Danielle Burkleo

our anniversary

All Posts, Life + Home, Travel0
for the past few months i had been keeping a little secret from caleb. i saved my pennies, lots of them, and booked a night away for just the two of us for our six year anniversary. we have never been away together alone since having kids. uh. what? what is wrong with us? i don’t know the answer to that question. we have always made date nights and alone time a priority in our marriage, but never got away for the night until now. i mean, as much as a of priority as it can be with three kids 4 and under and a certain child who beats the door the down every night at 7:30 fighting bed time. and i’m not naming any names but he might be turning three in november. 
so i told him to take two days off from work and that i had a surprise for him… but didn’t tell him where we were going. early friday morning we got in the car and, with no GPS plugged in as to give anything away, i just told him the direction to drive in and when to turn. i love surprising people, and i am darn good at it, if i do say so myself. 
a little under two hours later we pulled in to our destination. 
mohonk mountain house. a place that holds a lot of memories for me that i have been wishing and hoping to share with caleb for a long time. my grandmother took my sisters and i here once or twice a year for many years throughout our childhood. i think the last time i was here was on my 13th birthday. i wrote my grandma a letter while we stayed there to thank her again for the gift of this. this place is so dear to me. to have been able to have experienced as a child, a little girl, is something i will never forget. tea and cookies at four o clock, getting dressed up all fancy for dinner in the dining room at night, live music in the parlor every night, ice skating and snow tubing in the winter, swimming in the lake and boating in the summer, the list goes on and on. 
it is something really special to re-visit a place that is so important from your childhood and see it now through your eyes as an adult. it gives me nostalgia so sweet. if you are ever in new york, or looking to book a getaway to a new place… go here. i can’t speak highly enough of it. 
here is a picture overload for you… cause you know i love picture overloads:

we hiked as soon as we got there on friday morning. and then after lunch, we said – let’s hike it again but do the labyrinth this time! um. yah. little did we know what was ahead of us in the labyrinth climb. it was an amazing. we were climbing and crawling through tiny holes that led out to hundreds of feet of jagged rocks where you felt like you were on top of the world. and then we climbed the crevice … it’s name says it all:

go away with your husband.
save some money for time away for just the two of you.
make some memories.
0

Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. i wannnnt to go there. i seriously looked it up after seeing your instagrams. it looks awesome. happy anniversary!

  9. good on you guys! everything looks so beautiful, i'm jealous in a holy, happy for you kind of way 🙂

  10. ok, so that black and white of you two that i think you had on ig? my favorite.
    super, super hot.
    i can't wait to get away, currently trying to find a place to do so!

  11. When I get me a husband, I'll follow your advice. Sounds like lots of fun and you sure took some pretty pictures! 🙂

    -Lindsey

  12. sounds like you guys had a great time and well worth the surprise! i'm w/ you we haven't had a vacation together alone since before having kids..what's wrong with us! 🙂 it's my goal to make it happen by our 6th anniversary next year!

  13. what a wonderful gift you gave him! We need to do this! We've yet to go anywhere together since our son was born- 2 1/2 years ago! WE NEED TO DO THIS! Great pictures!!!!

  14. Love it! Might look into going there.
    Just wanted to tell you – you look fantastic!!!! Can't believe you have 3 kiddos under 4 and look so great.
    Very inspirational!

@danielleburkleo