Last weekend we had the rare opportunity to go away, just the two of us, for 48 hours, for our 22nd anniversary!
We spent two nights in Saskatoon at a lovely hotel with blackout curtains for sleeping in and a gorgeous autumn view!
Good friends offered to have our youngest three girls spend the day at their home so we could get an early start on our weekend, rather then waiting until Alesia, our 21 year old daughter, got home from work. So we did something totally different from the norm, and headed straight to the city to watch a storage locker auction! We’ve always wanted to see one locally, and it was pretty neat! Pretty much just like you see on tv. We thought it may be a good way to add some household furniture one day in the future, since our new-to-us home is rather large and rather empty at the moment.
However, when the first bid began at 400$, for a locker we felt was worth no more then 500$ at most, and went up over a grand… well… we realized this won’t be the way we will be furnishing our home. lol I guess I’ll keep watching the local used sites.
After the storage auction we had some time to kill before heading to the hotel, so we headed to a nearby mall. We don’t have any malls in our little town on the Saskatchewan prairies, and when we head to the city, there’s no time to hit the mall with kids in tow and grocery/household shopping to do! It’s over two hours to the city each way, so that’s over 4 hours of travel time each time we need to head to Costco!
One of the first shops I saw in the all was… LUSH! My favorite luxury bubble bath is sold at LUSH! Our new home is wonderful, but…
our.great.big luxurious tub has a GREAT.BIG.CRACK! It’s SO sad! We’re working on a fix though!
So… although baths are one of my most favorite things, I hadn’t had one since the move to our new place at the end of June! To find a LUSH shop, before heading to the hotel, was a great find! I got myself some yummy bubble bath! The weekend was looking even more promising now!
We did some ‘window’ shopping and then headed to the hotel for check in. I had time for a nice bubble bath before our dinner reservation and enjoyed every minute of my soak!
For dinner we again did something different from the norm! I had been able to purchase a groupon coupon for 50% off a meal at a Fondue restaurant right in the city. It had been YEARS since either of us had done fondue, since before marriage actually, so over 22 years!
When we sat down at our table, our menus had been custom made just for us, wishing us a happy anniversary, with menu specials just for us. It was a real nice touch!
We had a great time eating and visiting, with zero interruptions! Something that doesn’t happen often for a mom & dad of five chatty children kids! (our older two don’t like to be called children… I guess it has something to do with them being 21 and just about 19 now…)
The next day we slept in, and then did some sight seeing and hit some sales for winter gear. Coming from Vancouver Island and a much warmer winter climate, the kids and I were sorely lacking any true winter gear! I’ve been concerned that it would end up breaking us financially to suit us all up! However, thanks to some awesome deals and some fantastic thrift store scores, winter may arrive whenever it seems fit because we are now ready! What a relief!
We went out for a simple dinner on Saturday, nothing fancy but again simply enjoyed our time of conversation without interruption.
Sunday, we slept in again, had brunch, and then went for a nice long walk along the river boardwalk! It was a GORGEOUS day, as it has been every single day for the past month!
I really can’t get over the amount of sunshine here in Saskatchewan, especially in the autumn! I’m not sure if this is entirely ‘normal’ weather for this time of year here, but where it is or not, I’m going to enjoy every moment of it!
And if it is ‘normal’, I believe autumn on the prairies may just become one of my most favorite times of the year! It’s cool enough at night that there’s no longer any real bugs, yet it’s so gorgeous and hot during the day I’m sure if I took my kids to the lake they’d jump right in!
After our leisurely stroll along the water, we headed towards home. We made a detour because the store where I had been trying to purchase some on sale book cases (34.99, for FIVE shelf book cases!) said all three that I had back ordered were finally in! I was excited to pick them up and finally have a place to put all our books BEFORE my sister’s visit later in the week.
However, when we arrived at the store, they found only ONE book case was available for pick up as the other two had been damaged in transport. Ugh. We live well over an hour away from this store, and this was starting to become a real hassle! I had been to the same store in Saskatoon the day before, and they were unwilling to let me take home from THEIR current inventory, even though they had SEVENTEEN of these same book cases in their stock! lol How silly! I told the teller this, and she promptly wrote me up a rain check to use at ANY of their stores. Since I knew I was going to be heading back to Saskatoon later in the week to pick up my sister at the airport, there was hope that an end to this book case hunt may finally be in sight!
We continued on our way home with a quick visit to our favorite coffee shop, Tim Hortons!
And so ended our wonderful celebratory weekend away in the big city of Saskatoon!
