Babymoon-Day 1

With Spring Break here (finally!!), Jason and I decided we'd take a "babymoon" (like a honeymoon, but before the baby arrives) as all the books I'm reading and every new parent I know has advised. My parents had generously offered to let us use a week of their timeshare, but I guess everyone trades theirs in for this particular week (assumably must be lots of families also taking full advantage of Spring Break). We tried for anything near the hill country, outskirts of Dallas, or around Hot Springs, Arkansas...but to no avail. So we opted instead for a "staycation" rather than a full-blown vacation for several reasons...price, proximity to hospitals (just in case), and let's face it...I can't go long w/o a pee break these days!

Jason booked the Hyatt downtown for a few days, which was a great location--close to lots we could do. We started off at the Dallas Arboretum on Saturday afternoon. The weather was absolutely gorgeous...chilly with the wind off of the lake, but nice and warm in the sunshine. Many things were already in full bloom (which wasn't good for the allergies...why does that always happen at the prettiest times of the year?) and we enjoyed each moment.

After the arboretum, we had a little time to kill and drove around to see some of the madness of the St. Patty's Day parade over in the Lower Greenville area (funny!). We checked into our hotel amidst the hubub of all the runners of a big 1/2 marathon going on Sunday morning. After enjoying a leisurely nap, snack, and shower, we dressed and attempted to find The Grape, our venue for that evening's dinner. I say attempted b/c it was mass chaos--Greenville was still closed down from the St. Patty's Day festivities...I'd have to say it was the most beer bottles, trash, and general nastiness I've seen this side of New Orleans. We had to find a back way to the restaurant but made it just in time for our reservations. I'm soooo mad I didn't take pictures of the food (what kind of foodie AM I??) because its presentation was just as delightful as it was delicious. We shared flammekeuchen, an Alsacian pizza-type dish we haven't had since our trip to Germany. Each of us had a delicious salad, then I enjoyed the grilled salmon atop a parmesan risotto with spicy baked pita wedges while Jason opted for a barbeque type pork butt with spicy jalapeno slaw. To top it all off, we ordered the creme brulee, of course! Everything was absolutely delicious!! Here we are, outside The Grape restaurant/wine bar: