Anniversary Trip

I can not even begin to put into words what this past weekend meant to me.  Joe and I have not been on a kid free weekend or vacation in probably 3 years nor on an anniversary trip in probably 7 years.  I thought a ten year anniversary was special enough to deserve a kid free trip.  I'll admit it was hard for me because this was the first time I had left all three kids, but it was so worth it.  Every day life begins to wear you down and sometimes marriage is more of a business than two people in love.  Did you do this, did you pick up this, can you clean this, etc.  Sometimes it is hard for love to flourish in an environment like that.  I treasured every second of this weekend.  I enjoyed it just being Joe and me, and having all of his attention on me and all of my attention on him. 

Joe took the day off Friday so that he could deliver kids to grandparents so that we could hit the road as soon as I got home. I got off at 12:00 p.m. and we left the house within five minutes of me getting home. Next we picked up Quint from his house, and then Sheila from Hyundai. We were offically on the road. Yay!!! We arrived at Orange Beach a little after 4:00 p.m. We unpacked and got settled and then decided we needed to eat before everywhere got busy. So we loaded up and started to search for dinner. We ended up eating at a place called Tacky Jacks on the water. After dinner we walked around some and took these pics:


                                

After Tacky Jacks we did some shopping and headed back to the condo.  The next morning we all slept in.  By the time we all had gotten up, showered, and finally decided what we wanted to do, it was lunch time so we headed out for lunch.

Finally ready to start the day :)

We ended up splitting a pizza from a place called Rotolos. 

 After lunch we played putt-putt and raced go-karts at Adventure Island. 

After Adventure Island we headed back to the hotel to swim in the indoor pool.  The water felt great especially after playing out in the hot sun.  After the pool we headed up stairs to get ready for our evening dolphin boat ride.  The boat left the dock at around 6:25 p.m. and we didn't get back until about 8:30 p.m.  It was a beautiful ride and we actually did see some dolphins. 

If you look real close you can see dolphin fins. 

After the boat ride we headed out to figure out what we were going to do for dinner.  We ended up driving to the Wharf.  We didn't eat dinner there, but we did take a ride on the huge ferris wheel.  It actually wasn't scary at all and was kind of relaxing.  We then headed back out trying to figure out where to eat.  We ended up eating at a place called Lesters.  They had a live "band" (I put that in quotations because it was a two man group).  I actually got the courage to walk up and ask that they dedicate a song to Joe for our anniversary, and the biggest surprise Joe actually slow danced with me during one of the songs.  It was really sweet.  I think by that point it was like 10:30 and we headed back to the condo and then down to the beach.  When Joe and I first planned this trip we decided that we wanted to renew our vows.  So we each wrote our own vows to read to the other.  So at 11:00 p.m. Saturday night on the beach in the moon light we renewed our vows to each other.  It was funny because we had to use our cell phone to be able to read what we had written but it was something I will always remember.  After renewing our vows we caught back up with Quint and Sheila on the beach and we layed there looking up at the stars and the moon talking about how small we felt compared to the huge ocean in front of us and the vast sky above us.  It was an awesome night. 

The next morning Joe and I got up early and went and played in the ocean and then swam in the indoor pool.  (Quint and Sheila slept in and I let them.  Joe wanted me to wake them up, ha ha.)  When we got back from the pool we showered and started cleaning up and packing.  We left the condo about 10:30 a.m. and did a little more shopping.  We then headed to Calypso Joes for lunch before heading back home. 

It was a great trip.  It was so nice not to worry about anything and just live in the moment.  I'm so glad that Joe and I were able to reconnect.  We are both so grateful to Other Mama and Pap-Paw for giving up their weekend to keep the girls and MeMaw and Paw-Paw for giving up their weekend to keep Joel.  It meant so much for us to take this trip.