Seven Years!

Paul and I have been married for seven years ago today. I still feel like we're just a couple of young kids, which is silly since now we have three of our own. I can't express how lucky I feel to be married to Paul. He is my best friend.
Paul and I are both pretty relaxed people. We used to joke that neither of us really "wears the pants" in our relationship. We both wear skirts. For the most part, our mutual comfort is great, except when it comes to doing cool stuff together. We still don't have a real babysitter here (besides Abby and Patrick- our sister- and brother-in-law, who have a baby of their own), and don't go out that much. We've always made early bedtimes a priority with our kids, so we do have evenings to ourselves most of the time, which is nice.
But this year, I was determined to do something special for our anniversary- especially since we don't currently have a nursing baby. We had our friends (whose kids we watched a few months ago) watch our kids overnight, and booked a local hotel. We went to eat at a fancy steak place downtown (I was way underdressed, but I still really enjoyed it), then we went to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie. The hotel was great, sleeping in was even better, and the breakfast there was fantastic. We took our time getting over to the City Museum, which we'd both heard great things about, but had never seen. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint! It was like a giant playground for adults, in and around a tall gutted out, industrial-feeling building. There was a ten-story slide with tunnels and winding metal staircases all the way to the top. There were holes in the walls and the ground everywhere, with slides leading to who-knows-where. There were tons of cave-like passageways, where we uncomfortably wedged ourselves through small passages, hoping we could make it to whatever lay on the other side. Outside, we climbed through wire cage tunnels, ten stories up in the air from one suspended airplane to another. It was terrifying, but so exhilarating. Besides feeling a little tired and dizzy, we thoroughly enjoyed feeling like kids again.

We didn't have a real camera on us, and Paul's phone was being kind of schizophrenic, so we only got a handful of dark, fuzzy pictures. I think Paul's by the entrance to the caverns here.

The whole thing was way cooler in person. It's hard to really capture it in a picture!

I'll admit, I'm the type of person who tries not to worry about the kids, but I couldn't completely get my mind off of them. I was mostly worried about how Nora was doing, since I'd never left her overnight with anyone before. When we got back though, our friends told us she hadn't cried once. Well, actually the only time she did cry was when Peter kicked her. I think Peter was probably the one I should have been worried about. :) It was very encouraging though, to know that we can get away- even if for just a night! 

Paul brought me lots of gifts for our anniversary when he got home from work.  He knows me well- a fragrant, fresh pine, chocolate covered pretzels, sparkling grapefruit soda, and lots of chocolates. Yum.

Aren't they beautiful? I was afraid to touch them, let alone eat them! 

I'm a lucky girl, especially since I get to look forward to many more wonderful years and the rest of eternity with my best friend by my side. Love you, Paul.