I had dreams of taking a tropical vacation, a week in Mexico or Costa Rica to celebrate the impending arrival of our bundle of joy. Unfortunately, as a result of a lot of travel we did during the beginning of the year, our travel budget was already stretched way too thin! We talked about going away for the weekend, somewhere local for a night a two. For some reason, we just never got it together. The holidays hit and we figured it was a lost cause.

Unexpectedly, my dad gave us a night at a hotel in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin as part of our holiday gifts. It was such a thoughtful present that I almost cried! And since we live in Chicago, Lake Geneva is only about an hour drive – a safe enough distance for us to get home quickly in the event of an emergency. So we planned it – the first weekend of January, we would take a weekend and get away, just the two of us.

 The snowstorm hit about five minutes after we pulled in to our hotel. Perfect timing! The charming place where we stayed, The Geneva Inn, was quiet, quaint and romantic.

So what did we do with our unexpected down-time?

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We talked a lot. Mr. Markers napped, I read. We had a fantastic dinner overlooking the lake that ended with a slice of turtle cheesecake.  We slept in the next morning. Of course I tossed and turned (and finished my book around 4am) but we were both able to just lie in bed and sleep in, as long as we wanted until we were good and ready to get up. This is one luxury I know to not take for granted as it is soon going away.

The next morning, we had a late breakfast at the best brunch place in town. Afterwards we browsed through the shops, and spent a bit of time in a toy store trying to imagine if our house will be filled with dolls and dress-up clothes or trucks and legos.

While it wasn’t the tropical vacation I dreamed of, it was the perfect time away. Not only to get out of the city for a few days, but for Mr. Markers and me to have time to reconnect in the midst of all this baby-growing madness. I’m so glad we were able to take time for ourselves one last time before this baby is set to arrive. Appropriately, we ended our pregnancy journey in the same place it began – Lake Geneva was where we went camping last summer when this baby was still our secret.

Full circle, as they say?