Second Honeymoon

OK, so it wasn't really a second honeymoon, but hopefully you are now singing that dear old song:

We're going on a second honeymoon,

I made reservations at that same hotel room

Ain't nobody gonna know where we go when we leave town

We're going on a second honeymoon

You know Jeremy and I were raised a lot alike when we got married and both knew this song. :) It wasn't a second honeymoon, but it was a full weekend away. Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. Amazing. Maybe we are getting old and forget, but we're pretty sure this is the first we have been away, just the two of us for more than one night since our first year of marriage.

We were blessed to be able to go to Spruce Lake retreat center. Neither of us had ever been there. It was such a restful, quiet (at least in March!) place. Just want we needed. My parents were visiting and so we left the kids with them. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! We did miss the kids, but they were still here when we got back. :)

We did not take a computer, no tv, no movies, no internet. Just quiet. Friday night we almost thought it was too quiet! Sososo good. After this weekend I'm thinking maybe the monks are on to something. :)

We had a great time together. We took our camera and took it with us on a hike. We took about a billion pictures trying out different settings. I know taking scenic pictures is much more enjoyable than seeing them so I won't bore you with too many, but since this is for my recording more than your enjoyment (sorry) I am posting a few.

On the hike. I looked at the map of different hikes before we started and saw the one marked "difficult". I hoped Jeremy would somehow miss that whole section of the map, but no, that was the one he picked. I knew he would. I love it that I know him so well. It was a great hike and I didn't even complain that by the end there was water squeezing between my toes from walking through so much snow. Good girl

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Here we are on top of the mountain. I was trying not to laugh at the teenage boy taking our picture. He's friends were behind him the whole time saying "put the strap around your neck, put the strap around your neck." I guess our camera was a little more intimidating than we were!

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While we were there they were tapping sugar maples. It was very interesting to see.

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I'm sure most people wonder what in the world an old married couple does by themselves for a whole weekend (other than hike!) Here you go. We spent aprox. 5 hours doing this...

Yeah, we're kind of nerdy like that, but it was a lot of fun to accomplish this together. It was also a great time to talk.

Such a great time away. I realized again exactly how much I love Jeremy and that he truly is my best friend. I believe when we got married I said I was marring my best friend, but now 7 years into this journey I realize I had no idea what I was talking about. This runs deep. We are far from perfect and sometimes I know we express our frustrations about each other with each other more than we did when we first got married. But there is a deep knowing that comes only with time. Not time spent apart, but together. I am blessed.

Bubbles

Last evening Isaiah and Nathan were outside blowing bubbles. They were having a blast. Eventually it happened, Nate spilled his bubbles. I figured it would happen. Thankfully we had a huge bottle of bubbles inside and I was able to refill his little bottle. Back to blowing bubbles.

After awhile I noticed that Isaiah was now blowing bubbles from the fort. I briefly wondered how he climbed the ladder while holding onto bubbles, but he was fine so I went back to washing dishes.

A few minutes later I checked on them again. That is when I saw Nate, wearing rubber boots on the wrong feet and holding his bubbles in one hand slowly climbing the ladder to the fort. My first thought was to run out and help him, but something held me back.

I'm not sure why I'm even sharing this story. Maybe because to stand back and watch your child struggle to reach a goal is not easy to do. Especially when it's very much within your power to reach out and push him on up. Or even crawl up the ladder and blow the bubbles for him.

The thought of my children growing up literally makes me hurt. Maybe that's why I'm writing this down. So that I don't forget...

Nathan crawled to the top of the ladder, climbed into the fort and victoriously blew bubbles. All while his mom stood inside the kitchen watching him. He had no idea I was watching him. Now I think I'll just sit down and cry.

Pictures, finally!

Here are a few pictures from the last month. While Brandon and Cindy were here my whole family spent 3 days at a cabin together. There were 19 of us!

With 6 granddaughters (plus aunts) there was a lot of fingernail polish smell in the air
There was also a lot of book reading.

And a lot of games...

And a lot of baby holding!
(Angel is holding Adam and Riah is holding Ashton -I think)

(Home from the cabin) Brandon stopped in one morning and brought me a Rutter's cappuccino. Made my day. I love Callie's expression on this picture.

Cindy's sister, Ciara came along to help out. She felt like part of our family and she knits too! (she's holding Adam -I think)

I am so pleased with this picture! I only had to take about 1,000 to get it. Ashton is on the left and Adam is on the right. Wishing I could squeeze them again. :(

One of the many...

It was so fun to see all the cousins pick up from where they left off. Anna Lee and Nate are only 2 months apart in age. I wish I knew what he was telling her.

This picture has nothing to do with Brandon and Cindy, it's just for my records. One morning while we were in KS Jeremy and my dad took the kids to a park and a small zoo while Mom and I went to a ladies brunch. While at the zoo Nate got pecked in the face by a goose -serious. Right below his eye. Left a nasty bruise. Sadly, no picture of that. Also that morning Callie fell at the play ground. I had to take a picture of her first "wound". She did not like looking at it and would pull her skirt down to cover it. I liked how this picture turned out with Jeremy holding her.

Travels

Warning: This was written by a rather sleepy person.

I really want to post pictures, but Jeremy is working on the computer that has all the pictures so I'll have to settle for words.

The past few months have been busy with a lot of coming and going.

In January I attended the second Among Women retreat near Columbus. While I was there Jeremy and the children were at my aunt and uncle's place in Cincinnati. I joined them after the retreat. Sadly I think we only have about 2 pictures from that weekend. Jeremy took them of Isaiah and Nathan sleeping in a double bed. They are cute pictures, but the cuteness wore off sometime during the night when they woke up fighting about covers. I was blissfully sound asleep 2 hours away. (Jeremy has very graciously encouraged me to be part of Among Women while he carries on the "home" responsibilities.) We always enjoy are time at Joyce and Paul's. The kids love all the new toys and we love the relaxing, the great food and the great company.

In February we attended CMC's pastor's conference in Kansas. It was a long trip, but it was worth it. My parents also attended the conference and we were able to stay at the same place they did. My parents helped out a lot with the kids -very much appreciated (and needed). The evening before we left to come home Isaiah starting throwing up. Great. Nate woke up at 3:30 AM doing the same. Jeremy decided we should just get up and leave for home then. I'm not sure if I've ever dreaded a trip that much. We buckled the kids in and I sat in the middle of the van with the bucket close by. Thankfully no one threw up. They boys slept a lot. Callie didn't. She isn't a real great traveler. :( We drove 19 hours straight to get home. We stopped only 3 times. It was a very long day, but it was nice to be home and wake up in our own beds Saturday morning.

Brandon and Cindy along with their family and Cindy's sister arrived here on March 1. It was wonderful to finally meet Adam and Ashton. I'm in love. I have some great pictures that I'll hopefully post soon. My whole family spent several days together at a cabin. Good times. I'll let the pictures tell more. :)

I'm sitting her trying to stay awake until Jeremy is done with his online class lecture. I'm done and he is still working. :( Speaking of Jeremy, last weekend he and I were very blessed to be able to get away for the weekend -Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. So good. I'll post more on that later, maybe.