Monday, August 20, 2012

Birthdays & Rollercoasters

We’ve been celebrating my man’s birthday for a week now. It only feels right though, because people like DW, should be celebrated EVERYDAY. He’s just that good. For real.

We started the celebrations last Sunday morning on his actual birthday. His Mom is almost always the first to call him on the morning of his birthday and she kept up with tradition this year, too. I’m sure she remembers the day better than anyone and she should – as the story goes, he was two weeks OVERDUE and weighed almost 9 lbs.

On that morning in 1979, when I was just a mere twinkle in my own parents’ eyes (ha), DW came into the world and I’m certain it’s been better ever since.

Like all good southern housewives, I made sure my honey got all his breakfast favorites on his birthday. Bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, grits, and biscuits. Yep, we went to the Cracker Barrel.

Breakfast was followed up with church.

Celebration number two was at Pappy & Nie-Nie’s house that evening. DW requested seafood for his birthday supper. Pappy & Nie Nie never disappoint. DSC_0714Adam & Lauren got brother & SIL of the year for their  birthday meal contributions…fresh from the Keys grilled lobster. OH.MY.GOSH. DSC_0717They were THAT good!

We missed Van & his crew, but they were on their way home from vacation that day.

For dessert, I made DW a cookie cake, and decided to make it his favorite colors…orange & blue and of course, we had to put a gator on it. :)DSC_0733When AB saw it, she decided she wanted to wear her cheerleading uniform (that my SIL found at a thrift shop in Atlanta for $5.00 – Thank you, Aunt Kristy! :)   So, since she was wearing that, I put Mames in hers too! DSC_0739 DSC_0719

AB was so cute helping her Daddy open his presents. It was hilarious, because she also told him everything was from her! :) She’s going to be so fun this year at her birthday and Christmas!

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On Monday night, (since my parents couldn’t join us on Sunday) we had birthday dinner at their house. Mom cooked one of DW’s faves- chicken wings. She does the best wings! They’re actually a fave of all of ours! (Including AB, who requests that Grammy make her some wings every time we’re going over there for dinner!)

DW’s been playing with all of his birthday presents all week and on Thursday night, we got to try out his present from the girls! I don’t know when I have seen something so adorable! DSC_0877The bike trailer is almost too much to bare! The girls LOVED it! BOTH of them! 2012-08-16_20-07-46_892We rode to the feedlot (where on a sidenote: I was nearly attacked by a momma raccoon and her babies. Did yall know raccoons can growl and hiss?!?!?).

On our way home, Pappy & Nie Nie saw us when we had stopped off at the office. They pulled in to check out the girls’ new wheels. Even Pappy gave the bike trailer a test spin. Too cute!2012-08-16_20-22-17_538

DW’s last celebration was this weekend.

My present to him was an overnight Mommy-Daddy date!

Back when my Mom and I took the girls to Busch Gardens, he made the comment about how much they used to love to go there when he was a kid and ride the roller coasters. I thought it would be fun to take him there and ride some rides and relive some younger years. :)

So, I lined up my Momma & Daddy to watch the girls and I had the weekend all planned out… We’d leave on Saturday morning and play at Busch Gardens all day. I had even pepped myself up to ride all the roller coasters DW wanted to ride (even though they aren’t my cup of tea at all…because this trip was ALL ABOUT HIM and I really wanted to do it for him). I made hotel reservations at the Intercontinental and dinner reservations at Shula’s restaurant.

Well, things don’t always go as planned. We hit Tampa yesterday morning and it looked like we were in the middle of a tropical storm. DSCN4681Maybe not that bad, but the radar over Tampa was solid green. Sometimes, though, when our plans don’t go exactly as planned, they turn out even BETTER! We ended up getting to do even more than we’d planned!

We decided to make the best of the rain and that it was great weather for lunch and a movie. We had lunch at Maggianos and then saw the new Bourne movie. I told DW to pick ANYTHING and I’d be happy to watch it…even The Dark Knight… (THANKFULLY he chose The Bourne Legacy!) :)

After our movie, we got checked into our hotel and praise the Lord, we had an afternoon nap. DW can’t be lazy at home, so I was glad to be somewhere he could be.

We got ready and had dinner. Shula’s was as good as we remembered. IMAG0851

After dinner, we did a little shopping…for ceiling fans. :) Most of our date nights end in a trip to Lowe’s or Home Depot. That’s fine by me, because it means there a project going on, and I do love me a home project!

Courtesy of the parking lot chains, DW learned a lesson that night – he may be able to outrun me any day of the week, but his 6 foot 4 inch self will never out limbo me. :)

After buying some ceiling fans, we decided to just do it all and have dessert at 10 p.m.  -  I’m sure calories don’t count after 9:00, and thank goodness because our dessert choice was The Cheesecake Factory. DSCN4692

We headed back for the hotel and woke up (on our own) Sunday morning after 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Amen. We decided to give Busch Gardens another shot and got to the park right after it opened. We were greeted this time with blue skies, but also lots of people! It was pretty crowded, but we still a great time. We spent a few hours at the park and rode three of the rides. It felt so crazy to walk in without carrying anything! Usually we have strollers and the backpack and sippy cups and the big camera and sunscreen and snacks and the kitchen sink. IMAG0859

In front of one of the death traps we rode.

After the 3rd ride, the clouds were rolling in and we decided to go ahead and leave and get some good lunch before heading home. I didn’t tell him then, but I was SO RELIEVED when DW suggested it. I think if he had wanted to ride one more roller coaster I may have cried. I did my very best to “enjoy” or at least act like it on those rides, but looking death in the face going 70 mph on some steel tracks really isn’t my thing. I am the biggest chicken EVER. Next time I decide to take him to ride roller coasters for his birthday, his brothers and sister are coming too. They can ride and I can watch! :)

Lunch was at The Columbia.DSCN4694 It was delish. 2012-08-19_13-29-32_535

After lunch we were homeward bound!

My parents are so good to us and even stayed at our house with the girls. They lived it up, too, while we were gone, and we came home to “hand cookies” – DSCN4695

It’s not an easy thing for us to ever leave our kids and we don’t do it often. But knowing they’re in good hands made it doable! :) AB and Mames did great – so much so that Mamie wouldn’t even hardly come to me when we got home! (& AB cried when she woke up from her nap and Grammy & Pop weren’t here anymore). That’s good news, because this was some more practice for another little trip we have coming up in October! :)  (IF Mom and Dad don’t cancel on us after this weekend- ha!)

DW and I enjoyed our little break so much.

I always love him, but sometimes I forget just how good we are together.

As we crossed over onto “our road,” the IPod that was on shuffle, started playing “our” song… what are the chances?

 

Ordinary no, I really don’t think so
Not a love this true
Common destiny
We were meant to be
Me and you

Like a perfect scene from a movie screen
We’re a dream come true
Suited perfectly for eternity
Me and you

 

I couldn’t agree more.

~amw~

4 comments:

Unknown said...

can i please get a re-do on the limbo..... :) so glad my fav. people had some fun!!!

Mary said...

Aww. Happy birthday to your man. Glad you two got some alone time together. It's always nice to have those husband/wife bonding times without the kids, but it's always good to get back to them too.

Carrie said...

I love it all! But I have to say Pug on the bike has about done me in :)

So glad y'all got some ALONE time over the weekend! It looks like a great trip, despite the rain.

Danielle said...

What a sweet post! I especially loved seeing you in that Resort Necklace!! It looks beautiful on you! Missing all my Gainesville & Williston friends!!