And ... RELAX!!

I cannot even begin to tell you how awesome my weekend was. Okay I can. But the main reason it was so great was because we had NOTHING planned. The wife and I took our first weekend away - weekend away ALONE - since moving to Boston ... and didn't make any plans for it ... besides getting out of the city. We used this last weekend as a belated Birthday celebration for Tori (she turned 32 on July 18) and headed to Camden, Maine. It is about three hours from Boston We rented a nice little cottage for a couple days - thank you LivingSocial ... and it was

GLORIOUS!!

We both had wicked stressful weeks so we were so looking forward to some downtime.

We were able to sneak out of town before noon on Friday (July 27) and headed North.

Camden is about 3 hours from Boston, but we took our time getting there. Camden is a cute little coastal town so I knew Tori would love it.

We got to our cottage and was greeted with this lovely view:

Peaceful.

After getting settled we headed down to explore the downtown ... and of course hit Happy Hour. It is vacation! ;)

After enjoying the local cuisine, it was time to get back to the cottage and call it an early night ... but not before testing out the jacuzzi, catching the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics and enjoying an adult juice box. :P

I was wicked excited to sleep in on Saturday - but ooohhh no! My body woke me up before 6am. Why thank you internal clock - way to kick in on my off days. Sheesh!

Saturday was a nice - take it as it came - kind of day.

It started off by me kicking some booty at mini golf! Don't knock the stance, I got not one, but TWO Hole-in-Ones during the 18 hole course.

After grabbing some freakin' awesome lunch at a local establishment (I had ribs for the first time in ages and they were finger lickin' good!!), we went off to try some local vino.

We ended up at Cellardoor Winery and took part in a tasting. We were able to try six different types of wine ... and NONE disappointed.

We left the winery with 6 bottles of wine ... shocker! :O)

After the winery, I took a nap. I cannot tell you the last time I took a nap ... and it was GLORIOUS!!

It was overcast on Saturday night, but that didn't stop us from enjoying a Sunset Cruise. Well, we didn't end up seeing a sunset, but  it was so serene and peaceful on the boat that I was okay with not seeing one. Plus, being on a boat makes the wife so happy that the trip was worth it just for that.

We went out on the Schooner Olad, which normally holds 22 people - but thankfully our trip had just six people on it - so it was nice and calming. :)

We got back to land at about 9pm so we just found a local pizza joint to hit up - the guy legit sounded like Mario from Super Mario Brothers - which entertained Tori to no end.

I of course had to try the jacuzzi out again before heading out on Sunday.

Once again my internal body clock woke me up before 7am on Sunday ... so we were off early.

We grabbed our Dunkin Donuts, played some Phase 10 and packed up since we had to check out by 11am.

The great thing about driving home was that we could stop off anywhere we wanted on the way back.

So as we left Camden just before 11am - and the rain that was predicted for the whole weekend finally started to fall - we decided to make a pit stop in Ogunquit on the ride home.

Ogunquit is one of my favorite spots in Maine ... and quickly becoming one of Tori's as well. :)

So we stopped there for lunch and a quick walk on the beach - we also called this "delaying the end of vacation." :P

It was finally time to head home. Despite some traffic, we made it home before 5pm. Thank goodness. When we got home from Chicago, it was almost midnight.

The pups were excited to see us when we got home and in a snuggly mood, which made coming home just a little easier.

Even though our vacation was about 48 hours along, it was EXACTLY what we needed. Just a weekend for the two of us to get away and hang out with each other ... and RELAX!!

I'm so thankful to have the opportunity to do these sorts of adventures now ... and having built-in puppy sitters in the house!! ;)