a sealed envelope, a nutt, and one very tall baby

We really celebrate birthdays at our house. We celebrate the whole week leading up to your birthday. Normally for Kyle's birthday he gets one small gift each day. They're all hanging from a birthday banner, and each morning he gets to select a gift. Kyle hung small cards from the birthday banner this week. Each card had a clue which led me to a small gift (like pretzel M&Ms, yum!). Friday's card led me on a scavenger hunt through the house. I had to pack a bag, pick out some games, and then I would find our destination in the spice rack in the pantry. Well, the destination was in a sealed envelope that said, "To be opened at mile 30." So I had to wait until we had driven 30 miles before I could find out where we were going. I'm not good at being patient, but I'm very good at following directions. I didn't peek, even when I had the opportunity to look at Kyle's maps in his drawer. I didn't look- because I don't like ruining surprises.

At mile 30 I opened the envelope and found out that we were going to Granbury, Texas, and staying in The Nutthouse Historic Hotel. No comments, please, on the irony of the "Nutthouse" part. Kyle told me that he had read several reviews of the hotel and was looking forward to our trip. There was only one review that concerned him. It talked about experiencing paranormal activity in the hotel room. Specifically, the feeling that someone was watching the couple while they slept. Seriously?! That sort of thing freaks me out. You can read the review for yourself here.

The rooms at this hotel are decorated with early 1900 period pieces. And photographs, apparently. Photographs from this period are really odd to me. No one ever smiles. Family portraits look sad or angry because everyone is just staring blankly at the camera. I wonder what people will say about our family portraits one hundred years from now, though. "Why is everyone wearing white and khaki?" or "Why is that family standing in the middle of a field laughing?" or "Why is that bride standing barefoot in the middle of a barn by herself?" I digress. The first photograph that caught our attention was one of the very tall baby. Kyle immediately thought that was pretty creepy. He said that baby would make a pretty good ghost. Which one do you think is the most likely to haunt a hotel?


The very tall baby.


A happy family.


Another happy family.


I should have my picture taken like the lady on the right.


This lovely lady kept a watchful eye over our bed. Yikes!




I'll leave you with a photo of the way we ended our evening. It was perfect and heavenly and right. We enjoyed it. Twice. Yes, you should be jealous.










Come on, surely you didn't think I would post a picture of something else?!