Two Thursdays ago was our 4th wedding anniversary! I can't believe how quickly time has flown by!
Now that we have a kiddo, we try to get away for a little bit to celebrate our anniversary and have some adult time.
Last year for our third anniversary my Dad kept Cora overnight for my first night away from my baby (she was 3 months old). We kept it low key, we got a hotel in the Frisco area to just get out of the house and relax, went to Ikea because that's where I wanted to go shopping :) and dinner at Maggiano's.
Last year for our third anniversary my Dad kept Cora overnight for my first night away from my baby (she was 3 months old). We kept it low key, we got a hotel in the Frisco area to just get out of the house and relax, went to Ikea because that's where I wanted to go shopping :) and dinner at Maggiano's.
Our third anniversary was really a similar excursion to our second, except that we stayed in a normal hotel, not a suite on the top floor of a giant hotel we could never afford to stay in. Oh and in that fancy hotel suite we brought On The Boarder (rather than ordering expensive room service).
This year was a splurge in the eating out department (similar to our 1st anniversary), but we couldn't get away overnight like we had the last 3 years. John made us dinner reservations in Fort Worth at Texas de Brazil. We ate there two years before for a friend's birthday celebration (she had just gotten through a divorce and we all wanted to do something special for her, we don't normally do such fancy birthday dinners!) but an expensive steak dinner wasn't in the budget and we were both dieting so we only enjoyed the all you can eat soup and salad bar. We've both been wanting to go back and have the whole experience ourselves and this was the perfect opportunity!
Dinner was delicious! I was really excited about their Lobster Bisque Soup, it's their signature soup and it is amazing!! I only had one bowl of it because I wanted to leave plenty of room for the meat portion of the meal but I could have seriously made an entire meal out of the soup!
On the Salad bar there is much more than your usual salad selections, tons of meats (pepperoni, salami etc) to go with salads, sushi, a large assortment of cheeses. There are also several warm side dishes like potatoes au gratin (delicious!), beans, rice, etc.
The Brazilian steak house experience did not disappoint when it came to the "meat" part of dinner. Everything was delicious! As we were realizing we were full and weren't really interested in several of the meat selections that were making their way around frequently but wanted to try two meats that hadn't come our way yet our server was really accommodating and we quickly got to mark those off our list to try!
As far as traditions go, we really bungled this year. We started a tradition our first anniversary of ordering a small cake from a local bakery to celebrate (because we ate the top to our wedding cake less than a month after our wedding) and using the overpriced wedding knife set with our names and wedding date engraved to cut the cake. We continued that with our 2nd anniversary and I honestly can't for the life of me remember if we did or not for last year but I really think we did (is it sad that I can remember in detail pumping milk for Cora, storing the milk, what we had for breakfast at the hotel but I can't remember if we had our traditional cake... mommy brain at it's finest!) This year I so completely forgot about getting a cake that the first time I thought of it was as I wrote this post and saw pictures of the pretty cakes in past years from previous posts. We also didn't exchange gifts. On the way to dinner John mentioned what the traditional gift material is for 4th anniversaries (Fruit/Flowers) and I had this moment of Oh Crap! when I thought he had gotten me a gift. Nope, it slipped his mind too until the day of.
We really enjoyed our night out and experiencing this unique dining together.
I can't say we'll be back to eat there any time soon, while it's fun - it is pricey compared to our normal eating out adventures (even more so than our usual "fancy" eating out...). It was a great experience though and I'm sure we'll do it again one day! I do think it's a better deal for your money than say going to a super fancy traditional steak house because I certainly ate far more than I would have with a traditionally served meal.
Next year for our 5 year anniversary we are planning to take a cruise! This will be both of our first cruise and we're really excited! Well, John is more excited than I am, I'm being the practical one that realizes we will have a 7 or 8 month old and a 2 1/2 year old to arrange child care for while we're gone for several days. John knowing my worry-wart tendencies is insisting that we book next month so that I can't back out or delay booking until it just doesn't happen... that and to save money by booking so far in advance.
What's your favorite splurge place to eat out?
Cruise recommendations?
Advice for leaving two small children in care for 4 or 5 days?
Mommies - don't forget to check out my post about Just Between Friends Fort Worth & enter for a chance to win a JBF Fort Worth gift certificate & grab the coupon to get in FREE!
Not sure if consignment sales are for you? Check out how much money we saved buying baby stuff for Cora here!
Today I'm linking up with Amanda and Crystal for Texas Tuesday!
Yay! Happy (belated) anniversary to you two. We’ve always wanted to try Texas de Brazil, but have always heard how expensive it was. We weren’t sure if it was worth it. Glad to hear it was delicious! Sounds worth it to me. I love your traditions! A cruise will be amazing. We’ve yet to do that, too. What cruise line are y’all going with?
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