BIRTHDAY SURPRISE VACATION!

Ian thought all of his birthday surprises were done after the surprise party with his family but they definitely weren't! I made sure Ian had gotten time off work on his actual birthday so that I could take him to Tobermory for a mini vacation.  It seems like everyone on facebook is going to Tobermory and with the pictures I've seen, we had to see it for ourselves!
According to Google Maps, the drive should have taken 4 hours. Challenge accepted! I made it in about 3 hours 40 minutes and beat google! We stayed at Big Tub Resort and I honestly didn't expect much from their website, but we were very surprised and will definitely be staying there next time we go. Two minutes away from the resort was a lighthouse that we were told to go see and since we didn't have plans to see the Grotto until the next day, we checked out the lighthouse and fell in love! The lighthouse was so cute, there were wild orchids everywhere, and the water was unbelievably clear!

 I kept telling Ian that I felt like I was in the real life Little Mermaid movie!

The only thing that made me incredibly nervous during our time at the lighthouse (or pretty much anywhere we went) were the signs warning you of the wildlife:

To say that I am afraid of snakes would be the understatement of the century! If given the choice between seeing a snake for 1 minute from a distance and only eating broccoli for a week, I would choose the broccoli without question!

After our time in town, we came back to the lighthouse to take in the views and I had brought my marinera skirt, so I got Ian to take some shots of me and I edited them and I LOVE what Ian got!

And we can't forget the most handsome birthday boy ever!

Here's the vlog for our first day on the surprise vacation!

For our second, and last day in Tobermory, I only wanted to go to the Grotto. It was a huge part of why I chose to come and I couldn't wait to jump into the cave and swim! Well, that didn't happen. Watch our day 2 vlog for the whole story, but we ended up coming back to the lighthouse to swim, which was really fun!

Since I love pink, I made sure I had my souvenir (there's water in that can, not pop)

We took a canoe trip where Ian did most of the work (thanks babe!)

Then it was time for swimming in the lake that was 13 degrees Celsius!! 

It took a while to get into the water, but I eventually got my picture on the Little Mermaid rock (yup, I named it!)

Here's our vlog for the last day of our trip!: