10 years

Last weekend Sam and I celebrated a major milestone in our life---our 10-year anniversary. Ten years sounds like sooo long, but really feels more like a strange combination of "just yesterday" and "forever" all rolled into one. When I think of all that has happened in the past decade I am amazed and am so grateful to have Sam by my side along the way.

Since 10 years is a really big deal we decided we needed to do something extra special. We had all kinds of of ideas including the Caribbean or Cancun, but between Sam's limited time off, an emergency root canal, and my uneasiness about leaving the kids for too long we decided a local getaway would be just right. I'm so glad we did because I don't think we had even made it to the freeway before I was missing the kids, promising myself I'd never be annoyed or frustrated by them again. I think it will be a few years before Cancun will be a possibility.

Friday, Sam took off work and we headed to Olney (about 45 minutes away) to Sandy Spring Adventure Park, which is an amazing ropes course in the middle of the forest. The place looked fun online, but turned out even better than I had imagined. I really don't think I could have picked a more perfect place for Sam. He kept saying, "Lindsay---this is the best place!"

They had several courses that traversed the trees that were rated in difficulty like ski runs. They told us we had to start with a green or yellow and we unknowingly picked THE easiest course at the park (behind two 8 year old boys no less). It was fun, but when we finished we were definitely ready for something a little more demanding. Not realizing we had just breezed through the EASIEST obstacles, we headed straight for the double black diamond--the absolutely most challenging course they had to offer (seriously, what were we thinking?Apparently 10 years of marriage has not been long enough for either one of us to fully develop our common sense). Halfway up the first ladder one of the park employees shouted up to us, "Have you done a blue course yet?" "No." "You need to do a blue before you do a black." We paused awkwardly mid-climb with no response wondering if perhaps she did not realize how capable we actually were (capable indeed!) until she said, "All right...you're already up there, so go ahead." Happy to have someone acknowledge my apparent athleticsim I moved forward, only to realize a few minutes later it was our naivete she recognized.

On the second obstacle I realized I was a little over my head while standing 40 feet off the ground. I attempted to cross 40 feet over suspended logs using every one of my undeveloped muscle to hold myself up while dangling from my life line. I really started to worry when half-way across I was running out of steam and still had 20 feet to go. At that point the smile on my face changed to a distressed one of "I can't do this but I know I have to/Sam I need you to help me!/I know I have do this on my own." Those feelings were familiar and Sam nailed it on the head when I finally made it across and he said, "I knew you were having a hard time because you had your labor face on." Yep. I knew I recognized that face from somewhere!

Despite the overly-ambitious double black diamond attempt which ended prematurely with a full on rescue on the most challenging obstacle, we did have an absolutely wonderful time, and by the time we were done, we were completely exhausted and very ready for Cafe Rio.

It had been almost 7 years since we enjoyed Cafe Rio in Provo so I wasn't sure if it would really be as good as I remember. It wasn't--it was better.

This is Sam's "stop taking pictures of me while I am eating" smile...

...and this is his retaliation.

After our late lunch we headed to Annapolis, which turned out to be a lovely city on the water--beautifully historic with a hip "yachty" feel to it. I was really quite impressed by it all.




The hotel we stayed in was a deal we got on Priceline right on the water. It was a nice waterfront hotel, but I have I hard time imagining they really charge the advertised $380 a night. It was nice, but not that nice. It was certainly nicer than the $80 we paid, so we were happy. The room was great, but we laughed at the view. I'm pretty sure they reserved it special for their Priceline bargain hunters.

Awesome.

Once we got to the hotel we changed into new, less sweaty and dirty clothes to go rollerblading. I'm sure neither Sam or I really had the energy to do this, but it was part of our "plan" so we did it anyways.

Roller blading is something Sam and I used to enjoy doing together quite a bit before we had kids. I really don't know if I've been since Reed was born or not. It sure didn't look (or feel) like I had. I was an awkward mess on wheels. Sam must secretly wake up early on the weekends and roller blade because he didn't have any problems at all. Thank goodness, too, since I had several "Help! I can't stop!" moments that he was able to scoot in and rescue me from.

Show off.

After drenching another set of clothes with sweat (it had to have been close to 100 degrees) we figured we'd had enough fun and headed back to the hotel for a quick break and another change of clothes.

That night went to PF Chang's for dinner. The food was good, but it was late and we were exhausted, so afterwards we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our next day of adventure.

We had lots of plans for the next day including going to Ocean City to fulfill my lifelong dream of going parasailing, but an hour into awful traffic we decided to call it quits and head home via IKEA and yep, you guessed it...the ropes course AGAIN. Did I mention that I couldn't have picked a a more perfect activity for Sam?

After another adventurous afternoon in the trees we headed home bruised, sweaty, exhausted and super excited to see our three favorite little faces.

I am so grateful for 10 years of marriage that have brought us so much happiness and joy, provided us with immense opportunity for growth and development, and given us three wonderful children whom we love and adore more than the world.

Happy Anniversary Sam! You're the best.

P.S. You owe me a para sailing trip.

In case I missed something in my recap here is a video that Sam made from our trip. It pretty much captures it...although I don't know why there is so much waving at the camera. I'm pretty sure people stopped doing that in 1955.