Happiest anniversary date

Two weeks ago, Matt took the day off work and we headed South for an anniversary date at the Happiest Place on Earth. Since it might just be our last visit to Disneyland before the baby comes (I was 26.5 weeks pregnant at the time and refuse to go during the busy summer season), we indulged in all the Disney treats magic that our hearts desired.
It was a perfect day!

The new Little Mermaid ride -- Ariel's Undersea Adventure, if you want to get technical -- had just opened the weekend before so the line was crazy all day. We decided to knock it out of the way first thing and enjoyed our 90 minutes in line with the cutest nuns ever. The ride itself was really cute and brought back memories of stealing my Lori Mama's copy of A Little Mermaid a million times before it was officially released and happily playing with my Eric and Ariel wedding barbies. Those were the good ol' days.

The highlight of our anniversary date at Disneyland was eating lunch at the Blue Bayou. You know, the restaurant inside Pirates of the Caribbean that looks like this from the boats:

I've wanted to eat there since I was a little girl (again with the childhood memories, right?), but it's not exactly cheap so Matt and I have been saving it for a special occasion. We made our reservation weeks in advance and were so excited when 1:30 rolled around and we were escorted to our table. The atmosphere was every bit as cool as we had anticipated, the service was excellent, and our Monte Cristo was delicious! It was such a great lunch date.

Naturally, we rode Pirates immediately after lunch and then kept with the theme by exploring the Pirates' Lair (Tom Sawyer Island) before heading back to California Adventure for a few more rides.

As we were heading back up Main Street, we gave into the tempting aroma of freshly baked waffle cones and stopped into Gibson Girl's Ice Cream Parlor for a yummy treat. (And while I'm confessing, we also ate a churro later during fireworks. I told you we indulged.)

Another highlight of the day was my new personal record on Buzz! Definitely worthy of a celebratory picture.

We grabbed gumbo and clam chowder in a bread bowl as a late dinner while we waited for the fireworks show to start. If you can't tell, this is our favorite go-to meal at Disneyland.

And last but certainly not least, we sat and cuddled and enjoyed watching the fireworks over the castle. It was a sweet ending to a wonderful day!

The Second Year

Last week, Matt and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary.
I think it goes without saying that it's been a wonderful two years!

On our first anniversary, I surprised Matt with a little video slideshow of our first year of marriage. I kept the tradition going this year and it was crazy to look back and see everything that we've done over the past 12 months! Without further adieu, The Second Year:

The Second Year from Ashley D on Vimeo.

As for the anniversary celebration, our Europe vacation in March was technically our anniversary/babymoon trip, so we kept it low-key at home on the actual day. (We are going to celebrate at Disneyland tomorrow, though!) I woke up that morning to find a giant "I love you" post-it message on our bathroom mirror with a dozen roses on the counter. As I went through my usual morning routine, I found more and more sweet little post-it notes that Matt had strategically placed throughout the house. He makes me smile.

That night, I made a fancy little dinner as well as mini Oreo cheesecakes. We indulged a bit and then cuddled up on the couch to watch our own movie marathon -- our growing up and dating slideshows, our wedding videos, The First Year, and then The Second Year. It was so fun reliving all the memories we've made together over the years!

Matt then provided me with my own request line on his guitar. That man sure can sing. Have I told you that before? I'm pretty sure the baby loves it, because he always kicks up a storm when he hears his daddy playing and singing -- not anyone else, just Matt. (The little guy also has kicking parties while his daddy is sleeping and therefore keeps his mom up for half the night these days. But that's a whole 'nother story.) Anyway, our anniversary was simply perfect and we're both so excited to embark on another year of adventures -- including the arrival of our baby boy!

Speaking of the little munchkin, by request, here is my most recent belly picture. It was taken on our anniversary -- just one day shy of 26 weeks. The bump is finally growing and the countdown has officially begun! There are less than 100 days until our baby boy's due date and we are in full-blown preparation mode here in sunny Southern California.

Surprise!

Matt and I just barely returned from an incredible vacation in London, Rome and the Amalfi Coast! It was an early anniversary trip of sorts, squeezed in right before things get crazy with my school and Matt's work. After months of limited quality time because of my work schedule, it was nice to simply be together. The fact that our little getaway was in one of the world's most romantic places was just icing on the cake.

(Both of these pictures were taken in Positano on the Amalfi Coast in Italy. We stayed in the big white villa on top of the hill in the picture below.)

Sorry for my total and complete lack of communication over the past couple weeks, but I've been out of the country! As for my sporadic presence in the two weeks leading up to it, I was busy juggling normal life with prep for grad school and planning a very last-minute international vacation. We booked the whole thing a whopping two weeks before our departure date! So crazy. And so amazing.

It was especially nice to land in warm, sunny Southern California just before sunset yesterday (hooray for Daylight Savings!). We love traveling, but nothing beats America and home. Matt turned right around just four hours later and caught a flight to Denver to meet up with his brothers for the NCAA Tournament. Meanwhile, I barely got my ESPN bracket in on time and am catching a whole lot of March Madness on TV while recovering in LA this weekend. Oh yeah, and diving headfirst into graduate school. I hope to get caught up with my own life and all of yours' soon!

Kauai: The Last Day

Our last day in Kauai came around all too soon! The "last days" of vacation have a way of doing that, though, don't they? We started our morning with banana macadamia nut pancakes and headed to Kalapaki Beach.

The waves were sort of flat when we got there, so we took a few pictures to pass the time.

At the first sign of improvement, we grabbed our boards and headed out into the water. Surf's up!

After our little surf session, we headed back to the hotel to pack up. The pools looked so enticing from our balcony that we decided to do a late check-out so we could play in them one last time.

We made sure to get a picture of the slice of heaven that was our swimming pool so we could dream about it on hot summer afternoons like today.

Once we finally checked out, we headed to the farmer's market we'd had our eyes on all week. We bought a pretty wooden vase, some fresh fruit, and the classic Hawaiian shaved ice with macadamia nut ice cream on the bottom. Yum!

Then we headed South through the tunnel of trees to see Spouting Horn. The geyser shot out of the rocky shoreline and created pretty rainbows with the ocean as the backdrop. And even better? There was the cutest sea turtle swimming around it, poking his cute head out above the waves. Yeah, Spouting Horn beats Old Faithful hands down.

Then it was off to Shipwrecks Beach, where we discovered that Matt was about done with picture taking (as evidenced by his "please say this is the last one" smile below). So I did the "I Love You" dance to pep him up a bit and resorted to taking pictures of flowers instead. Turns out they are much more willing subjects.

And then, before we knew it, the sun was setting and it was time to head to the airport.

We grabbed some Little Caesars on the way (because we're cheap like that), dropped off our rental car, and took off on the red-eye to LAX.

Six hours later, the lights of Los Angeles were in view and it was a comforting sight. No matter where you go in the world, nothing beats coming home.