Celebrating 3 Years of Adventure!

The day we got back from the High School retreat we went to church and then to the college luncheon. While we were there we got a call from a friend of ours who needed someone to watch their kids because they had to visit a family member in the hospital. We agreed to help and headed over to their house. The kids were already down for their naps so Paul and I took a nap on their coach (which was much needed). After that it was time for night church, then laundry and packing for our anniversary trip.

Once packed, we got Ernie in the car and headed off for a couple of days just the two of us. It had been a busy month so far (Sarah's wedding and the high school retreat) and we were looking forward to having some relaxing one on one time. We arrived at the lake house after midnight, but we got to sleep in the next morning which made up for it.

One of our friends parents has a house on Lake Murray which is about an hour away from our house. They offered their lake house to us for a couple of days for free, which was right in our price range!

The first morning there, we headed to Walmart (what is vacation without a trip to Walmart) and bought food for the next couple of days and some fishing supplies. I had never gone fishing before and really had no desire to ever go. But Paul thought it would be a relaxing way to spend our anniversary. Seeing that I was still not very excited about the planned activity, Paul bought me a pink fishing rod that I could call my very own. I have to say, I was pretty excited to try it out. We bought some fresh worms and headed back to the lake house.

We spent most of the day just sitting in our chairs on the dock and fishing. Ernie sat out on the dock along side us. We ate cherries and enjoyed the sun, the lapping of the water against the dock and the view. Paul caught a fish the first morning and we were so excited! Even though that turned out to be the only fish that we caught the entire trip, we had a lot of fun perfecting our fishing techniques.

The next day we slept in again and had devotions out on the dock. I cooked a big brunch with eggs, sausage, toaster strudels and fresh fruit.

Paul thought it would be fun to take Ernie canoeing with us. Ernie hates water and he and I were a little nervous at first. But once I realized he wasn't going to flip us over and he realized he could lap water from the side whenever he wanted to, we all relaxed and enjoyed the ride. Later that day he ran and hopped right into the boat and looked at us like he was ready to go!

We also went swimming and tried to get Ernie comfortable in the water. He provided much entertainment during the trip. He would get half way in, get nervous and run backwards out of the water, bark crazily and then sprint up onto the dock, continuing to run the entire length of the dock and then run back into the water and do the whole thing over again. We would just sit in the water and laugh at him.

On our last night, I made a fancy turkey dinner with all the fixings and we sat out on the dock with a bottle of red wine and watched the sunset. We left Ernie inside and spent hours just talking and asking each other questions. We had such a wonderful time of relaxation and catching up. I praise God for our friendship and how it has deepened in the last three years. We look forward to many more adventurous years ahead.