Belt Testing

In February both my middle son and my hubby tested for their next belts in karate. Our middle child has been taking lessons for about six months. He is now an orange stripe (halfway to his orange belt). While he didn't really want to take lessons, he has since come to like them for the most part. 

My hubby has been taking lessons for about a year. He is now an orange belt. He really enjoys the lessons and practices quite a bit. I'm glad he has something that he can do together with the boys (our youngest takes lessons as well). 

Ten Things I Love...

...about my husband.

Last year I decided very last minute to do a 12 Days of Christmas celebration for my hubby. Yes, I realize the 12 Days really start on Christmas, but I opted to do this as a count down to Christmas. You see, my hubby is a very content man and would much rather celebrate his boys and I than himself. And, honestly, he's hard to buy for! This way, I can get him little things he needs and he's thrilled. Seriously.

So far this year I have given him....

Day 1 - The board game Ticket to Ride. It's one we've been wanting for a long time. We've been playing it a lot and he, ever the nerd, is even keeping a "Top Ten" score list.

Day 2 - Two drink coozies.

Day 3 - Three bottles of wine

Day 4 - Four of his favorite snacks: pistachios, honey roasted almonds, beef jerky, and sweet & salty Chex mix.

Day 5 - New undies

Day 6 - New t-shirts (although I either bought the children's size or they seriously shrunk in the wash so I owe him a new pack)

Day 7 - A seven minute back scratch

Day 8 - New socks

Day 9  - 6 packs of Tic-Tacs and 3 new handkerchiefs

Day 10 - The top 10 things I love about him - this very blog post! (Apparently last year I did this for Day 12.)

Ten Reasons I Love My Hubby

• He loves me unconditionally. How do I know? He shared this link on his Facebook page and really does mean what it says. He shows me every single day.
• His sense of humor. The photo above of him sticking out his tongue? That happens a lot. Of course, he just doesn't like his photo taken, but he does make me laugh often.

Many moons ago - hiking with his sister.

• His work ethic. He works very hard to support our family and I'm very grateful.
• His love for the Lord. Yes, this probably should be the first reason. 
• He's a great father. He loves our boys immensely and isn't afraid to show them. 
• His generosity. Just the other day we went out to eat as a family and he paid for the meal of a woman eating alone at the restaurant as well as bought drinks for a man there alone. These aren't things he would normally share and he doesn't for one reason - he doesn't want the recognition. He just thinks it's a good thing to do if you can.
• He has the voice of reason in our marriage. I'm a pretty impulsive person. I don't always think things through thoroughly. He is always there to not only support me but to make sure I look at all the issues. I may not always like this but I do appreciate it.

At his brother's wedding last fall.

• His love of family. 
• The best example of what a good and godly man is for our boys. In fact, I just told my boys the other day that if they treated their wives as good as their father treats me, they will make her very happy. 
• His ability to make me smile even when I don't want to.

Merry Christmas, honey! 

Celebrating My Husband

My hubby can be a bit picky about what he likes. He does a lot of research before purchasing anything and always knows exactly what he wants before buying. It's certainly not a bad quality, but it makes things a bit hard at gift giving time. Over the year I've just learned to give him some small fun things for his birthday or Christmas or anniversary and then he would go buy something he really wanted.

However, this Christmas I decided to do something a bit different based on some of my blog and Facebook readings. I had stumbled upon an idea that I put in to play this Christmas season. I have chosen to celebrate my husband for the last 12 days leading up to Christmas.

Over the past 11 days, he has received a gift based on that number day. So far I've given him:

Day #1 - A large old-fashioned wall map (he loves maps) which I didn't realize until it arrived was actually a huge wall sticker. We haven't figured out where to put it yet, but he assures me he does like it.

Day #2 - A warm pair of boot socks

Day #3 - Three snacks. I gave him chocolate covered almonds, chocolate covered peanuts, and trail mix. He ate some of these and then shared the rest with his employees.

Day #4 - More snacks. This time I bought him four different packages of beef jerky. He shared that he always keeps jerky in his truck to snack on which I hadn't realized.

Day #5 - Five movies from the cheap bin at Wal-Mart. These were all movies either my son told me my hubby liked (he was with me when I bought them) or ones I knew he had watched over and over on TV.

Day #6 - I was struggling to figure this one out so he ended up with a six-pack of beer. I put it in the fridge in a brown paper bag with a bow on it and waited to see how long it took him to find it. One thing I should share is I hardly ever buy him beer. In the 20 years we've been married, I think I've purchased him beer maybe three or four times. This made it a huge deal for him and the smile on his face was worth it.

Day #7 - A collage frame with 7 openings and photos from our family pictures taken this past fall.

photo credit: KimberlyMichelle Photography

Day #8 - He had mentioned he would like some chocolate covered cherries for his time off work at Christmas so I got him eight boxes. Needless to say this one was a surprise as well. He brought some of these to work too.

Day #9 - Nine pairs of workout socks (he just started a karate class plus a kickboxing class).

Day #10 - Ten new white t-shirts (they sell them in packs of 5!)

Day #11 - A $110 gift certificate to his favorite store - Cabela's (this is really the largest gift he'll be getting from me)

Day #12 - This blog post with 12 reasons why I love him.

Twelve Reasons I Love My Husband

1. He loves God and continues to grow in his relationship with him. 

2. He loves me unconditionally. 

3. He works hard every day to provide for his family. I can't tell you how huge this is for me. I look back at where we started - two very broke college students who decided to get married in a whirlwind of emotions - to where we are today. We are now two stable, loving adults who have a wonderful family led by a man who loves us all very much. I may or may not have gotten a bit choked up saying this very thing to him while we had dinner at the CN Tower this past summer in Toronto. We took a seven day trip to Canada to celebrate our 20th anniversary. 

4. I probably shouldn't tell him this one, but I love how he always breaks out in to song. This may mean that I'll hear him singing non-stop for the next few days, but it may be worth it. Typically they are songs of his own design. Tunes you may recognize, but I can almost guarantee the words will be of his own making.

5. I sometimes wake up suddenly to find his face inches from mine. He'll have a silly grin on his face and a small little smile. I may be grumpy, but I love that he does this...just not every day thankfully!

6. That he can fix or build just about anything. While he may chose not to fix things these days (I now have an appliance repair man on speed dial!!), he has the capability to do so. It has saved us tons of money over the years and we've had some amazing things simply because he had the necessary skills to build it himself. Case in point...his summer project which he built with the help of a friend...our new backyard deck and patio

7. He's a shrewd businessman. We used to talk about how "one day" he would start his own business. The Lord provided a company for him in a different way and way sooner than we ever expected, but has continued to bless us on this journey. He just celebrated his second year of owning the business. 

8. He continues to want to grow our relationship. He's a great role model for the boys on how a man should treat a wife. (Although, last night we did clear the living room pretty quickly when we started kissing. Always great fun. HA!)

9. He is usually pretty patient with both the boys and I. Sometimes we really need that.

10. He's an extrovert. I'm not. We are pretty much the poster children for "opposites" attract and not just because of our personalities. 

11. How even after 20 years together, we are still learning things about each other. 

12. He is my biggest cheerleader and supports all of my crazy ideas, even when he'd rather not.

I can truly say that after all this time together, I still love my husband - even more than I ever thought was possible and even when he annoys the snot out of me - which he still does from time to time! We are certainly not perfect, but thankfully we have learned a thing or two about relationships over the years and my annoyance rarely lasts long these days.

I'm not sure if I'll do the 12 days of gifts again next year, but I know that this year, it was worth every creative thought I had to use to pull it together. 

I love you, sweetie. Merry Christmas!

Blink

I've been neglecting my poor little blog of late. Life has really been coming fast lately. I've been sharing some of my progress with the program I'm participating in the gym. Needless to say, it's been taking up a lot of my time leaving little left over for other things.

But God has a way of slowing things down.

Last Monday night we were all enjoying a quiet evening at home together. My hubby and all the boys were sitting on the couch watching TV and I was catching up on email after a busy day running hither and yon. My hubby began complaining of a loud buzzing noise - like the sound of a wind-up toy. He asked the boys to knock it off, but they weren't playing with anything like that. We realized that he had a loud buzzing noise just in his left ear.

We didn't think much of it that night as he's been sick for the last six weeks first with a head cold, than bronchitis, than the norovirus (or whatever that 12-hour nasty thing was called) and he still had a lingering cough. However, things changed in a blink Tuesday morning.

My hubby woke up and had a mild headache (he has migraines from time to time) so he decided to take some ibuprofen and sleep a bit more. When he woke up later in the morning he called me in to the bedroom to tell me he was extremely dizzy and just didn't feel right. In fact, when he tried to stand up, he fell back to the bed. He then told me he had numbness and tingling all down the left-side of his body.

I was thinking it might be an inner ear issue. I, myself, had a similar problem when I was in college. However, the numbness and tingling threw me for a loop so I called my sister for a "medical consult." She's worked as an ER nurse for the last 20 years and I trust her explicitly with questions like this. She felt it would be best to go have things checked out at the ER so off we went.

In the ER, they too felt it was an inner ear issue and gave him meds for his headache and the dizziness. He also had some nausea (and soon some vomiting) so he got some drugs for that as well. To be safe, they did a CAT scan which came back clear. I remember clearly when the PA came in and told us that he had not had a stroke. We thought we'd soon be released to go home. Or at least that was my thought until I realized that the PA only thought the numbness and tingling was in his head region. We explained that it was his entire left side. After she consulted with the neurologist, we were soon admitted to the floor for "observation" and the plan to do a MRI in the morning.

Hubby doesn't remember a lot of Tuesday or Tuesday night simply because he had some "good drugs" on board for his headache and nausea/vomiting. He slept really well that night.

Wednesday morning I arrived and they soon took him down for an MRI. I have to confess, the nurse and I had a bit of fun with the poor man. During his stay, they had him on telemetry to monitor his heart. This means he had to wear those nice little stickers on his chest with the unit hooked to it. In preparation for the MRI, those stickers had to be removed. I will say that the nurse and I had way too much fun doing that to the poor guy. He was a great sport though.

And then - in a blink of an eye - we heard the diagnosis we never thought we'd hear for a 39-year-old man. My hubby had had a minor stroke. The MRI showed that he had four small blood clots in the posterior carotid arteries - the ones that go up the back of the neck. Three were very, very, very tiny, but one was about half the size of my pinky fingertip. Needless to say, it was shocking to think he had had a stroke Monday night.

The PA who took care of him in the hospital was fantastic. She came directly in to us as soon as she had the diagnosis and explained it all to us without talking down to us. She explained about all the tests he would be having and they would be doing them as soon as possible. She was right. Within 15 minutes of her leaving the room, he was off to have another scan (which meant the newly replaced telemetry stickers had to be removed for the second time that morning!), a lot of blood work drawn, an EKG (another set of stickers - seriously I'm not making it up!), and finally an echocardiogram.

The medical staff did not know what caused him to throw the clots so they wanted to check his blood clotting (we're still waiting for those results), his blood flow (the MRA with contrast scan that was done) and his heart (EKG and echo). To date, all of his results have come back negative. So we still do not have a definitive reason for the stroke.

However, for the last 10 years my dear hubby has had borderline high blood pressure and he has sweet talked his way out of many a doctor visit without getting medication for it. This could have been a contributing factor.

He was in the hospital from Tuesday until Friday morning. The extended stay really had a lot to do with his blood pressure. It was simply too high for him to be released. Until they could be sure the meds they had put him on were working, he needed to stay. Added to that, it wasn't until Thursday that the dizziness stopped so he was still a bit unsteady on his feet.

Needless to say, this has been a wake up call for both of us. He is doing very well and is home. He still has some left-sided numbness and tingling (the ride side of the brain controls the left side of the body which is why the clots on the right are affecting his left side) and the buzzing/ringing in his ear. However, that all seems to be getting better which is great.

We are very thankful it wasn't worse. He never lost motor control, muscle control, or speech. It was, however, a cerbrovascular accident (CVA) otherwise known as a stroke. He left the hospital on four meds (two for his blood pressure, one for his cholesterol, and a high dose aspirin). He is taking it easy this week - no driving and no more than half a day of work. He's only  planning to go in to the office two days but he is putting in some hours at home. He's taking the week to recover and rest. We realize that even though it was minor it was still a stroke. We are thankful for God's providence in caring for him though and we are using it to make some changes in our lives.

16 years ago today....

...I married my best friend. It's hard to imagine we were ever that young. Hubby was a mere baby at age 20 & I was the "old" lady at 21. If you'd like to read some of our wedding memories, I blogged about them earlier HERE and HERE.

In honor of our sixteen years together, here are "16 Things I Love About My Husband" and these are in no particular order.

#1

He gets up early every morning, drives at least an hour to work (unless he's "in the field" elsewhere) and is excellent at his job. He has many night meetings (planning boards) during the week & sometimes doesn't get home until close to 11pm or later and then gets up by 5:30 & does it all over again. He does ALL of that so I can stay at home & take care of our children. He works extremely hard for us & I love him dearly for it.

#2

His logical mind. Seriously. I can't believe I'm admitting this though. ;-) I am SO not logically. I am the creative free-spirit in this relationship. Thankfully we do complement each other. I know that if I ask him for his opinion on something I want to jump in to, that he will see all the pitfalls I missed. And I keep him young. ;-)

#3

That he bought me a Suburban - which I LOVE, but he wishes he could drive all the time. Instead he drives, what I call, "the clown car." It's a Geo Prism and it's tiny. He folds his six foot frame in to it each & every day for that long commute while the boys & I have the roomy Suburban - and I love him for it.

#4

All that gray hair of his! He swears it's all due to me & the boys, but for whatever reason - I do love it. Especially because it makes him look slightly older than me. And if it doesn't, for all that's good in the world - don't tell me!!!! But I love it on him.

#5

I love how he reads my blog & Facebook each day to keep up to date on what I'm doing. Any odd or weird comments from "anonymous" on here are probably from my hubby.

#6

He loves me more & I love him more than we did the day he wrote what's below....

This is one side of the stairs at camp that lead to the sleeping loft. Every time someone stays, they write who & when on the stairs. We're now on to the other side, but this was written on our honeymoon 16 years ago. Yes, all, he convinced me to go to camp for our honeymoon. It was my first time ever going & I had no clue what I was agreeing too but I did agree to one night. Then I made him take me to Camden - to a bed & breakfast - for a couple more nights.

#7

I love that the day after we got married, we stopped again in the tiny town we were wed & my darling hubby was baptized. At the time he had been a Christian for about a year. My childhood pastor wed us & asked hubby if he'd be willing to do this as they were planning a baptism for that Sunday. So we did.

#8

I love that he can build stuff like this:

without any plans of any kind. I showed him a bunch of different photos on line & he built it. He did a very rough sketch & built it. I love how handy this guy is & the things he can fix & build & make. Wait until you see the house plans he's making for us!

#9

I love that he is almost a full foot taller than me. Whenever he gives me a hug, I fit right under his chin. When that happens, I'm pretty glad I'm so short.

#10

I love that he lets me drag him places he'd rather not go just because he likes spending time with me. Places like homeschool conventions, clothes shopping, and (on the rare occasion) chick flicks.

#11

I love that he simply cannot take a serious photo. Really. This is what I usually get & he always knows - well almost always....

#12

I love that he loves my cooking. I'm not as good of a cook as his mom. My food is a lot blander. I need to learn to use me some spices I know. But he loves it all the same.

#13

I love that he likes to cuddle up to me at night to go to sleep. And he doesn't complain when I stay up so late at night that by the time I crawl in to bed, he's sound asleep. But he will usually roll over in his sleep all the same.

#14

I love how he likes to play games with us - even though he wins 9 times out of 10. One of our favorites is Settlers of Catan. This photo was taken a two years ago at camp. We played it again this year. Plus we learned how to play Mancala & hubby won most of those games too.

#15

I love how he watches me when I don't know it.

#16

I love how we have been married for 16 years & I love him more than I did then. I never really understood that concept. I suppose it's one you have to live. Marriage is far from easy & we have certainly had our rough spots but getting through those & learning from them is what strengthens a marriage.

Thanks, honey - for sticking around the last 16 years. I know that the next 16 (and more) will be even better. I love you. Happy Anniversary.

Your Invited

I just want to start this post off with an apology. I know, not well written of me is it. I was far too lazy to scan these photos so they are photos of photos. Sorry!

One of the blogs I enjoy reading is called SmallWorld. The author & her hubby are celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary all month & having a neat contest. Go check it out...

********************

This July, the 17th to be exact, my hubby & I will celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary. Sixteen years with this man. Sometimes I just stop & think on that for a bit & wonder at the amazement of living my life with one man for so long. And the fact that we are still best friends. That we still have lots to talk about. And that we still enjoy spending lots of time together. It really does get better over the years.

When hubby & I decided to get married it was quick. I mean really quick. We left college for the summer in May. We were dating. Seriously. But still just dating. We hadn't talked about marriage. And while I hesitate to post something like this here, I'm going to come out all honest to everyone. We were living together. Just dating. Not married. My hubby was a new Christian & I was making my way back to the faith of my youth. But we were living together & that didn't sit right with us. God nudged us though.

We went to church with a childhood friend of my hubby's while we were here. Hubby ran in to an old friend there & she asked if I was his wife. Um, nope, this is my girlfriend. When he told me about that conversation later I told him that we should just get married. We loved each other. We were living together. We needed to make it right. So we did. Two months later.

We did the ultimate budget-friendly wedding. My MIL made my dress for only about $100. Hubby rented his tux. We were going to forgo a church wedding & having something outside at my in-law's house. We decided in the end to go for a church wedding. We did a lovely wedding at a church where my childhood pastor preached. We had our reception at the local YMCA rec room which we were able to use for free since both of my parents worked there at the time. We had friends & family cook food for the reception. My MIL knew a lady who made cakes & did that for us. My mom worked a different job near a local florist & made a deal with them for flowers. It was all in who you knew in our small town & what kind of deal you could get.

On occasion I would go to work "in the big city" with my hubby & spend the day at the mall scoping out stuff for our wedding. I wasn't sure what I was going to do for invitations until I was checking out the local Hallmark store there one day. That's when I found these....

a photo of my actual scrapbook page

The outside has silver lettering that says "With this ring I thee wed..." And inside it's a fill-in-the-blank invitation. So I found some calligraphy pens & hand wrote each & every one. I think I sent out about 100 invitations. Since it's been 16 years, I can't really recall how much I spent, but I know it was only about $20-30 total.

But I really did like these invitations. I liked everything about my wedding. It was small. It was personal. And it was wonderful to be married to the man I love.

And since that time not only has our marriage grown stronger over the years, but so has our relationship with God. For He is the real reason our marriage has grown stronger.

Snow Tubing

Sometimes it's nice to have a few connections. ;-) My hubby is a civil engineer who works for a small survey/engineering company. He's been there now for about five years. They do a lot of subdivisions & in our part of the state - a lot of those are near ski resorts - big & small. One that he has been working with lately offered to let us come to the mountain & go snow tubing (since none of us ski - I know - we live in Maine & we don't ski - have you ever checked the prices for that little sport? Enough said....LOL)

It just so happened that hubby had President's Day off so we headed two hours west of where we live to go snow tubing. Nuts I know but they were free tickets & snow tubing isn't exactly inexpensive either!

Our boys were beyond thrilled. Me, well, let's just say I was glad for the excuse to take photos, but I'll explain that more in a bit.


J is standing in line for his first run. He was so very excited! He would giggle every single time he jumped in to his tube to be pulled up the mountain. The guy hooking up the tubes would just start laughing every time J came through. It was just so funny.

Here's hubby making his way up. Good thing the boys have such a fun & interactive dad!

J is in the first tube & hubby (I think) is waving at me. The next couple of tubes should be the rest of the boys. I liked this part of it...it was the next part that didn't thrill me all that much.

J at the finish. "Mom, I spun & spun & spunned all around! It was fun." (direct quote) This is my thrill seeking one I think - but they all had a great time! As for the spinning - apparently near the end of the day, J stood up in the tube as it was going down the hill & leaned over to push at the ground to get the spinning thing going. The kid at the top who would tell us when we could go laughed & said something about a crazy kid or something like that. Hubby was going next & said something like, "Yup, and it's a good thing his mother can't see him." THAT was an huge understatement! I was extremely happy we rented the two younger boys helmets!

Hubby was being helpful here. You see - my first run down the mountain (and almost my last run down the mountain) I sat in the tube & pushed off. Have I ever mentioned I'm short. I'm only 5'2" (although I try to claim 5'3" when I can). When I sat in that tube my feet could not touch the ground at all. My arms could just touch but were of no use. I did the whole "spun, spun, spun" thing down the mountain. Most of it I was going backwards!!!! Oh & did I mention that the top speed of this run had to have been at least 20-25mph. Seriously. I was convinced I was going to crash. I couldn't see where I was going. Oh & at the end of the run there is a hill to stop you. Unless you are going really fast. Then you go over it - like a jump. Yeah, I did that too. I got off (which is NOT pretty btw - you have to sort of roll out & climb up with all your layers on), looked at my hubby & said, "I'm done." It's over. Not going again & you aren't going to make me. DONE!

Then I saw these faces....

This is N being pulled up for his who knows what number run. This child was way ahead of the rest of us most of the day.

And this face too...

I'm always surprised when B likes this sort of thing. He loves roller coasters too. Go figure.

So I went up three more times. That was enough for me. Here's my feet to prove I was there at least. And the last three runs I made I did on my stomach which hubby tried first to tell me how it worked. I used my feet like rudders. It worked a bit better.

And my boys (ALL of them) had a great time and that's what counts. A memory was made. Fun was had. It's all good.

I Love This Man

I have a story. It's how my hubby & I met and married and have lasted for 15-1/2 years. That's quite a length of time. In fact, in these modern times I think 15-1/2 "marriage years" may be the equivalent of say 30 "pre-divorce-is-common" years. Or something like that.

Anyway....

I had dated pretty seriously one particular boy in high school & on to college. We were even engaged. Then I realized what kind of person he was & broke it off. Best thing I ever did. As a result of all that turmoil though, I ended up taking a year off from college, living at home with my parents, and working at a local wood mill to support myself & earn money to go back to school.

All during that time my best friend was still in school and planning to marry her long term boyfriend. But, he had this friend she told me one day. And she thought we'd be perfect for each other. She was right.

I had started going back to school but I was now doing a two year program & I was commuting from my folks house which was an hour one way to school five days a week and I had 8am classes. You all wonder why I've never been a morning person.

Every Thursday night there was a Campus Crusade for Christ meeting and Rhonda invited me to stay the night, go to CCC with her and meet "the guy." I figured why not. I trusted her judgement so I went. I wore my cutest outfit too. In fact, if you ask my hubby what I had on, he can still tell you to this day so I guess it worked. Oh wait, you want to know?? Well, from the head down...a black felt hat (love hats!), um....white shirt or was it black?? and white & black polka dot pants and black boots - I think. Shoot - you'll have to ask him after all I guess.

So anyway, I seriously believe I fell in love at first site. He was seriously cute. I mean seriously cute. He had a trim beard (love beards!), dark hair & eyes, tall. Yeah....cute with a capital C!

So we kind of eyed each other a lot that night. Talked a bit. I knew why Rhonda had introduced us and apparently so did he. And then I did some things I never dreamed I would do. I called him to see if he wanted to get together & "do" something. I never called boys - ever! Certainly not ones I had just met. But he said yes so we "did" something.

You see he worked in the big city & spent a lot of time at the area parks during lunch hour. So we went to all these different parks & talked. We got to know each other a bit more.

Then I did something else. To this day I'm still amazed at myself. I kept complimenting him. He kept blushing (loved that!). But you see, he had this beard. So his cheeks above his beard would go red every time he blushed. I thought it adorable so I kept complimenting so he would keep blushing. Finally, near the end of the day I said something like, "I can't take it anymore" & leaned over & kissed him on the cheek. Right where he was blushing.

Yup, that was it. I was a goner and he was close to be a goner. I think. I don't know. You'll have to ask him. We began seeing each other pretty seriously so he was a goner there at some point. We had some ups & we had some downs, but by the end of that school year I was sure I had found the man God wanted me to be with for the rest of my life.

By the middle of that summer we were married. We went back to school married. We left dating. We came back married. Yes, there were some whispers behind our backs (apparently) but baby #1 didn't show up for three more years.

So in honor of Valentine's Day...here is why "I Love This Man."

• When he makes a promise (or life long commitment) he keeps it.
• He makes me feel loved each & every day.
• He meets me where I'm at & makes me become a better person for it.
• He loves our children with a passion that amazes me at times.
• He loves me with a passion that amazes me always.
• He works hard each & every day to provide for us.
• He willingly admits his wrongs.
• He is willing to follow Christ wherever He leads him.
• He's logical enough for both of us (even when it makes me furious).
• He's more handsome to me now than when we married all those years ago.
• He's mine.

Happy Valentine's Day hubby!

Belated Anniversary

My hubby & I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary last month. However, July proved to be an extremely busy month so we made plans to go away in August instead. Up until a few days before we were scheduled to "go somewhere" we still didn't know what we were going to do exactly.

We are in the midst of paying off our debt so we're reluctant to pay out more money than we need to for things like this, but we wanted to be able to go away & enjoy ourselves. Thankfully we had three relatives actually give us some money for our anniversary so that helped off set the cost of gas & paid for a couple meals as well. THANKS!

The end decision was to drop the boys off with my MIL at her work & then drive over & meet my hubby at this work. Thus started the marathon driving we did over the weekend.

I arrived at hubby's work about 6pm & we headed towards New Hampshire. His sister & her hubby own a nice camp up at the top of NH in a town called Pittsburg. When I say the "top" of NH, I mean it. We were extremely close to the Canadian border & at one point driving back on Saturday there was sign that said, "Vermont 1 mile." ;-)

We arrived there late but in time to watch Michael Phelps win his seventh gold medal! WOW! That was an amazing race! Yes, the camp has TV, electricity, running water, flush toilets, real beds. In other words, it's my kind of camp! Unfortunately, I completely forgot to take ANY photos whatsoever!!! I'm hoping to get back at some point so I'll be sure to take lots then. We almost skipped the rest of our plans for the weekend as it was just so relaxing there but we kept on going & had a great time as well.

I didn't get to see much of the scenery on the drive up as it was dark for most of it due to our late start. We never even left the restaurant where we had dinner until 7:30. However, on the way out Saturday morning, this was one of the views....

We drove through Dixfield Notch. The hotel in the distance is called The Balsam's. From the distance it looks like a fairy tale castle. Up close it looks like a smaller version of the The Mount Washington Resort. For anyone out there who has ever seen the movie Dirty Dancing, these resorts remind me a lot of where Baby & her family went to stay.

We spent a lot of the day driving one end of New Hampshire to the other. Our BIL had left his cell phone at his camp so we offered to swing by & drop it off. It was on the way so not a big deal. Our goal was the brand new Cabela's store in southern Maine. Or I should say, my hubby's goal was to go there while mine was to head to A.C. Moore & use my Mother's Day gift certificate - finally!

It was close to 5:30 when we finally managed to get to Cabela's. The traffic through North Conway, NH slowed us up a bit & then the weather did the rest of it. We had rain off & on throughout the drive and at times it was torrential downpours - including when we were trying to find Cabela's! In fact, we drove right past it & had to ask where it was. I kidded my hubby about stopping to ask but he assured me that when it came to sporting goods stores, it was okay to ask! ;-)

Both of us were soaked by the time we walked in to the store. I felt like I had just gotten out of a shower! My hair was plastered. It was not a pretty site. I went in to check out the store in order to give the rain time to let up as I didn't want to drive in it back over to AC Moore in the next town over.

Right in the middle of the store they have a fantastic taxidermy display of animals. There are all kinds of animals from North America. There is a huge rock formation & then the displays are built around that. I took a few photos just to show how neat it looked.

This wolf was part of a pack that was circling some musk ox.

One big moose!

I did make it to AC Moore & back to the store. By the time I was done my shopping there was a beautiful rainbow in the sky. It was even a complete arch but I couldn't get a good picture of the whole thing. You can faintly see one part in the photo above.

I did sit in the car for about an hour reading while my hubby finished up his shopping. I have to admit that shopping with that man can be downright painful at times so I came prepared. I had a book, chocolate, and a soda. I told him to take his time & I enjoyed myself while I read in the car instead of staring at boots for who knows how long! ;-)

We had a great anniversary weekend - albeit a month later - and I'm as thankful today as I was on the day I married him. (feel free to go "aawww" now ::grin::)

On the First Day of Camp

My in-laws own a camp on the upper section of Moosehead Lake. It takes us over two hours to drive there. While it's not really my cup of tea, my boys really love going & so this is our family vacation each year. Although, having said that, this is only our third year of going as a family. When the boys were very young, it was just too difficult for me & was just not a vacation. It's getting easier the older we get & this is our first year going with none of the kiddos in diapers. Woo-Hoo!

Another new thing this year - we were able to borrow our in-laws boat which was just so nice. The boys were out every day fishing. I went with them the first day & just hung out with Jack & read a book & watched the scenery. It was nice.

J had a good time on the boat. He & I hung out in the bow & enjoyed seeing all there was to see from up there.

B & N hung out in the back holding tight to their fishing poles. They didn't catch anything, but they certainly had a lot of fun trying!

I even snapped a photo of the "skipper."

Poor Annie did NOT like the boat AT ALL! She got wet right before we got her in the boat. She wouldn't shake off as she was nervous so she was sopping wet. She pretty much laid here the whole time with her nose down. Needless to say, we did not take her with us after this outing. ;-)

And this was the scenery. So nice.