Before I forget, today is the LAST day to vote for your favorite finalist in the Fatherhood Photo Contest!!! Last I checked, we were ONLY 135 votes away from a total of 400 votes!!! That’s amazing and such a blessing to all the finalists! Don’t forget, the 400th voter gets a $20 Starbucks card too!! So cast your vote by midnight PST tonight! The deadline is really and truly midnight tonight! Click to here to vote!
Because you were wonderful at giving us ideas on how to spend our 11 yr. anniversary, I thought I’d share what we ended up doing. We only had the day from 9am to midnight. What better way to start the day then with a great bike ride!
We loaded our bikes and kissed the kids goodbye. Our plan was to head to La Conner (where the Tulip Festival happens) and ride around the farmlands for a few hours. As we got on the freeway to start our trip, I said “Hasn’t it been working out great to have one car lately?” Back story for you, our lease ended on my SUV and we thought we’d see what it was like living with one car instead of two. Gas is ridiculous, and I sometimes felt like two SUV’s was overdoing it for our family. So what the heck, we thought we’d try being a one car family.
As I say this “Hasn’t it been working out great to have one car lately?”, no kidding, our car starts shaking! Engine is totally freaking out on us! We pull over, check the oil, check the gas, check the engine, all looks good. Get back in the car and try again. The shaking is even scarier this time. So we take our car to the shop and wait. We wait because it’s to early for the shop to be open. Then we have the idea to rent a car! Yeah! We’re off again!
By noon, we had our rental car and headed out of town. Not the most romantic way to start the day, but we didn’t fight! That’s the key friends! We made it without fighting!!! Yeah for Me Ra and Brian! 😉
We got on our bikes and went on the most beautiful ride! Here’s Brian leading the way.
I liked this one of the “Berries” sign and big red farm!
Even though it started out rough, we ended up having a great day! We grabbed lunch in La Conner, browsed a couple boutiques, found comfy chairs in a bookstore and read, then went to Duke’s in Seattle for dinner and caught the movie Ironman before we headed home. BTW, fun movie.
Roxanne, my superstar canvas lady, helped me surprise Brian with two beautiful Gallery Wrapped canvases of these images.
There is a wonderful story of discovery behind these images taken. If you haven’t read this post, you can by clicking here.
I hung the canvases in the house with bows wrapped around them and decided to see how long it would take before Brian noticed them on the walls. 🙂 Bad huh! Lucky for him, he noticed them sooner than later! And he loves them! Thank you Roxie!
Thank you for sending us so many well wishes and wonderful comments on the blog! You totally blessed our anniversary! We had a wonderful time, and we are so excited to try some of your great “Day Trip Getaway” ideas for future celebrations!
Much love to you all, Me Ra and Brian
FYI, our Land Cruiser just needed a good tune up! Phew!! We get it back today! 🙂
sounds like you had the perfect day! blessings on the next 11 years!
Whoa congrats on no fighting when the car broke down 😉 Looks like you guys had a great time! Love brians face in that first shot! Great idea on the canvas’ I can’t wait to see how they turned out and where you hung them! They are amazing images of you two! Cheers to 11 hard yet fun years and many blessings for many more fun years to come! Luv you guys!
So happy to hear you have a fun day!
What camera were you guys using? and Brian must have some long arms! Fun pictures! thanks for sharing.
Congratulations on 11 years! I really like those two pics of you and Brian; I bet they look awesome on canvas!
Me Ra, those photos of you and Brian are just beautiful! What a great anniversary present. I’m glad you enjoyed your day together, despite the shaky start. I’ll have to look through all the day trip suggestions, as my family will be vacationing in Seattle this September. Blessings to you both for many more years of love and joy!
Congratulations Me Ra and Brian! Out of curiosity – I can barely take a photo of what’s happening in front of me while biking, let alone behind me… please tell me Brian is stopped while taking that first picture??? If not, that’s quite the trickster!
Camille =)
I love La Conner. My aunt and uncle on Scott’s side own Escape Bath, Candles and Gifts there. Such a great, quaint town. I am glad your day ended so well after the “shaky” start.
The canvas prints-OMG-breathtaking! Can you take a picture of them on your wall and show us? Love you guys!
Brian is the total trickster. He did those shots while biking and thus, not paying attention to the freeway and semi trucks coming by! 🙂
My favorite part of riding was when the wind gusts starting swooping in over the farm land. You could barely ride becuase the wind was so strong. So without Brian knowing, I got in super close behind him and drafted so I didn’t even have to peddle. I could just coast. He yelled back with sweat coming off him, “Can you believe these winds! I’m barely getting anywhere!” I was like “I know, me too! Just keep going for it!” As I let him break all the wind for me. wink-wink 🙂
Someone asked what camera we were using. It was the cute Cybershot by Sony. It’s so small that you can put it behind you in your bike shirt, and it gets great quality shots and video.
Hi Me Ra and Brian,
Congrats you guys!! What fun… a little exercise and romance. Hey, do take a picture of the canvas prints….I would love to see them.
Cheers!
Garrett
You both continue to inspire me in many ways. I’ve been debating the one car life for a while and now I’m ready to make the jump! Cool anniversary adventure. 🙂
Oh how sweet! Eric and I would probably just take a long nap and watch a movie for our anniversary! You two are adventurous – I also love that u can wear those little headband thingys and look so good – when i try to wear them, I look wierd 🙁
Looks like a great day of adventure, and a testament of how good you work together. Working, playing, biking, car problem solving, color coordinating! Today is Matt and I’s 15th wedding anniversary…can’t wait to work, play, whatever! I would even take an argument at this point if it meant we were together lol. Thanks for sharing your love with the world, the world is better for it…
Looks like you had a great day! 😀
I am embarrassed to say that I have just found my way to the warm and rich dialog surrounding a very fun day at my home with my family, Me Ra, Brian, Garrett and all of the great women that chose to be there with us. I missed the blog in June somehow but was led back to it after reading about the recently made canvases of my portraits of Brian and Me Ra. It was a wonderful day for me, sharing what I know and do with such enthusiastic participants. A number of you sent me hand written thank you notes which touched me in many ways. So thank you……for thanking me!
I hope to see the canvases in person one day, Me Ra and Brian. It would be great to see you again. Happy Anniversary! Wishing you and all that read these words a fulfilling summer and rich photographic experiences!
Sincerely, Rick Chapman
You both look lovely and no matter what comes to pass, there will always be a good plan forhcoiming, which will lead you out of any trouble.