This year, Damian used a week of his vacation time to work outside and do some projects that have desperately needed to be done for a few years. He rebuilt our fence and our front porch and did some needed landscaping. Such a hard worker!!
Anyway, pictures will really explain how badly this was needed and what an awesome job he did (by himself, save a few hours of help from our dear friend Sean).
Before:
First panel up!
Damian was very proud of himself after getting the first side up!
Completed fence, part one:
Completed fence pt.2 and play area,
Completed fence pt. 3 and some landscaping:
Thanks hun for being so willing to sacrifice your vacation to do this for our family! We love it!
Isabel has been indoctrinated by Damian to love his favorite sport, soccer. This year was her second year on a "team." For her age group, really it's just like a big, semi-organized practice where they learn the basics. And, lucky Damian, he got to be the coach of Isabel's team. Last year he coached an U9/10 team, which not only had games on Saturdays, but also a practice during the week. So this was a little easier. I think he had a good time, and he was good at it! I missed most of her "games" because we had some yucky weather that we didn't want to bring the baby out in. But, I managed to get some decent pictures one of the days I was able to go.
Isabel did so well, and I'm so proud of her! She's totally going to be the next Mia Hamm (at least, if Damian has his way!!)
Such a look of concentration!!
Working hard under the watchful eye of Coach Damian
My Super Star!!!
Just a note, I wrote this about a month after the event described below occurred, on a blog I had started why back then when I worked 3rd shift for one of the hotels and I was super bored. This was also one of the last posts on that blog... Evidently, blogging can be too boring at 3am. Who knew...
So, in June, I turned 22. *woot* Just kidding, it wasn't that exciting. But, bless my poor husband, he surprised me with a overnight trip up North. It was cute. We had a mini golfing activity, went out to dinner. We stayed at the cutest little Clarion Inn that used to be just a Mom and Pop type Hotel. Then, we went canoeing.
Well, we attempted to canoe. You see, when Damian first told me about this trip, I was less than thrilled. I don't really like outdoorsy stuff. But he had worked so hard and planned and made reservations, and was sooo disappointed in my reaction. So, i sucked it up, told him it just wasn't what I had expected, and we went canoeing. We packed a picnic lunch (that we thankfully left in the car for the canoe trip) and set off to find the canoe place. But, thanks to Google maps, we ended up at a Canoe Rental place about 45 minutes from the place we had intended (it had a similar name). Come to find out, this place was on the fastest inland river in Michigan (or Northern Michigan, or something). It had been raining, so the river was swollen. This place let 2 people that had never been canoeing take a canoe out on a day that they shouldn't have.
Long story short, it was horrible. It was a 3 mile route. suppose to take an hour. We fell out of the canoe about 20 minutes in. The water was about 55 degrees. The canoe kept on going. We pulled ourselves out of the river. Damian lost his flip flops. We had to walk the remaining length through the forest until we were picked up by some veteran canoers for the final 20 minutes or so. We had managed to find the canoe and pull it to safety, but didn't want to get back in and risk falling back in the river (that water was cold). We lost our $30 deposit because thy had to go and pick up the canoe. It sucked. But, I didn't complain. My legs were bleeding. I hurt. I was thirsty. I was hungry. But I did not complain. Because it was my gift. My loving husband tried so hard. And it was blowing up in his face. I felt bad for him. He was so proud of me for not complaining.
So, totally not what I expected for my birthday, and all in all it was a nice birthday, minus our impromptu hike. I think next year I'm going to insist on no surprises though!!
I must start out this post by saying I have the most amazing, absolutely wonderful, thoughtful husband ever. He always puts such thought and effort into birthdays and holidays. I totally can not compete with him!
I sort of knew Damian had been planning something for my birthday for a month or so. But, he likes surprises, and was bound and determined to keep it one! Now, I hate and dread surprises. I'll give you a really good example of why in my next blog post (and it's a birthday surprise to boot!) Anyway, this year I had no clue. I kept an eagle's eye on our checking account to see if he made an purchases I didn't know about, but nothing.
I awoke on my birthday to a text message from Damian that was my very first clue to a scavenger hunt. This scavenger hunt took me all over our house until finally I found my present hidden in Isabel's toy kitchen's dishwasher. Hidden inside was a card, a beautiful blue topaz ring and necklace set, a gift card to Chili's Restaurant, and 2 Visa gift cards. The punk that I am married to had not only bought me gorgeous jewelry, but had also arranged a shopping spree and dinner out with my dear friend Janette (who totally knew what was going on and didn't tell me even though I told her I was stressing out about it!) So he watched both kids for me while Janette and I went out and had fun at the mall and yummy food at Chili's.
So, I cried. I flat out bawled when I found my present. This was totally not in our budget. We totally could not afford this. Except, this didn't come out of our budget. My sneaky fox of a husband had done some translations on the side and didn't tell me about it. So I had no idea the money even existed that he had used for this. Total punk! But I love him dearly!
So, I had a wonderful birthday, and I am now stressing out over Damian's birthday in November. I mean, really, how can you compete with that? And, I feel a little surprised at being 24 already. The past few years have totally flown by!
The beautiful necklace I received! (The ring is the same stone, but I'm too lazt to take of picture of it, too.)