10th Anniversary

(Just fyi: the asterisks are for new paragraphs because blogger is not currently letting me do it my way)
*Nathan and I had an incredible second honeymoon in Phoenix, AR. He planned the whole thing and I never knew a thing about it. How exciting!! He did give me the itinerary one month ahead of time (I was totally shocked) so that I would be able to prepare myself and the kids and get everything covered with the business.

*I had never flown - can't say I'm dying to again, but I made it. Probably the most scared I have been in a very long time. I am always able to work myself through anything - never get really keyed up. Yeah, not so much when it comes to flying. Yikes. Poor Nathan. 8-)

*We were gone from Feb. 11th - the 15th. It was beautiful weather!! We left 25 inches of snow and landed in 80 degree weather. Uh-huh. Lovely.

*We drove around in a great car, ate together QUIETLY, drove around some more, ate some more....sat by the pool, brushed only our own teeth, combed only our own hair, put only our own shoes on....8-)

*Why Phoenix?? Nathan told me years ago that he would be the first person to fly with me and that when I did fly that first time he would make sure it was to a state I hadn't been to yet. So - Arizona it was. We then drove to New Mexico. That finishes the lower 48 for me. Now...just Alaska and Hawaii...hmmm...did I mention I do like to fly???

*We had such an unbelievably awesome time - I am still living off of it.

*I will say this - it was terribly hard for me to leave the kids. I had serious issues with that. I usually don't have that hard of a time, but I think it had to do with flying. It was just overwhelming to me. I knew I couldn't get to them quickly if something happened. Who knows. I hadn't ever been so far from them, I guess. But it was sooo great once I got there.

*Scared!

Akron/Canton airport - on the plane, but not really "experiencing" the plane...if you know what I mean.
Does anyone besides me see the relief in my eyes??? Of course, there is also a shadow of fear because I knew we had to do it all over again in a few days. lol
Our hotel was great - had a beautiful suite.

Nathan would say our car was even better than the hotel. I think he would have liked to have slept here.

Got in to Phoenix really late - got to bed around 2:30a I believe. Got up the next morning at 6:30 and headed for Mule Creek, NM. Hilarious story about Mule Creek...a blog wouldn't do it justice.

I also decided to take a pic with the Arizona sign - it's the only one we saw since we flew in.

Couldn't help but take a pic of this town we drove through on the way to Mule Creek. It reminded us so much of Mexico. Just a perfect experience.

Driving to Mule Creek we saw a sign that said, "Caution: Creek Bed Ahead". Huh??? Yeah, so this is the creek bed we drove through - and this was a "big" road that we were on. It wasn't some back road to nowhere.

On the way back to Phoenix.

We got cleaned up and went out for dinner. It was so nice.

If you know where we went from this pic, then you win the non-existant prize. 8-) It was to die for.

This was the next day for our anniversary dinner. We went to Ah-So's Steak and Sushi. Oh, wow - loved the food and the entertainment.

Please excuse the hunchback of notre dame here - you are supposed to be looking at the car.

Cleveland Indians Spring Training Complex. LOVED this. Totally loved it.

We put the top down on the car and drove up and down the streets of downtown Phoenix. It was perfect.

While driving around, we stumbled up on this little place. It was so quaint and the tacos were wildly good. Nathan begrudgingly gave me a bite because I didn't order anything myself.

Oh, yeah - did I mention it was 80 degree weather??

Nathan's food at Dave & Busters was too cool to not take a pic of. Isn't that a beautiful burger??

We waited a long time - a very long time - for our food at D&B. I kept myself occupied with my camera. I might see a little bit of "Really?...Again??" in Nathan's eyes.

And just like that - it's over. Over. And we are back in one of these crazy things. Of course, when we got out of this thing there were 3 of the most adorable kids running up to us yelling, "Daddy!! Mommy!!" And everyone in the airport was smiling that "Awww" smile. Yeah, perfect ending.