Finley's Luxurious Weekend Getaway

By mid-week I had started to feel almost human again after two weeks of battling a vicious cold, and Finley had stopped waking up at night in a coughing fit. So of course Seth came back from Minnesota with a suspicious-sounding cough, and by the next day was a full-blown victim to whatever particular and awful strain of winter plague we had contracted.

He, at least, could take some cold medicine to make it tolerable, so we set out for the Eastern Shore on Friday, determined to beat traffic and enjoy our long weekend getaway. Seth had been gifted a duck hunt (complete with accommodations at a waterfront inn) months ago, and we had finally decided to schedule it.

For once, I was bummed to miss out on a hunting trip since I do kind of like duck hunting, but Seth convinced me to tag along by scoring an upgrade to the opulent Admiral's Suite and convincing me that the weather was going to be rotten anyway. (It mostly was.) So Finley and I enjoyed a little five-star pampering in our luxurious quarters.

By which mean, she was delighted to discover fancy chocolates on the pillow (and tore into them and stuffed one in her mouth before I even saw the little gold box).

She also fell wildly in love with the marble jacuzzi tub, insisting on several baths a day,

and lounging in an Egyptian cotton bathrobe afterwards.

To top it all off, she feasted on chick-fil-a in bed.

Seth caught his limit by 9am and by lunchtime was soaking bloody goose and duck meat in our sink, so I insisted on a field trip to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, where Finley climbed the lighthouse and learned how to drive a boat.

I squeezed in a little bit of Amy Time when the skies cleared, and did some kayaking around lovely St. Michaels (a summer sailing town that we pretty much had to ourselves this time of year).

That night we took the little beast out for a nice dinner, at which she devoured real Maryland crabcakes like a pro and loved the oysters.

We made it home Sunday just in time to beat the snow!

and had Monday to recover. Which meant a trip to Whole Foods (in her gorgeous new girasol wrap) for Finley and 100 loads of laundry for Mom and Dad.

In the spirit of our "still goin' strong" family new year's resolution, though, we braved the suddenly biting cold wind and spent the afternoon in the city at the National Museum of Natural History, where Finley loved the dinosaurs and the gemstones, and actually licked the earth's oldest known rock. And got to do this. We love the Smuthsonian.

Now we're tackling the short week, which means lab research (Seth) and papers we should have written over the weekend (yours truly) before we race off to Tampa this weekend (hopefully beating this nor'easter that's been all over the weather news.)

The photos of the week are of Finley's goose stew tasting. Which, to be honest, she liked just fine. She's just become a little bit of a ham at dinner.