7 years

Yesterday Dan and I marked our seven year anniversary. We actually celebrated this past weekend with an overnight trip! We haven’t been away from the children overnight in about 5 years, so it was a big deal to us.  We were amazed that we found someone willing to watch not only our 3 children, but also to take care of the chickens, turkeys, baby chicks, dog, cat and milk the goats! My parents did a great job of taking care of everything so that I did not have to worry at all (barely).

It took me so long to get out of my “mom” mode, that I was wondering if I would ever be able to do it. For example, every time we passed a farm or farm store on our way, I barely caught myself before the words “Look, Jonathan – TRACTOR!” slipped out.

We stayed at a bed and breakfast 2 hours from our home, but in an area of the state along Lake Huron where we hadn’t been before. The B & B where we stayed the night was very luxurious – more like a very small resort, really – and best of all, QUIET. Our room had a huge jacuzzi, a fireplace, our own deck overlooking the beach, and a super-tall king size feather bed to sleep in. It was very tall so we could see out our window to the beach without even sitting up in bed! I was glad that I wasn’t 9 months pregnant, or I wouldn’t have been able to hoist myself up onto it. We were very spoiled there but both decided that we couldn’t live like that every day, being lazy and pampered.

The following day, we hiked along the beautiful AuSable River. We brought a picnic lunch to eat along the river. Here are a few pictures of our day.

Overlooking the river before starting out

Through the woods

Different bluff where we stopped to peek

Good idea: Walking down stairs to see
beautiful springs down below
Bad idea: Walking down 300 stairs to see
beautiful springs down below

Oh, aren’t they just beautiful? 

Here’s me before I hiked back up.
I look like I can handle it, don’t I?
Notice that I didn’t take a picture of myself once I got to the top!!

On our way home, we decided to have ice cream for dinner as it was very hot and our car has no air-conditioning. I’ve always wanted to try ice cream from the Cold Stone Creamery, but there isn’t one near our home. I was so excited to see one on our way home! The woman gave me a super-huge “medium” waffle cone. Maybe she noticed that I was eating for two.

It was so nice, just spending time together and being able to have an entire conversation without someone interrupting us. Of course, we were happy to get back to our children. We’ve kind of gotten used to them being around and also, we’ve kind of taken a liking to them.