marina + the beach + a marrying date

A little over a week ago, our family of three hit the road.
Oklahoma to Florida.
That's about 1,000 miles -- one way.
IN. A. CAR.

On our way there, we made a pit stop after 12 hours to spend the night at our dear friends' home in Birmingham. They, ironically, were in Florida at the time, but opened their home to us even in their absence. I cannot begin to tell you how thankful we were to have a free, cozy place to stay for the night as we rolled into their driveway after midnight.
(By the way, they even left sweet notes and chocolates on the pillows! Seriously, awesome friends.)

We were up a mere 6 hours later and needing to hit the road to finish our loooong journey.
But, before we left the Birmingham city limits, we stopped at a park to let Aubrey get some much needed energy out before the last leg of our trip.
And this particular park happened to be less than 2 miles from our sweet Marina.

Quick sidenote: I met Marina through Reach Orphans with Hope the Summer of 2007. She is from Ukraine and now has a family in Birmingham. We left for Cincinnati right before she was adopted, so I hadn't seen her in over 5 years. 

Words cannot describe how my heart felt when I saw her again. I think I cried an entire bucket of tears.

The last time we were together, Marina couldn't speak English. I used to have dreams that we were talking together in the same language, and on this glorious day...my dream became a reality. It was one of the most precious blessings God has ever given me.

When we had to say good-bye again, I got in the car and could not stop crying.
This adoption process has made me such an emotional mess, and seeing Marina -- the one who God used specifically to cultivate my desire to be a mother -- was so overwhelming. It all was such an experience of God's divine plan and call on my life.

So, leaving in a trail of tears, we made the last leg of our trip and arrived at the beach just in time to watch the sunset. Again, I just stared in wonder at another example of how amazing God is...

Yes, I'm blessed, that's for sure.

 

Oh, and guess who met us in Florida?!

ZUBIE!

After the sun went down, we all went straight from the beach to dinner at The Red Bar...

The band was just getting started, and Aubrey was working up an appetite after some serious dancing with her dolls.

The next morning, we were on the beach by 9 a.m.

Aubrey's favorite thing was building sandcastles and then knocking them down. 

P.S. Daniel and Zubie are similar in so many ways...

We decided to bury Aubrey in the sand.
She thought this was hilarious.
We regretted it after spending the rest of the day cleaning sand out of every crevice.

Then, the next day, Jacob came down to join in on the fun!

 

 

So, the WHOLE reason we drove to the beach for essentially two days, was because my wonderfully amazing friend from college, Ann Wade, was getting married!

Which also meant my lovely college roomie, Dana, would be coming too! 

ROOMIE REUNION!!

And! Cherry-on-top: she brought her new little man! CHARLIE!!

The wedding and reception: LOVELY.



I'm telling you what, it will definitely go down in my book as one of the sweetest weddings ever.
And I'm not even talking about the cake, which I looooved, by the way...

After we had been at the reception for awhile, Daniel and I scurried back to the beach house to pick up our little munchkin. This was her first wedding to go to, and she was SO excited.

She kept saying, "Ohhhh, I just cannot wait to go to the marrying date!"
My goodness, I could just eat her...

The evening took a chilly turn, but luckily we had this handsome fella around to keep us warm! :)

And the absolute highlight of the trip for Aubrey?
Getting to meet a REAL princess...

She seriously watched Ann Wade the entire evening -- completely mesmerized.

That night when we put her to bed she wanted to pray for the Princess she met at the marrying date. :)

The next morning, we woke up and drove the whole way home.
We left at 8:30 a.m. and pulled into our garage at 12:30 a.m.
That's 16 hours in the car.
Good Golly, Miss Molly!

I need to give a last little shout-out to Aubrey.
She was an awesome traveling cowgirl.

"Giddy up, Pony! We're headin' back to Oklahoooooma!"

Aubrey is 4!

Yesterday Miss Aubrey officially turned 4!

The celebrating has been going on for quite awhile...

Last weekend, Daniel and I decided to give her an early birthday gift:

I've lost count of the times we've been around the block!
(By the way, our neighborhood has brick mailboxes right, smack-dab in the middle of the sidewalks making it impossible to ride or walk on them. Luckily, it's not a very busy street.)

This past Saturday morning Daniel took the birthday girl on a movie date.

Are these two not the cutest pair?! They didn't even plan the matching outfits.
(At least that's what they told me...)

They are total goofballs, especially when they're together...

Aubrey says she's going to marry him when she grows up. :)

After their date, the two of them spent the afternoon setting up a tent in the backyard. Aubrey's birthday party wasn't until 6:30 that evening so it was a great way to help subside the "Is it time for my party?! Is it time for my party?!".

(Birthday Party Post to come!!!)

So, after Aubrey's birthday party on Saturday evening, Daniel had the brilliant idea of having a little family camp-out post party in the backyard. Aubrey was absolutely pumped about getting to wear her "camp-out" jammies and making her way out to the backyard IN THE DARK. (I love how little kids get excited over the little things...).

We borrowed a fire-pit from our sweet neighbors, and Daniel worked hard to kindle a flame. But after three solid days of rain and cold, the wood just did not want to burn. But this guy ended up sparking a few flames before the camp-out was over. (This picture makes me want to break out into song.)

 Aubrey and I stayed in the tent telling spooooooky stories. Some got pretty intense.

Right when Daniel got the fire going, Aubrey popped out and not long after that a log rolled over and snuffed out the flame. Aubrey thought she caused the extinguished fire and was utterly heartbroken. 

We assured her it wasn't her fault and that she could eat a marshmallow anyway.

Who knew jet-puffed sugar could solve the world's problems?!

Aubrey had preschool on her actual birthday, so we made sure to have a special treat for her class. We didn't have ice cream at her party on Saturday (such a deprived child, I know...), so Aubrey suggested we bring that. We ended up finding Dippin' Dots, which turned out to be LOTS of fun and easy for the kiddos to eat.

By the way, it was fun getting to peek into the world of 4-year-old preschool. I was waiting at the classroom door after their music class when I heard the teacher telling them, "Hands behind your back and pretend you're holding a bubble in your mouth!" as they rounded the corner. (I'm guessing this is the secret way to travel with 4-year-olds so they keep their hands to themself and no talking!). When Aubrey saw me there waiting, she lit up! (I may have teared up a teensy bit...) After her class sang "Happy Birthday!" she got 4 high-fives from her teacher.

(Please note her ice cream truck outfit. She made sure this detail was noticed by her teacher. "I'm wearing this outfit because I'm delivering ice cream treats to my class." She's something else, I tell you...)

(They played outside on the playground earlier -- as you can see, her left pant leg can attest to that.)

I decided to pick her up early from preschool with a change of clothes and packed lunch to make our way to the Science Museum for the afternoon. I realized this will probably be the last birthday she has as an "only" child. It felt sorta bittersweet. Anyway, it sure is hard to believe one year ago we were there celebrating her 3rd birthday. (Sniff...sniff...)

There was a new addition at the Science Museum since our last visit and Aubrey announced, "How sweet! They made this special jungle gym just for me on my birthday!"
Oh how lovely it must be to think you are the center of the universe...

(camera phone photo...sorry.)

When we finally left the Science Museum, I had a treasure chest waiting for her filled with dress-up clothes and accessories. Aubrey said, "MOM! How much did all this cost?!" (By the way, I didn't tell her -- Zulily: treasure chest filled with 3 dresses and tons of jewelry, a purse, a wand all for only $16.99! I'll just let her keep thinking it was the "fifty thousand twenty-five fifty hundred" she guessed it to be.)

She immediately princessed-up and discovered two packages at the front door from grandparents!
Aubrey quote in the midst of it all: "This is just so, so, so delightful!" :)

  

Funny side-story...she talked to Zubie on the phone awhile back and when asked, "What do you want for your birthday?!" Aubrey answered, "Roller-skates!" We all just busted out laughing -- were did she get that?! Well, sure enough...Zubie found her some roller-skates! When she opened the package, she squealed, "I knew my Zubie would get me roller-skates!" HAHA!

She loved all her fun goodies:

Dance bag for her tap and ballet shoes, Hello Kitty Ballerina doll, books and stickers.

Roller-skates, boots, outfit, and two ball-popper toys.

 

For her birthday dinner, Aubrey suggested going to Ted's Escondido.
She did NOT want me coming -- only Dad. {STING!}
Daniel finally convinced her I should come too, but when we got to the restaurant Aubrey begged, "Just drop us off, Mom. Pleeeeeease?!"
Sorry little lady -- Mama is coming to your birthday dinner. End of story.

When we got there, I must admit, I did feel a bit like a third wheel...

Did I mention that she says she going marry him when she grows up?

While we were eating, a group of waiters gathered around a table and announced that a particular boy was turning 10! They had the boy stand up on his chair and wear a sombrero while the staff sang extra loud to him. Aubrey was shocked -- "I want them to sing to me!"

"Really?!"

"YES!"

"Are you sure you really want to do this? Stand on the chair? Wear the sombrero? Everyone in the restuarant watching you?"

"YES!!!!!!!!!"

"Okay...lets do this."

Happy Birthday, little chica.
I have known you for over 4 years now, and I still can't figure you out.
It's one of the things I love most about you.
You're an incredible little girl.

Our "Golden" Anniversary

On August 9th, Daniel and I celebrated 9 years of marriage.

Instead of a golden birthday* -- we decided this was our "golden" anniversary.
*The birthday when you turn the same age as your birthdate.

Besides, we were in DC with Grammy and Pop Pop (aka: free babysitters).

Perfect!

So.

Daniel made reservations at La Chaumiére.

Aubrey went to the pool with the grandparents while I showered and got ready at a leisurely pace.
(Glorious.)

As I was putting on my earrings, I heard the doorbell to the apartment ring.

Daniel was standing there with a bouquet of the most beautiful flowers.

It was mix of traditional with an Asian flare.

(He knows my heart is now constantly wedged between the US and China.)

Everything was going swimmingly up until I had the genius idea of walking down to the pool to tell Aubrey goodnight (and to maybe have the grandparents snap an anniversary picture of the two of us looking so good...).

I will not go into full detail as to what unfolded next.
I will say that there was a soaking wet child who decided to have a massive meltdown in front of everyone at the apartment pool.
There was an impressive amount of sobbing and snot.
High-pitched screams.
Thrashing.
Wailing.
It wasn't pretty.

And on that note, we walked to the car with the sound of our child reaching octaves only dogs could now hear.

So...who's hungry?!

Yeah...it kinda zaps all joy and excitement.

After driving through DC rush hour traffic (good times), we arrived at our restaurant destination.
Now we just needed to find a parking spot.
Oooohhh...there's one!
What? The parking meter says "$0.25 for 7 minutes?!" Let's keep looking for something better.
Realizing that was the best option after driving up and down and up and down, we booked it back to the spot before it got snagged.
"YEAH! IT'S STILL THERE!"
As Daniel finagled into the spot, a BMW (no judgment, just observation) turned onto the street.
Feeling rushed to get into the spot so as to not spur a "HONK! GET OUT OF THE WAY!"...
WAAAAAMMM!
Our tire busted on the curb.

Well, fudge.

Daniel decided to change the tire himself.
In his dress clothes.
In 90+ degree heat.
(Well, hello there...)

There was an Ethiopian restaurant right by our parking spot.
The patrons had no idea they were in for dinner AND a show.
One little girl even came outside to watch.
(I can't say I blame her...)

Within no time, the tire was changed.
Too bad our spare was super low on air and poor Daniel was drenched in sweat.

Then we realized the parking meter was broken.

Ha.

We decided "to hell with it" and went on to dinner after sinking five quarters in the meter for only three measly minutes of parking.

Dinner was fabulous.

Daniel ordered a glass of wine.

(I can count on one hand the number of times he's consumed an alcoholic beverage.)

We walked around downtown Georgetown (which has amazing shopping, by the way).

Grabbed some ice cream.

Laughed.

Held hands.

Flirted.

Talked about the past.

Talked about the future.

Talked about nothing.

Talked about everything.

After filling up the spare tire with some air at a gas station, we drove around to see a few of the DC monuments at night, then made our way back to the apartment.

It may not have been the perfect evening...

And this may be the only picture we have of the two of us together on our anniversary...

But when it's all said and done...I'm sure glad I have my soulmate with me on this journey called Life.

Even if we do hit a few curbs along the way...