Roam if you want to.... (Part Deux)

Okay, so something I forgot to mention yesterday about our dinner at Second Street...if you look at the picture of me in the restaurant you will see the lady-half of the couple that is sitting behind us. I'm horrible with names or I would be able to tell you their names. Sigh...instead I will just call them "the couple" and the story will seem less personal. "The couple" got there early enough to have the Early Bird Dining Special, which included an appetizer, salad or soup each, two entrees & a dessert to share! It's supposed to save you 30%, and yet I don't know how anyone would be expected to eat all that in one sitting! I'm getting off point...the reason I share this with you is because when their dessert finally arrived, it smelled SO GOOD that I had to look over and see what they were eating. They must have noticed my interest because a few minutes later, they were tapping me on my shoulder, and do you know what they asked? They wanted to know if I would like to eat some of their dessert! How sweet and funny. And believe it or not...I took them up on their offer! And it was delicious...a pumpkin crisp with a toasted pecan and coconut crust. Not only did I enjoy the dessert, but I loved getting to know this lovely couple that was so willing to share their food with a stranger. Outside of the man being a Carolina fan (visualize my mom rolling her eyes), we all had fun talking and joking with each other the rest of the meal. Isn't is fun when you get to meet new people, even if it is only for that one time?

Okay, back to our trip. After a relaxing and fun night #1, we did our best to fall asleep to a certain someone's snoring. Actually it helped me out to hear SOMETHING...anything. I realized that I am addicted to white noise. I didn't bring my little fan with me and suffered a tossing and turning kind of night. Needless to say, morning came just as I was getting settled into peaceful sleep. But hey...all I needed to hear were those magic two words to get me out of bed: OUTLET SHOPPING. That's right. Saturday we spent ALL day at the outlets. And let's just say that I did my part stimulating the economy.

Here's a picture of the trio before going to the outlets. Don't ask me why I am pointing my toes.
I didn't take any pictures of the outlets because: 1) I didn't want to lug my camera around and 2)I didn't want anyone to think I was a creep, taking my camera into dressing rooms and such! Ha! We really didn't leave the outlets until after dark, and after a quick bite to eat at some Italian/Steakhouse joint, my mom got her wish. She had been very keen on shopping at....

The Christmas Mouse. My mom loves loves loves all things Christmas and just can't pass up a Christmas Shop. It really is a bit OCD if you ask me. But, I think we all enjoyed seeing the lights, looking at the decorations and hearing some Christmas music. We looked at the entire store, top and bottom levels. One thing you would notice after a day of shopping with my Mom...she can not be hurried and if she likes the store, she will look at almost everything in the store. There is no casual browsing with this woman. So, after about an hour in the Christmas Mouse, I went outside to get my camera and take some outside shots.
Of course, they were taking sooooo long that I finally started taking pictures of them through the windows. I was kind of hoping they would get embarassed and therefore, make their selections quickly. Notice my mom is just smiling....probably thinks it is funny...my plan did not work!
FINALLY, I get them out of the Christmas Mouse, and it's back to the Inn for us! We had had a long day of shopping and wanted to relax. Instead of a board game, we decided to watch one of the DVDs that were available for B&B guests. After the movie, it was lights out! We were all so tired that I think we slept much better that night.

Day #3...our day to leave and go back home. Boo! Of course, this is the day that the sun decided to come out and stay. We decided to go back downtown and visit a couple more shops before we returned home. Of course, I wanted to document the breakfast table...Kathy (the owner) set a beautiful table for us each morning. Isn't this how you normally eat breakfast at your house?
Both days Kathy treated us to delicious fruits. I preferred the strawberry, melon, banana & pineapple medley from day #1 while my sister enjoyed this berry concoction day#2. We were also served french toast, bacon, omelettes and sausage....and of course, COFFEE!!!

We left the Inn and headed to Merchants Square in downtown Williamsburg. It was a cold and windy day, but so nice to see some sunshine!
On the way back home, we made one more stop for shopping. A few people had recommended that we stop in at the Yankee Candle store. Wow...it is quite a place! So much more than just candles...

This is a shot of only ONE HALF of the store....it really is huge!

Mom and Kelly are excited and ready to shop!

Not only did they have these cute Christmas cutouts for your kids, but they also had Santa and his sleigh available for photo ops.

Step into a magical world, where it is always nighttime and the stars are twinkling above. And if you stay for awhile, you will witness snow flakes fall from the sky. My kids would love this place!

Mom...come on....remember, Christmas Mouse? Bless her heart, she just can't help herself.

That's it from me! We left Yankee Candle and headed back to Raleigh, NC. I had such a great weekend and it was a perfect getaway. Thanks to my mom and sister for putting up with me. Hope that the next time we do this, AV will be able to go with us! She had to stay at home and be a good student. We missed you AV! Love to you all!