Smiling into September

Do you ever have one of those days, weeks, months where if you didn’t have photos of it you almost wouldn’t believe you actually got to experience it first hand?  That’s how I felt about these past five days…they were that good!  Greg took Friday-Tuesday off to get in some family time and to celebrate our 8 year wedding Anniversary.  This time together was the best gift he could have ever given to me.

We spent the majority of Friday at the beach.  We blew bubbles, fed seagulls, built sand castles, had treasure hunts, chased waves, and smiled as we listened to our boys laughing louder than the sound of the waves crashing.  Greg and I always say we really aren’t big beach people but I’m starting to think we may be lying when we say that.  We came home, washed the coconut lotion scent and sand off ourselves and settled in for family naps and quiet time.   Heavenly.

Saturday morning I woke up early to try to get in a long run with friends before the sweltering heat kicked in.  I don’t think we went early enough because I was about 1 more mile away from having a heat stroke.  We made it to just over 9 miles, but I’m not going to lie when I say it was torture.  I didn’t feel too great after so we took it easy the rest of the day.  After getting some energy back we headed over to our friend’s house for a BBQ.  We were all friends before having kids and even before they got married, and now to see us all with 2 kids each all the same age it’s so awesome to see the next generation of best buds growing up together.  School starts for half the crew next week so it was fun to have this end of the Summer BBQ with everyone.

Sunday morning we packed up the family and headed out for a little overnight Staycation to celebrate our wedding Anniversary.  Greg got us a room at the Ritz Carlton 15 minutes away, so we decided to take advantage of it as much as we could and get there as early as they would let us (even though we couldn’t even check-in yet…you bet we were getting our money’s worth haha).  I know you’re all thinking why were the boys with you on your romantic getaway but haven’t you seen the theme by now….we do EVERYTHING with them, they are our little shadows!  In all honesty I would miss not having them with us, and they added so much to our day by the pool.  The hotel even gave them their own sand buckets with lollipops, sunglasses and a treasure hunt they could go on.  They got to splash around, enjoy a delicious lunch by the pool, took naps on the cozy pool chairs and the best part…got to see an elephant right under our room’s balcony!!! The most elaborate Indian wedding was taking place just as we checked into our room, it was incredibly cool to feel like we were part of it.  We were all dancing on our balcony with them…such an awesome experience!

Ok so our little shadows did go home after a long day at the pool.  Auntie came over for a slumber party so we could get back to the hotel and enjoy some wine, ocean views, the sunset and of course each other’s company.  Not going to lie though we called our friend who lives close by and he hooked us up with a wine delivery and some good conversation until it was time for our dinner reservation.  Thanks Matty for photographing our romantic evening for us haha.

Dinner was insanely good and they went over the top and surprised us with two beautiful desserts for our Anniversary.  When we got back to our room we were again surprised by a bottle of champagne, robes laid out, chocolate covered strawberries, toffee covered almonds, and a sweet card congratulating on us 28 years of marriage lol.
We slept in the next day until 7:00am (this really was a treat) and then headed to breakfast before checking out and getting back to our boys.  Nathan thought we ate too much dinner and was mad that we didn’t come home from the restaurant until  the morning.  My sister said he was in our bedroom staring out the window waiting for us.  He’s obsessed lol.  It’s ok, the feeling is mutual kiddo.  Our neighborhood was throwing a big Labor Day bash so we headed there for a bit and closed down the evening with drinks in our friends’ yard.

Tuesday was our actual Anniversary but we were pretty tired from all the activities of the long weekend that we wanted to just do something mellow with the kids.  Our plan was to take them on a train ride down the coast about 30 minutes but we totally misread the schedule!  It  turns out just sitting and watching the trains would prove to be all the entertainment they needed.  We walked around, went to a cute coffee shop with them, and then ate lunch outside right next to the train tracks.  

I look back on these past 8 years of marriage and can’t believe how far we have come, yet how quickly the years have passed.  We have grown as individuals, as a couple and most importantly as a FAMILY.  Greg does so incredibly much for us and is the most selfless person I have ever met.  We are his entire world and he lets us know this everyday through his words and his actions.  Life sure has changed for us since the boys joined our world, but we are more of a team now than we have ever been. This past weekend was a celebration of us and of them and will definitely go down in the books as one of the most memorable anniversaries to date.  I look forward to going back to The Ritz 20 years from now and seeing that “Happy 28th Anniversary” card….for the second time.