthday we were able to go on a little getaway to Carmel. Our parents split childcare duties on Friday and Saturday. To save some money Danny suggested that we park in a campground and sleep in the car. He may have originally suggested a tent, but I vetoed that immediately:)

It was really fun to make the drive and be able to chat without handing books/snacks etc. to the back seat.

When we hit Carmel we drove straight down to Ocean Ave and found this really cute lunch place. Honestly this weekend was all about the food for me:) I had a filet and loved it.

After lunch we headed over to our main event-the Refuge spa. Danny had seen a review of the spa in Sunset magazine and wanted to try it. It was really fun. The basic philosophy is: 5-15 minutes of heat (dry suana or steam room) followed by a cold plunge then 15-20 of relaxation. You repeat this cycle 3-5 times over the course of a few hours. It was a coed spa so we were able to follow the cycle together ( in bathing suits obvs). It was really relaxing. I hated the steam room-it was anti-relaxing for me-I felt like I could suffocate and die in there, but the sauna was great. I never quite completed the cold plunge. After all the heat, you were supposed to dunk in an icy pool (one was supposedly the temperature of the ocean, and one the temp of an icy stream-both were seriously too cold to manage for me). The first time Danny walked in and he said that was hard. After that he found it easier just to jump in and out. Very refreshing I'm told:) After that we'd sit in some adirondack chairs around afire pit-Danny napped and I read my book (I was so lucky it was such a good one-Ice by Sarah Beth Durst). They had 6 other large pools to relax in as well in varying warm temperatures. After 3/4 cycles Danny went to get a massage and I jumped in a hot pool and read my book over the edge. It was bliss. AFter Danny returned we were as relxed as is humanly possible. I forced him to take a picture of his relaxed face before he got dressed again.

After our fun afternoon we went back into town and walked along the beach.

After so much relaxing and then a rich dinner at Il Fornio, poor Danny was sick most of the night. It was horrible-sick in a campground bathroom. Being the horrible wife that I am I felt lots of sympathy then slept really well all night. The car was way more comfortable than I had thought!

The next morning Danny was only slightly recovered but we headed to Point Lobos for a walk. The map claimed it was the most incredible meeting of land and water-and we had to agree.

Exhausted from so much fun we had brunch at my favorite little bakery on Ocean Ave. I love a good salted pretzel.

Later in the week Danny got some serious presents (we had been planning this purchase but it luckily fell over his birthday:) He bought a iMac and a iPad mini! He feels very established now.

We celebrated Danny's birthday with his family at the park. We played games and Jason brought his slackline so we could try it out. Danny was a natural-which I should have guessed given his skillful Claw.