I had a birthday last week and I turned 27. 27 to me means "late twenties." You know, this whole past year I was feeling pretty old. Not old old, just in "oh man, I'm about to turn 30" old. Maybe its because this last year has been drastically different than any other year watching my first born grow from baby to toddler. Maybe its because a lot of friends are entering their 30s. Maybe its because I'm starting to see dark circles under my eyes every morning and laugh lines around my mouth that don't disappear as easily with make up. I'm not sure. But randomly, as I got closer to December 15th, I started feeling a renewed sense of youth. haha I mean, I've still got 3 more years left until I'm 30! A lot of time left to enjoy my 20's if God allows it. That felt good to think about. :)
What did I do for my birthday? Since Dec 15th fell on a Tuesday, Mark and I celebrated early on Saturday. He bought one of the most thoughtful gifts he's ever given me. He found a website that can take your blog posts and print them out into a book, complete with pictures. He took the time to scroll though my blog and pick out all the posts about my pregnancy, Reaghan's 1st year, and any other family memories of of 2015 and have them printed out. A lot of my blog posts - like this one - are written almost as a journal post. A way to remember certain events or moments. So having them put together in something I can hold. A tangible keepsake to have to look back on, is priceless to me.
He also took me to the Adventure Park at the Virginia Aquarium. When we got a membership there last March and found out that they had a ropes course there, I had been talking about how I wanted to try it and how I thought it would make for a fun date. And, like the thoughtful guy he is, Mark had been paying attention. : )
The weather was 70 degrees that Saturday on December 12th. I never get to do fun things like this for my birthday! haha And just for the record, I was totally right. It was a super fun date. Although, after we finished the easy courses and moved on to the harder ones, I did begin to question why I, the girl who gets sweaty palm nervous whenever she's exposed to moderately high heights, wanted to do this. But I also like to conquer my fears, so it was fun! We had lots of laughs and adrenaline, some sore arms and a couple of bruises by the time we finished, and good memories of youthfulness. ; )
I wore the worst shoes for this. My toms! At home I was thinking I needed flexible shoes, like when you go rock climbing, but that was wrong. You need shoes with good traction.... and also ones that your feet won't slip out of when they get all sweaty. Just in case you were wondering.
Once you went through a short briefing session and practice obstacles on the ground, they just let you go off on your own and complete the courses without any guidance. The had a pretty cool locking system that made it basically impossible for your harness to ever be unlocked from the cables. It was nice to be on our own, completing it at our own pace and not in a group.
Mark said I only took pictures of him completing the easier courses that weren't as high. But its probably because my palms were *ahem* sweaty and I didn't want to risk dropping the iphone that we were using to take pictures. Sorry husband. I think you look pretty cool even doing the "easy" ones.
We stayed for a couple of hours until it started getting dark. At twilight they turn on the Christmas lights that they have strung through the trees, it was beautiful. None of our pictures of that turned out though. I guess thats what happens when you try to use a phone for all your pictures. : (
After the ropes course, we went out to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen and then walked over to the Cheesecake factory to get something delicious to take home. We also walked around Town Center and I got to go in to Anthropologie for the first time ever! The stuff there is adorable but ridiculously expensive. It was fun just window shopping.
My sisters were watching Reaghan for us and she was bathed and ready for bed by the time we got home. After they left and we put Reag to bed, we finished the night off with a Star Wars movie. Episode V to be exact. Because, if you haven't heard the new movie came out on the 18th and we've been trying to watch all the old ones to prepare ourselves! : )
That Sunday, the 13th, which is my moms birthday, we got together with my family for lunch after church and then did some family Christmas shopping in the evening. We ended that night with pizza and ice cream at Erin and Adam's house and opening gifts.
Reaghan's December church dress.
Walking with her grammy and Pop Pop at church.
Reaghan made Christmas art for her grammy for her birthday.
On my actual birthday I woke up with a cold that I had been trying to fight. Since it was Tuesday, we went over to my parents as we do every Tuesday. (They are who I got the cold from, so I wasn't too concerned with protecting them from my germs.) It was supposed to be our cookie baking day and I was really bummed that I wasn't feeling that in to it. Thankfully there were plenty of hands to help Reaghan bake some cookies and then I made a few to bring home just for our family. I didn't get to make any to share because I didn't think people would be thankful for any germs shared with the cookies.
At least Reaghan had fun. : )
Mark brought me home soup that night when he got out of the his last class of the semester, and we went to bed early.
So....
... maybe 27 is getting old after all. ; )
