Our Anniversary Weekend

In honor of 17 years of wedded adventures, Steve went to a conference for his career in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Just kidding...  He did go to the conference in Michigan, but it had nothing to do with our anniversary, except that he flew back the day before it. :)  

Since we had to pick him up in Pensacola on Saturday, we took advantage of it & spent the day afternoon there, thanks to a delayed flight. At Steve's urging, we went to Philly's, a pretty authentic philly cheesesteak hoagie place. Beware, there's no atmosphere here, but if you like authentic philly cheesesteaks like you get in Philly, it's a good choice. Then, we went to the Pensacola Lighthouse & Museum.  Jake & Katie weren't allowed to climb up (or go up in any sort of carrier), as the rules are 44 inches tall at least, no exceptions. Honestly, it wasn't so tight as to prevent babies in slings & other soft carriers. Jake could have totally done it, too, and burned lots of energy in the process; nonetheless, Steve & I took turns because rules are rules. Afterwards, we walked out to the beach just opposite the lighthouse and discovered that just because a beach is in Florida does not mean that it is spectacularly beautiful, with light blue & green water & pristine sand. The water was rough & not safe to go in, so the kids just played in the sand while Steve took a nap.  

The lighthouse basement had some kid exhibits

The lighthouse mirrors

On Sunday, we decided to go to the beach in Navarre because the two best things to do around here are to: 1) hang out at Navarre Beach & 2) do something on the Blackriver. When we arrived, the red flag was flying, meaning the surf is rough &/or there are strong currents, so we decided to just head over to the no surf area.  I'm glad we did because we hadn't been there yet, and it was great for building sand castles (much wetter sand than on the "better" beach). It was super shallow, too, although it was a little too warm & a little smelly, for whatever the reason. We decided to go check out the rough surf side of the beach before leaving & discovered it was indeed rough!  We didn't let the littles go out at all because it just wasn't safe for them, but Steve & I took turns with Shanan & Alyssa. It was fun, but the water was so rough that it wasn't the usual pretty, crystal clear blue & green that it normally is.

It was quite windy at the top of the lighthouse

Three happy girls

We headed back to Holt to deposit a few kiddos safely while Steve & I went out for our anniversary. We were starving after a day at the beach, & Steve enticed me with promises of going to the best restaurant in Crestview, a mediterranean restaurant with great reviews. Alas, remember the saying that goes, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail..." It turns out, pretty much everything in Crestview in the restaurant realm was closed! We might not be in Utah anymore, but we are in the Bible belt & not big cities, sooooo....there was a lot of driving around, until Steve decided to go to this Mexican restaurant right off of I-10 called El Rumba. The food wasn't very memorable (and what's with the Floridian custom of giving three small tortillas with your fajitas and then charging you for extra when it's needed for the rest of the fajita filling??). However, Steve splurged & ordered a margarita to share. We noticed it didn't have the usual salted rim, so we asked our waitress if that was the way they're usually served in this restaurant; she acted flustered & said she'd bring another one. Not exactly what we were aiming for, to be honest. It took her awhile, but she did indeed bring another margarita, with a poorly  lightly salted rim & apologized, saying it was her first margarita she'd ever made. Sooo...we had two large margaritas...and there *may* have been some giggling, especially after Steve announced as the fifth thing he loves about me that I'm good in math, lol. So, our 17th anniversary will go down in history as the year of the margaritas??