The Ligon Life: The Dirty Thirty: Harris Edition

Last weekend, that sweet hubby of mine turned the big 3 - 0! For about a month and a half prior to his birthday, I had been keeping a surprise from him, and it was just about to burst out of me, so I am glad the birthday weekend arrived when it did!

Thursday evening, we dropped Lucy off with a babysitter for the weekend. I think this was Harris' first inclination that we might be doing something fun for the weekend (prior to this, I had only told him that he needed to take Friday the 30th off work). At this point, Harris really wanted to know where we were going, but I held out, and tortured us both a little longer. All I would tell him was that we needed to be out of the house by 6am Friday morning!

Friday we were up bright and early, of course. I finished packing us up, and then finally clued him in to our destination - Philadelphia! Harris loves Philly, so I knew he would be pleased with the locale of the celebration, but I was still holding out on him, so the drive up was still a bit torturous for me! See, I had arranged for two of his best buds from college, Brett & Josh to meet us in Philly. Brett and his wife, Whitney live in Pittsburgh, and Josh and his wife, Nicole, live in Chicago. Brett, Harris, and I were quire the trio back in college, so it is always fun to see him, and I am pretty sure I haven't seen Josh since Harris' ring ceremony back in 2005!

Long story short, we made it to Philly, and checked into our awesome hotel, The Hotel Monaco (which totally reminded me of Alice in Wonderland, and I loved it!), just in time for me to tell Harris we were going to lunch. We walked a few blocks, wandered into a local joint, where Harris followed me as I charged through the restaurant to a table in the back where his eyes about popped out of his head when he saw his buddies sitting there! It was so worth the planning, nervousness, and anxiety about giving it away!

It was so great to be able to surprise him in such a way, and I think he really loved being able to show other people all the things he loves about Philly. We spent Friday afternoon walking around Old City and down to Penn's Landing, and then over to the Reading Terminal Market. We then had tickets to the 7pm Phillies v. Met baseball game, where I had secured us some pretty sweet seats, if I may say so. They were in the Diamond Club, which was a little over-hyped in our opinion - I mean, yes, it was nice not to have wait in line for drinks or food, and to have an air-conditioned club we could go into, but the seats were fantastic - right behind home plate, 17 rows up! The game ending up going 14 innings, which meant we were at the ballpark until almost 1am, and I don't think my birthday boy could have been happier!

Saturday we all made it to breakfast, and then down to the Navy Yard for the International Beer Expo. Now, not being a beer drinker myself, I couldn't honestly tell you what the selection was like, but all the beer drinkers did seem pretty impressed! It was actually a really awesome festival - so much space that we never felt like we were all cramped up together, especially considering the sheer number of people there - there were some really great booths set up, and everyone seemed to have a really great time!

We spent the afternoon walking along South Street, had some cheesesteaks, and then ended up at a cocktail bar on the rooftop of our hotel. Sunday, we made it to a nice birthday brunch before everyone had to leave town. Overall, I would deem the weekend a success!

Harris, Happy 30th! I love you so much, and am so glad you were born :) I am so happy to have spent these last 11 birthdays with you, and I cannot wait to celebrate every one for the rest of our lives. Here's to many, many, many more birthdays together!