20 Years

Last week we celebrated our 20th with a few amazing things:

We managed to mark the anniversary on the correct day! So many of our celebrations have been bumped days - even weeks - off the mark by anything from sickness to moving across the world.

We managed to celebrate as planned with no last minute changes or improvisations around a disruption.

We got to walk out some history - all too often we are in a new place with new or transposed traditions.

Rather than opt for fancy and fabulous, we decided to aim for nostalgic... Walking has been our lot since we first met:

At COPE camp, where we first met

In Timberlea, hashing out all the pre-marriage details

In England, on our sort of honeymoon/know the relatives visit

From Spryfield, walking out early marriage

And in many Asian countries, still a date of choice - and a mode of transport!

So, in another lovely first, we went back to where we started and hiked the first loop of the Bluff Wilderness Trail. 

At that time as a rural girl very much at home in the woods eager to share this love with her new love, and, without a doubt, as a long suffering city boy simply willing to accommodate his new love's strange ideas of fun: hiking in all seasons for the sole purpose of building a fire to awkwardly cook some kind of hodge-podge meal.

 

And now, a much more in sync couple who actually both enjoy the experience!

Although this time we didn't stop to build a fire or cook a meal. Mostly because we didn't have the time - we barely made it back to the car before dark - but also not wanting to sort through the much more stringent rules for fires that are in place since the big forest fires. We did stop for snacks and views though!

Blisters and next day hobbles aside, it was a delightful way to commemorate 20 years! 

Spring Happenings

 One of our fish had fry! We managed to rescue 2 and they are still alive and growing quickly. Notice the difference in size - the tiny orange fish at the top and the black and white ones near the bottom... this fry is nearly a month old and at least twice as big as he was when we discovered him. We're quite tickled that we've managed to keep fry alive this long (this is our second try).

Mom finished her blanket - finally! This was a project she started back in January on the way to Thailand for the SAFE conference. It's a really nice warm blanket for these couch days when the weather is not quite warm enough for no fire and not quite cold enough to comfortably have one.

We got started on a garden. Figured if the seeds were started, the outdoor garden project was more likely to happen! It feels a bit of daunting project since it will need to be created and fenced and fertilized as well as planted.

An evening of sillies that was full of laughs - and morning discoveries of odd bruises! They tried - and succeeded with numerous attempts - every combination, proving that Aiden is truly gaining on his sisters in size and strength. Jasmin on top is where she can smile :)