Anna's Girls' Getaway

We are coming up on Anna's 10th birthday, and in true Brown family tradition, this year was a birthday party year, something we save for significant milestone bdays like 5, 10, 13, 16, etc. Anna, however, suggested another idea in lieu of a party; she asked to have a girls' only spa weekend getaway with me and her cousins.  As one who dreads party planning and avoids it at all costs, I LOVED the idea.

 
This past weekend held the birthday weekend festivities in Franklin, TN having Emily and the girls meet up with us midafternoon on a Friday.  We stayed at a Hilton Homewood Suites and we LOVED our suite.  It was a perfect fit, perfect locale, and we allllll savored every last minute of our retreat away in honor of the soon-to-be birthday girl.  Well-chosen celebration, Anna!

 

 

 

 

 

The weekend's agenda.

First up was pedicures!

 

 

Next up was dinner.  Red Robin hit the spot.

Then we did just a {little} smidge of shopping.  The girls picked out a trio of bracelets that match to share between them. ❤️  They determined to never take them off to show their devotion to each other. Emily and I talked them into a more realistic, take-them-off-to-swim/shower-to-take-good-care-of-them-and keep-them-longer type of commitment. ;)

Then it was time for a dip and movies and snacks til one-ish in the morning.

Look at those adorable puffy, sleepy eyes the next morning.  Our hotel had a great free breakfast buffet, thankyouverymuch.

Then it was hair doin' time and back out to shop til we drop.

 

Anna rode every single escalator that crossed our path.  More than once.  She may be coming up on double digits, but thankyouLord there is still so much kiddo left to enjoy in that little heart.

Like I said, shopped til we dropped.  Anna spent all her $100 birthday cash on clothes and a little of her own at Build-A-Bear.

People were warming up to slighly hangry at this point, so it was time for a decent lunch.  Anna picked Carrabbas since there was no Olive Garden in the area.

We ended so full on salad and bread that almost no pasta got eaten at all. Ha!  We boxed it all up and saved it for dinner.  Perfect!

Then we headed back to the room for nail painting and more movie watching.

After that, there was a sad goodbye as Emily and the girls had to go back home that evening.  That was SUCH a bummer.  Anna and I had planned to stay a second night though, so I dropped her back in the pool to shake off the sad mood at their having to go. Cuteness overload!

I graded handstands and jumps galore. I timed laps and read a few pages of my book.

Then we settled in for a comfy cozy night of movies- a double feature we thoroughly enjoyed - as well as our tasty leftovers and snacks from earlier.  It was another late night!

 

 

We slept hard after that.  And slept in.  So much so that we missed breakfast and went for brunch at Cracker Barrel instead. 

Then we hit up a couple more stores before heading back home.  Hearts full, heads rested, bags stuffed with goodies to show Daddy back at home.  Bring on birthday #10 next week.  Anna girl rung it in like a champ!