13 Years and Counting...

13 years ago in Montego Bay, Jamaica...

Last week, on January 7th, Lance and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary. To celebrate and to have some much needed alone time, we traveled to not so warm and sunny Florida. Friends (Thank you SO much Greg and Vicki!) offered to let us stay in their condo on Sanibel Island. It was beautiful there! The bike trails, shopping and dining are great. And even though I didn't wear a swimsuit or even shorts, for that matter, the whole 4 days we were there...we still had a GREAT time. The first day we arrived was a little chilly, maybe in the high 40's or low 50's. We snacked at the local Lazy Flamingo II, explored the island and beach a little, then had dinner at the Doc Ford's restaurant.

These two pictures (above and below) are taken at the Traders Restaurant...awww, we are so cheesy:-) LOL!

The picture below was taken at the Sanibel Steakhouse...celebrating our 13 years together!

The next day was nice...in the 60's! We started the morning with an hour jog/walk on the beach then we rented bikes, yes...beach combers with large seats, baskets and bells:-) LOL! We had so much fun riding, shopping, snacking and drinking Sanibel. We had a VERY yummy lunch at Traders Restaurant and VERY, VERY good dinner at the Sanibel Steakhouse. I would say our favorite thing to do together is to just sit over a good dinner and bottle of wine in the corner booth of a nice restaurant and just talk. I LOVE our long talks about life, love, the past and our future together. It honestly doesn't get any better than that! Lance is my best friend and sole mate. He is such a wonderful man with a HUGE heart. He is a great husband, father, provider and spiritual leader of our home. I am still SO in love with him. In fact...I love him more with each passing year. Thank you God for the amazing things you have done to bless our lives and our marriage. We owe it ALL to you!

The beautiful sunset we woke to...

Our last full day on the island we woke feeling ready for an adventure. The sun was shining and the weather was OK...probably in the mid 50's. So off to the bike shop we went. We rented the bikes for the day and proceeded to ride and ride. We rode all the way to the upper most tip of Captiva Island. I think we covered about 35 miles. We stopped at several beaches, pubs and restaurants along the way...including The Mucky Duck, Lazy Flamigo and The Mermaid. We spend about 6 1/2 hours on and off our bikes that day. The last 9 miles back the wind started to pick up and it was sprinkling when we finally made it back to Billy's bike shop. I was never so glad to see a bike shop:-) Our legs were kinda wobbly and our booties a little sore but we made it! We got cleaned up and went out to the Matzaluna Italian Kitchen for dinner. It was really good too. The bartender there has family here in the Winona Lake area and actually has a cousin that works with Lance at Biomet. He actually lived here and went to Jefferson Elementary for a few years when he was younger. Now he is married with 3 kids and bar-tending on Sanibel. Small world huh?!

The day we left was REALLY cold for Florida. I think it was only in the 30's and everyone we saw said this was a record low for Florida. It was also raining and gloomy looking. We were ready to come home. We love our time alone but we also miss our kiddos. It was GREAT to get home! Thanks to Grandma Linda for keeping our tribe while we were away. We love you!

I can't wait to see what the next 13 years brings us. We have been SO blessed in the first 13! God is GOOD!!!