A Decade

I don't like to be awakened before 7am, unless it's with a travel itinerary before my very eyes. This past Thursday, the alarm startled me out of a deep sleep at 4:30am. In other words, my world was rattled at an ungodly hour.

Once I remembered that I was leaving on a jet plane in a couple of hours, I jumped out of bed to prepare myself to face the dark world. The fatigue was quickly corrected with my flat iron and a Diet Coke.

Liam didn't need a flat iron or a Diet Coke to get started. His motor was runnin' the minute he got up. I even had to hold him down at the airport. You don't believe me?
Beware: You are about to see a lot of pictures of Liam and me together. Daddy took the camera for pretty much the entire trip.

But I did manage to get the camera for this shot:
That man...
and this girl.... We went to Vail this past weekend to celebrate our 10th anniversary.

Holy cow, I still can't believe I'm old enough to be married that long!

You may be wondering why we took Liam on our anniversary trip. Well, we were wondering that ourselves on day 2, when he was bawling his eyes out on a mountain bike. I really tried to remain calm, but the mountain biking was his request and it was fun, darn it!

We took Liam to Vail because it's hard to leave 3 boys behind with family when both grandmothers stay extra busy. Plus, we thought it would be fun to have some 2-on-1 time with our big boy.

Minus the dramatic mountain bike ride, we did enjoy each other's company in one of our favorite places.
What's not to love about a European-feeling mountain village?

And ice cold creeks?
And beautiful walks?
And what's not to love about torturing your body while climbing a 14er?
For you flat-landers, a 14er is a mountain that reaches at least 14,000 feet in elevation.

The main reason that Rick wanted to take Liam on our Vail trip was to introduce him to Daddy's favorite sport. After Liam freaked out on the mountain bike the day before, I decided that I better tag along in order to provide the boy with a way out, in the event that he couldn't keep up with the drill-sergeant, I mean father.

I thought it would be no big deal for me to climb Mt. Elbert, which is supposedly the easiest 14er.

"I work out. I'm in better shape than Rick. No problemo," I thought.

Before we even reached treeline, I was ready to use ugly words. I tamed my tongue slightly with my child on the scene and told Rick that he was "full of poop" when he told me, "You're almost to treeline. It won't get any harder than this."

Five minutes later, I was huffing and puffing and it was not getting any easier. "I hate you," I said. And proceeded to turn my exhausted baby and myself downhill.

Daddy continued without us and made it.
And I'm so mad at him that I could spit, because I wanted to see the view!
Once I was able to speak to my husband without spewing hatred upon him, I explained to him that I want to try again. Only the next time, I will carry my own water and snacks, and I will order him to move ahead and leave. me. alone. I can do it, but I don't move at his marathon pace. And neither does our boy.

I did forgive him. After a day or two.

My brother and sister-in-law came to visit us the next day, so that we could see this beauty:
Edie is a dream girl.
And she's just as sad as I am about the fact that she lives so far away.
And she really hates lemons.

My brother took Liam home with him for our last night, so that we could go out for a nice dinner alone. Sweet Basil was our restaurant of choice, and the 5 pounds I gained on that entire trip can be contributed to that one meal.

We had also hoped to ride the gondola to the top of the mountain for an anniversary picture, but we forgot to go before the early closing time. I was really disappointed in this, because we have a sweet picture of us from our fifth anniversary in the same location that I wanted to repeat and frame. You know, so that the two pictures can sit side by side on my dresser and mock me for the aging that's taken place since adding "twins" to our family in that time.

It wasn't meant to be, so we asked a fellow to take a picture of us here instead:
It turned out cute enough for framing, minus the boot in the left corner. I'm hoping my brother can use his fancy photoshopping skills to get rid of that boot. But even if he can't, I'll still frame the photo to commemorate a decade with my favorite man.

Besides, that photo is taken far enough away that I can't see the five-year aging process.

Before flying home the next day, we spent a couple hours at my brother's house to get more Edie lovin'. Gosh, I love that girl!
Unfortunately, her parents wouldn't let me bring her home. What is their problem?

Instead, we snagged our child and headed for the airport, where we had a rain delay. We passed the time with being crazy on the moving sidewalk...

(Look close and you'll see Liam in action.)
and playing cards.
We finally arrived home at 1:30am. Lord have mercy, we were beat.

But we spent our anniversary trip making great memories. And I hope for many more anniversaries with my man, even though he is a drill sergeant on the mountain.