BIG Weekend!

It's so hard for me to believe that it is the middle of November! It certainly doesn't seem like it since we are not experiencing Wisconsin weather! Honestly, I don't miss the cold and snow! It's just hard to keep track of time when the weather doesn't change. A guy at church this morning told us that we can track the change of season by noticing which flowers are blooming. We'll have to learn about that I guess.

Well, for those of you who don't know, my birthday was Saturday and our 12 year anniversary was on Sunday. We had a very nice weekend. Jenna has been more excited about my birthday than me. She talked about it all week! She kept asking how many more days until Saturday. On Friday on the way to school, Jenna said to me, "Mom, you only have 24 more hours to be 36." Gee thanks for the reminder Jenna! On the way home from school, she asked how many more hours until Saturday. I said 9. She again reminded me how many hours I had left before I was older! She's so sweet!! On Saturday morning I went for a run. Last weekend I ran 4 miles and I felt pretty good, so I figured I should be able to run 5 miles this weekend. For some reason, I struggled a little after about 3 miles. I really wanted to quit, but I kept going and finished! I was telling AJ about it after I got back and he so lovingly said, "Well you ARE a year older now!" Isn't my family great! They're almost as bad as my friend Dave who is always harassing me about my age. You'll catch me in one month Dave! Yes, I know that I will aways be older, but I'll always be WISER too!! I was talking to my Dad a few days ago and I was telling him that I can't believe that I am going to be 37! How did that happen so fast?! I can't believe that I'm so close to 40...40! when I feel like I'm still 27! Oh well, I guess that's life. It's better than the alternative!

We decided to go to the beach for a while. Unfortuately we left in such a hurry that we forgot the sunscreen and towels! We weren't able to stay too long, but we had fun while we were there! We went snorkeling and it was amazing! AJ went out first and saw a huge sea turtle, but when I went out, I couldn't find it. I was so disappointed! I played with Jenna for a little while and then went back out in search of the turtle. This time I found it! It was so cool!! It was huge!! AJ thinks that it was about 2 1/2 feet long. I found it in a shallow area eating off of the rocks on the bottom of the ocean. It was so amazing to watch. I stayed for a long time just watching it move across the bottom of the ocean. It would ebb and flow with the movement of the tide. It was so graceful and used it's back flippers to push itself along the bottom. Once in a while it would come to the surface to get a breath of air. I could have stayed there for hours watching it! There were also a ton of fish swimming in the area. They were all so beautiful! They were all different sizes and colors. I saw a little black fish with white dots on it, which I think was a puffer fish. There were several black, yellow and white fish - the same colors, just in different patterns. There were multi-colored fish, black fish, and long, skinny silver fish, just to name a few. It was so cool. I just love snorkeling! My favorite thing that I saw that day (besides the turtle) was watching the sunlight reflect through the water. It was so amazing! I have been trying to think of how to describe it, but I just can't come up with the right words...it was like a stain glass window with the sun shining through on a bright, sunny day. It was like the sunlight was dancing on the rocks below in odd, asymmetical, square-like shapes. It was so beautiful. I really didn't want to leave, but AJ and Jenna were probably wondering what was taking me so long, so I thought I should head back to shore.

We were able to get Jenna to snorkel a little bit too. AJ held her and she laid across her boogie board so she could snorkel. She saw a few of the black and yellow fish. There were pretty close to her and she was getting scared they would touch her, so she wanted to go back to shore. We were happy with what she did. It's the most snorkeling she has done in water where she couldn't stand up. Hopefully she'll have a little more courage the next time she's out there.

We ran a few errands and then went out for dinner Saturday evening. It was really nice. AJ and Jenna bought me a flower lei made of plumaria flowers, which are my favorite. It was so pretty! I also got a new pair of sunglasses. My old pair were in really bad shape. Jenna bought me a small jewelry box made of shells and a key chain with a hula girl on it. It was very sweet!

We had a pretty quiet day for our anniversary. We went to church and took naps after lunch. We watched the Packers win and the Bears lose! That was a gift in itself! We were planning to go to a seafood buffet for dinner, but Jenna's friend called and invited her to go swimming, so we decided to postpone the buffet until Friday. Can you believe it's been 12 years already? Time goes so fast! I remember the day we got married. It was a very nice day for November in the midwest. It was 45 degrees! But by that night, it was raining really hard and the wind was blowing the rain horizontally! It was crazy! This is definately the warmest weather I've ever had for my birthday or anniversary! It was a very nice day. I'll write more tomorrow, so until then...aloha!