4 years...

Yup, Luke and I just celebrated our 4 year anniversary! It really is amazing to think how much has happened since then and how fast it's really gone! And it is a little weird to me that even though Erika and I are so close in age and were only one grade apart in school, she got married almost exactly 4 years after me! And it makes me a little sad to think that they aren't planning on having kids anytime soon- because my kids are going to need cousins their age! But oh well, that doesn't matter right now...

Back to our anniversary! I mentioned before that Luke and I were lucky enough to go to the beach to celebrate our anniversary this year. I like the idea of having at least one night out of the year away from kids, so I hope that can become an anniversary tradition. Our anniversary was actually one week ago on August 26, and we went to the beach exactly one week before that, but celebrating one week early isn't too bad. And it worked out nice since we were already in town with family that we could leave Jacob with all of them and I felt comfortable enough between my mom, dad, James, Julia and Andrea that he'd be just fine!

So we left that Thursday morning for Rehoboth Beach- which is the same beach we honeymooned at! And we stayed at this really cute little house/hotel on the same block as the boardwalk and only 3 blocks north of Main Street! So it was right in the middle of everything so that was a really fun and memorable place for us to stay!

So after figuring out where we were staying, and checking in, we headed straight for the beach! It was a smidge cloudy when we got there, but after getting lunch at Grotto's Pizza a half hour in, all the clouds were gone! So we got a fair amount of sun time, which was really all I cared about.

But Luke did get me to go into the water too- and only because the waves crashed before our knees even got wet. Otherwise I don't think I would have made it- I've seriously developed a strong fear of ocean waves. Even when I got in that first day I was clinging onto Luke like crazy because I guess the waves got bigger when I went in and needed some help jumping them- and the water was cold! But I was still proud of myself for getting in since I swore I wouldn't!
So then at about 6:00 we finally left the beach, changed back at our place, and headed out for dinner. We drove around a couple places first but in the end we ended up parking back at our hotel and walking back to Main Street to find a good place to eat. By then it was getting a little late and we were starving but we found a nice restaurant that had ribs and pulled pork for Luke and fish for me- so it was perfect for both of us! Then we walked back along the boardwalk and stopped at the arcades and we each played a game of skee-ball, but neither of us won haha. Then we walked along the sandy beach back to our hotel- I know, so romantic.

The next morning we checked out of our hotel and then went out to breakfast at this cute little breakfast diner. Then, back to the beach! Friday was such a beautiful beach day, it was pretty hot and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky!

And the coolest thing was that whole afternoon we spotted probably a hundred dolphins! I'm not even kidding, there was a huge school of them swimming really close to shore, and they were showing off tricks and everything!
You can see how close some of these dolphins got- there's at least 3 right there beyond those kids! Anyway, that was really neat because everyone would just stand along the beach and ooh and ahh at the dolphins flipping around and swimming up and down along the shore.
And usually Luke is the one begging me to get in the water but I was the one that kept begging him to get in that day because it was soo hot! And the water was so low that I actually really enjoyed being in the water! So I needed a picture to prove I got all the way wet ;)

We had to leave the beach around 4:30 or so that day since we needed to return our parking pass by 5. Then we shopped at the outlets on the way out of town and got some clothes for Jacob, and a new swimming suit and shirt for Luke. Then we picked up some Grotto's pizza again for the ride home, and we also picked up a Rita's ice. Everyone out east had been talking about Rita's so I just had to try it, and it was yummy!

So we made it home a little after 9 that night, and we had a great time! It felt a little fast but we definetly enjoyed our time and were able to relax while we were there! We thought about Jacob a little bit but didn't really have enough time to miss him ;) But we were happy to see him when we got home! Jacob did just fine while we were gone of course- here are some pictures I found of him while we were away.
I guess this little toy ring kept him occupied for awhile :)
Apparently he really loved playing with my dad- Jacob was laughing like crazy when he was around!

Playing with Julia- she had been such a great helper with Jacob the entire vacation!

Jacob also loves to play with Andrea since she's so much fun too!

Forget mom and dad, I'm just fine!
When we got home I tried him in one of his shirts from Rehoboth beach, but it's still too big!
So on our real anniversary a week later Luke and I got Jacob a babysitter and went out to dinner at Maggiano's in downtown Denver. We had a great coupon where you each pay $13 for a meal, then we each got to take another meal home for free! Then we also had a dessert coupon for $2! So by the time we left we had 2 boxes of leftovers, another 2 full meals to-go, and this beautiful chocolate mousse cake!

Yea that was pretty awesome. While we were at dinner Luke also saw Ubaldo Jimenez, who plays for the Rockies but he said he's one of the best pitchers in all baseball. I tried to get Luke to go over and say hi or get a picture with him, but he was too embarrassed and didn't want to bother him while he was on a date. But it was still kind of neat.

Anyway, I feel like this years anniversary was a lot of fun! 4 years down and several more to go!