The Anniversary Caper

Last week, Lady Di and I celebrated fourteen years of wedded bliss. So I went to Hallmark to read the master list of acceptable gifts for number one-four. I searched and searched but could not find any tools on any of the lists. All I could hope for was that this year was the year of the 'it's the thought that counts' gift. No luck. The traditional gift was ivory and the modern gift is gold jewelry. I thought, "Ah come on! Gold for the fourteenth? What ever happened to the golden anniversary being the fiftieth?" I seriously believe that jewelers, most of them women, made sure that some sort of gold was assigned to every four and a half anniversaries to boost sales and their own jewelry boxes. And how was I going to bag an elephant for the traditional ivory gift?

With my options limited to those, I decided to play dumb and go in a different direction.

I started with picking a weekend that I could get someone to watch our kids. Luckily, LD's sister stepped up and magnanimously volunteered to entertain her niece and nephew with a sleep over.

My plan was to trick LD into thinking that we were going to her sister's house for a game night and stay over. Once we arrived at her house, we said good bye to the kids and I hustled LD out to the van before she knew what was going on.

We then drove about twenty miles to a bed and breakfast. I think LD was surprised. We stayed upstairs in the Edna room. After unpacking, we had dinner at the Gasthaus German restaurant. This was the first time either of us had been to one. The food was good and the beer was better.We even had our very own personal accordion player, Hilda. Actually, her name wasn't Hilda and she played for everyone at the restaurant. But we did get to visit with her quite a bit and she even played a song for our anniversary. After dinner we had to decide what to do next. Should we go downtown for a drink or dance the night away at a club? We chose to go back to our bed and breakfast and play Monopoly in our room. I know, the city sure didn't have to call in any extra law enforcement for our wild night out, but sometimes spending a quiet, comfortable evening alone with your spouse is as much fun as anything.Here is a picture of our room. Our bed was very comfortable and we slept very soundly even with that picture of Edna Mulvey on the wall watching us.

Before bed I told LD to set the alarm for the 9am breakfast. She said she was going to sleep in. I told her, we paid for breakfast, we're eating breakfast!

The next morning we ate stuffed french toast with four other couples in the main dining room. I'm always nervous about eating with a group of people I don't know. I'm not very much of a talker. But I didn't need to be because two other people at the table did enough talking for all twelve of us.

Mercifully, the talkers got tired of all of our listening and we were able to get back to our room to pack up and check out.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking up and down the town's main street visiting many boutiques, antique stores and sweet shoppes. Why do retailers think they can charge more just because they have French spelled words over their doors? After much window shopping, I was ready to head for home.

But first, we had to pick up the kids.

They had spent the afternoon at the pumpkin patch. It was great for Auntie Sue and Uncle Tom to take them because we hadn't time all Fall to schedule it in ourselves. They enjoyed carmel apples, face paint and got to run through the corn maze. No one got lost in the corn and they found all of the dinosaur signs.

When we came to pick them up they were pretty exhausted. But not too exhausted for Lego Indiana Jones video game at Auntie's.

They were very disappointed that they couldn't stay with their aunt and uncle longer. We were already missing them and they were complaining that we were there to pick them up. I think we all were a little tired.

Pick Six

It's tagging time. LIAYF tagged me with an easy one this time. All I had to do was to go to My Pictures and find my sixth picture and post about it. LIAYF posted a cute pic of his son and I couldn't wait to see which one of my little angels was in our sixth picture. Our photography consists of 99% kids and 1% accidental shots where I blind myself with the flash.

Since our digital camera is about two years old, I was expecting a trip to the past to see how much our kids have changed in just two short years. And now, without further pomp and circumstance, for your enjoyment, our sixth picture. Drum roll please....brmbrmbrmbrmbrm....Ta Da!

As you can see, we took this picture when Number One Son was enrolled in his Hibachi class for second graders. Actually, October 14th is Lady Di and my anniversary date. We had taken the kids out to eat at our first Hibachi restaurant. I see from the picture that we ordered chicken, steak and vegetables. The onion slices look like they are ready for the chef to turn into a steaming volcano. It was a memorable anniversary because our chef enjoyed performing and making the kids laugh. The climax of the show was when the chef reached for a small wooden doll, that lowered it's pants when it's head was pressed, and sprayed out the flaming onion volcano.

Well, even though our sixth picture didn't have the kids in it, it still reminded me of the fun we had with them that day. I'm sure glad we took a picture of our food. I wonder what the chef thought.

The hardest part of these tags is deciding which people to pass the challenge on to. And since I am too lazy, I will let you decide if you want to do it or not. If you do, let me know and I will certainly visit. Go ahead, find your sixth pic tell us what you had to eat!

Happy Anniversary

Twelve years ago today, Lady Di foolishly said, "I do", standing next to me in a church in Eagan, Mn. It's hard to believe that it has been twelve years already.

I remember that it was a sunny day with a strong, cold, autumn wind. All of our family and friends were there. Our nieces and nephews were so much younger then. When I think of that, it seems long ago. And yet, not too long ago. Everyone else has changed, but I don't feel that we have. Lady Di is still as beautiful now as she was on that past October day. Our family has grown by two since then. It's hard to remember a time without the kids, but it's as though they were there on that day too.

When Lady Di and I were married, we really became one. When the kids came, they became one with us also. It is difficult to separate a part of you, just because memory says you should.

Am I the same person I was before that day in October? Am I the same person now? I don't know if life changes one, or if life adds to one. Is a person the sum of his experiences, or do his experiences change and shape who he is? The answer will not be found by me.

I just know that looking back on our wedding day brings back memories of, not only what we did, but who we were. I believe that we are still, essentially, the same people. Everything and everyone else around us has changed. In my mind, we are still two young kids in love. I just hope that Lady Di remains foolish enough to stay with me. I love you Honey. Happy Anniversary.