Celebrating 10 Years of Marriage

Samantha: 62 Months, Week 1

Aedan: 26 Months, Week 4

This week marked our first trek down to see family from our new house in Sault Ste. Marie. We wanted to get to Upland one more time during the summer because we hadn't been there since celebrating the girls' birthday. Once Samantha starts kindergarten, things will be much busier, and it will be harder to get away for the weekend. So, we planned an extended trip so that we could see Ema and Papa, Alaina and Aunt Jeni, as well as giving Ben and I a chance to get a couple days away to celebrate our 10th anniversary. If we hadn't have just moved and bought a house, we would have loved to take a bigger trip, possibly to New York City or something like that, but that just wasn't going to work this year. However, a couple nights away in Indianapolis was a fun retreat for us to get away and spend time together as a couple.

On Tuesday morning we got ourselves out the door a little later than we would have liked, and then we had to run a couple errands before getting on the highway, making it feel like our start to the drive was a little slow. We were making pretty good time, but neither kid was in the best mood that day and were tired from not sleeping enough the night before because they were excited. After we crossed the Mackinac Bridge, we put a show on the DVD player, and that helped to pass some of the time before stopping for lunch. We found a McDonald's with a play place, so we decided to stop there so the kids could run around and stretch their legs for awhile before having to get right back in the car. Once back in the car, it was nap time, and we hoped the kids would take good naps since they were both tired. However, Samantha slept for under 20 minutes, and Aedan about 50 minutes because we had to slow down for some construction. Our kids are so sensitive sometimes and will wake up when there is any change in speed or movement of the car. (When Samantha was a baby, she would wake up every time we stopped at a red light, so when we were approaching one, we would go really slow so that we wouldn't have to completely stop moving because that's what would wake her up.) Silly kids! The kids were very anxious to get to Upland and see Ema and Papa, so the rest of the afternoon seemed to drag on and on until we got there about 6:15. We have lived about two hours away from Upland for the last six years, so it is definitely a change having to drive 6 1/2 hours not including stopping time to get to Upland now.

As soon as we got to Upland, the kids were excited to see Ema and Papa and to play outside. The kids just love to run around in the grass, go swinging, play with balls, ride tricycles, and Samantha likes to climb trees. We had a good evening spending time with Ema and Papa, hearing about their trip to Guatemala, and spending time hanging out in the air conditioning since with was very hot and humid outside.

Ben and I planned to leave for Indianapolis on Wednesday before lunch, once we got the kids situated. I asked if they could write up some paragraphs for me about their time with the kids, so here are Grandma's words describing their time with the kids while Ben and me were away:

"Bill and I had just returned from a missions trip to Guatemala on Monday. In fact, since the flight was delayed, we didn’t make it into bed until 4:00 am Tuesday morning. I allowed myself to sleep in until 9:00 then I knew I would need to get up and do some  laundry. To make matters worse, I had contracted some GI issues from the trip possibly due to tainted water. Needless to say, when the kids arrived on Tuesday afternoon, I was refreshed by their excitement. The hugs, smiles and energy of a 2 year old and 5 year old can make the most tired, sick body feel better."

"I purchased groceries on Wednesday morning so I would not need to do that during the week. Ben and Jenny left after I got home and soon after that we had lunch."

"The weather was also very hot and humid for the week so we often played outside in the morning and evening but played in the house in the afternoon. Samantha would color when given the chance and made some very nice pictures for us during the week."

"On Wednesday afternoon, Ben and Jenny had suggested to Samantha that she should try to take a nap in the afternoon but during her quiet time, she wasn’t able to fall asleep. When she got up, I showed her how to use the “Kid’s Bible” app that I had downloaded on my I-Pad. The app has many animated Bible stories and follows each story up with a question. She spent a lot of time on that until dinnertime."

"When I put Aedan down for his nap, the routine is to give him his pacifier, rock him, and sing to him. He sleeps in our play room in his pack-n-play and there is an old rocking chair in that room. I know there is no need to try to get him to sleep by rocking him since I can’t get him and myself out of the chair at the same time. Therefore, after I kissed him and told him I loved him, I also told him to stand up so I could get out of the chair. Then I lifted him into the pack-n-play. Throughout the rest of the week, without prompting, as soon as I would kiss him and tell him I love him, he would jump off my lap and walk to the pack-n-play. I think sometimes he stayed awake just so he could he would know when it was time for him to get off my lap."

"On Thursday morning Samantha, Aedan, and I walked into our yard to use the swing. We have quite a few walnut trees in the yard and Samantha was quite fascinated to see a walnut. I described to her how the squirrels will collect the walnuts and live on them during the winter. I told her how they will bury many of the walnuts all over the place and many of those nuts will not be found but will sprout into a new walnut tree.  She wanted to know if that is how so many of the trees were in our yard or if they were planted. I assured her that they were from nuts that had sprouted. After that lesson, Samantha was on the hunt for walnuts. She got a bucket, collected nuts, and then found a special place back in a hidden corner of our yard where she threw the nuts. Aedan helped a little on this project but did not find it as fascinating as Samantha did. Samantha said she would check the next day to see if any of the nuts were taken by the animals."

"On Friday, Samantha went out to find more walnuts but Aedan chose to stay near the house and ride the tricycle or play with other toys. It was nice to see that Samantha could have some independence but still be trusted to stay in our big yard."

"On Friday morning, about noon time, I called Bill to have him let me know when he would be coming home. He had the truck with him, and I thought I would let Aedan and Samantha meet him at the end of the lane so they could ride in the truck with him. While we were waiting at the end of the lane, Samantha gave this awful scream and started crying very loud. Apparently she had been stung by a honey bee. After 10 seconds of comfort, she realized the worst was over and stated, “At least, now I know what it is like to be stung by a bee.” Aedan and Samantha were able to ride in the truck up the lane and Grandpa actually took them for a side trip through the yard before he parked the truck. Samantha did get some spay on the bee sting after we got in the house."

"Although Samantha napped on Thursday afternoon, she did not nap on Friday.  She used my I-Pad to watch the Bible stories again after she got up. Ben and Jenny returned on Friday afternoon and both children were glad to see them. Again, it is our joy to be able to watch the grandkids. They are always well behaved and seem to be very comfortable with us caring for them. Both of them try to be helpful and do what they can to be good kids."

Papa worked for most of the day while the kids were in Upland without us, so he didn't have as many stories of the kids as Ema did. However, here is one funny story he shared with us:

"The one time Aedan screamed was on the deck in the back of the house. He was screaming and yelling SPIDER. I asked Samantha what happened and she didn’t know – at least at first. Soon she admitted she had put a leaf on Aedan’s arm and told him it was a spider. He was fine after he saw it was just a small leaf."

Ben and I were excited about our little getaway for we felt like we needed some time away from the kids after being so busy getting settled into our new home. We get points from our credit card and got free hotel rooms for our two nights in Indy. On our way to Indianapolis, we stopped to eat a little bit of food at Culver's and then continued on our way to walk around the gardens next to the art museum. We had not been there in a long time and remembered that there used to be places you could walk around for free. However, that has all changed now and is only included in the price of museum admission. The 100 Acres area was free and open to the public, but it was a very hot day and there weren't too many interesting things to look at while walking along the path. In fact, part of the path was closed due to erosion, so we decided to just head to the hotel to relax for a little while before heading out for our anniversary dinner.

We went back and forth about where to go for dinner, thinking about going to an Indianapolis staple like St. Elmo's or a few other local places that were recommended to us. However, so many of those places charged $40-$50 just to get a piece of steak, so we decided if we were going to spend that much money on food, we would rather go to the Melting Pot where we could get four courses and spend three hours enjoying our food, talking, and eating in a quiet, romantic, personal setting. Since it was our anniversary, we got our own private little booth, and it was so fun sitting there together, really enjoying our meal. We took the time to reminisce about our past ten years together, recapping the good and the bad of each year, the struggles and the joys, and looking in amazement at all we have gone through and accomplished in our married life so far. Here are some pictures we took of ourselves that night.

Dinners with two little kids are so rushed. We are getting up and down from the table, cleaning up messes, trying to talk over the silliness of two little kids, so this dinner out where Ben and I could solely enjoy the company of each other for three whole hours with no distraction was just what I needed. It was a wonderful dinner. We got free chocolate covered strawberries to enjoy the next day, and it was a great way to celebrate 10 year of marriage.

We went to the Melting Pot on our first anniversary as well when living in Texas, so here are some pictures from our first anniversary to compare with our tenth anniversary. Man, we do look a lot younger then, don't we?

Ben and I will admit to being pretty big dorks, so we decided to play a board game on Wednesday night in the hotel. We always say we want to play more games together, but we are always too busy at home or too tired from our day with kids to feel like playing games most of the time. It was a great first day on our anniversary getaway.

On Thursday morning our plan was to sleep in, have breakfast, and then go walk around the canal in downtown Indianapolis. Again, it was a really hot and humid day, one of those days when you are sweating when just sitting in the shade outside. We thought about renting a paddle boat to ride around the canal, but they were $30 which was much more than we wanted to spend, especially since you can just walk along the canal. Here's a nice picture of the canal with the downtown skyline in the background.

So after awhile we decided to go to the Indiana State Museum to do something we'd never done before and to get in an air conditioned building. In fact, we actually ran into Ben's friend Tim who we had plans with that evening. He used to work at the museum and highly recommended it, even buying us tickets as an anniversary present, which he certainly did not have to do. We decided to see the IMAX movie about the national parks and then enjoyed walking around the museum for the afternoon and having lunch at the cafe. It was a good way to spend the day enjoying a new museum together.

Come mid-afternoon, when we were finished at the museum, we walked back to the hotel to relax and get ready for the baseball game that evening. We knew relaxing was just as important as doing things on our little getaway away from our kids. We were able to talk to Samantha on the phone that afternoon before we met Tim for dinner at a restaurant near the ballpark. I'm glad that it worked out for Ben to see Tim and for them to reconnect again. Then, we went over to the ballpark to see the Indians play. We had pretty good seats, and it was so fun to be back in this stadium again, as we came here quite a bit during our years living in Bloomington. In fact, we came to games here right before both Samantha and Aedan were born, and also brought them to games here when they were only six or seven weeks old. Of course we almost always sat out in the lawn seats, but it is definitely a fun family experience. The game that night went by very quickly, taking less than two hours from start to finish. We almost felt like we didn't get our money's worth! Baseball games are supposed to last at least three hours! Here are some pictures we took at the end of the game. :)

We spent the rest of Thursday night relaxing back at our hotel, trying to decide what we were going to do on Friday before heading back to Upland. It was nice to sleep in again on Friday morning, to lay in bed talking to each other, and to not have to rush out of bed to address anyone else's needs. I was really looking forward to this time away with Ben, and it went by far too quickly. On Friday morning we decided to walk around the Circle Center Monument, and we actually decided to go to the very top by climbing up the 900-some steps for a good view of the city. Then, we decided it was probably time to get back to Upland to relieve Ema and Papa of their duties of taking care of our kids. We stopped at Chuy's for lunch because we just have to take advantage of good restaurants while we can and arrived back in Upland in the middle of nap time.

Here are my thoughts on celebrating our 10th anniversary:
"I want to take this chance to officially say Happy 10th Anniversary to Ben, the man I love. We just got back from a wonderful couple day getaway to Indianapolis where we ate a romantic dinner at the Melting Pot, visited the Indiana State Museum, went to an Indianapolis Indians baseball game, and then walked around Circle Center and up the monument before eating lunch at Chuy's. We had a wonderful time together and talked a lot about our past 10 years together, all the places we have lived and experiences we have had, both good and bad. However, through it all Ben and I have grown closer together and understand each other so much better each passing year."

"We see God's hand in every circumstance of our life, and we know that he was guiding us when we didn't see him, leading us when we didn't know what to do, comforting us when we going through terrible loss, and blessing us in so many ways through children, family, opportunities, jobs, and provision. We are where we are today because of God and God alone, sustaining us and growing our love for each other, for our family, and for the people around us."

"I couldn't have asked for a better man for God to bring into my life through studying abroad in Ireland while at Taylor, marrying after graduation, following around to various locations to allow him to pursue his dream and calling, starting a family with, and now looking to an incredible future that I know will be good because we strive to have God at the center of our marriage."

"I love you, Ben. Happy Anniversary."

We always spend a lot of time outside when we are in Upland because they have so much open space to play. Samantha loves to find trees to climb because that is one of her favorite ways to spend time lately.

I don't remember what exactly happened before this picture, but Aedan was upset about something and no one was good enough to comfort him other than his Ema. Ben took the chance to take the precious picture, and I just love it. I love the special relationship that Aedan has with his Ema. He is like her little shadow and doesn't like to let her out of is sight. If Aedan can't find her, he will just walk around the house saying, "Ema, Ema?" until he finds her. When he is upset at either Ben or me, Ema is always good for a hug. I love how his head fits perfectly on her shoulder, and his arm is wrapped around to her back. He is totally comfortable in her arms.

Alaina and Aunt Jeni arrived after dinner on Friday night, and Samantha was so excited to see Alaina again. It seemed like an eternity waiting for her to arrive. Once the girls are together, the house is much noisier and full of life as they run around and play together. We were so glad that they could come down, even for just a short period of time. We always have so much fun together.

This is a picture of Aedan with the baseball bat that Tim got for him at the Indians game. (He also got a red one for Samantha as well.) Aedan carried the bat around for most of the weekend saying, "Bat, hit it." I love the energy of this little boy. He is all in and you never have to wonder what he's thinking. He plays hard, and he sleeps hard. He brings me so much joy every day.

Saturday was a pretty relaxed day with lots of playing inside the house, having the traditional pancake breakfast, and getting lots of silly cousin bonding time. Ben is always a good sport in roughhousing with the kids.

It was another hot, humid day outside, so we got the kids into their bathing suits so they could have a water gun fight outside. Again, Ben was a good sport and joined in the water fun, allowing himself to get soaking wet. Aedan was finally able to fill the water gun up on his own, which made him much happier and allowed him to spray people much more. The only way to tolerate being in the heat and sun was to be wet, and it was a good way to spend about an hour of the morning. We were certainly glad to be somewhere where there was air conditioning, and we were glad that it doesn't get this hot up in Sault Ste. Marie.

After nap time the girls had a little more time to play before Alaina and Aunt Jeni had to head back home. Samantha waved to them as they pulled down the driveway, and then her head just dropped in sadness. She missed her cousin already and wished that she could have stayed longer. I know I say this a lot, but I am so glad that Samantha and Alaina have each other.

On Sunday it was time for us to head back home to Sault Ste. Marie. We decided to stop in Lansing for lunch at a Chipotle since we don't have one near us, and it is one of the kids' favorite restaurants. We also stopped at a little children's museum called Impression 5 to let the kids play for about an hour after lunch. We got in for free with our Cincinnati Museum Center membership so figured we might as well try it out. It was a fun little place with a pretend dentist office and grocery store, a bubble area, and a section for four and under with a little playground that Aedan climbed on as well as a water area where he just poured water out of a watering can over and over again. It was a good place to spend some time playing before getting back in the car again.

The kids were pretty tired that afternoon, and Samantha actually fell asleep before Aedan did. He had to make noise for awhile, but then took a decent nap, still not sleeping for as long as we hoped, but it was good to get us through the rest of the afternoon. As we were getting close to home, Aedan was getting a little upset about still being in the car, so Samantha was doing her best to cheer him up by giving him her blankie and holding his hand. Man, they are so adorable together. :)

We ordered pizza from a local place and picked it up at 6:30 on the way home. It was obviously a lot longer of a drive, but it went fairly well, and we had a good time being away. The next time we make a longer trip like this, Samantha will already be in school, so we have thrown around the idea of leaving at 4:00 right after she gets out of school and just driving until we get there, hoping the kids will just fall asleep once it gets to be bedtime and hopefully go back to sleep once arriving at our destination. That way we wouldn't have to spend a whole day traveling and limit the time the kids would have to sit in the car awake. We will certainly try it and see how it goes and go from there. Things will definitely be different in traveling with having a school aged kid.

(Blog about July 19-26, 2016)