Anniversary Celebration

Yesterday was our belated anniversary celebration.

First we had a very difficult time getting a babysitter. Our normal sitter had a dr's appt. in the morning so she could only do it in the afternoon/evening. We finally found someone who was willing to do it in the morning until she could pick them up.

Our afternoon/evening sitter volunteered to pick up and drop off the boys on her way to the dr. so that Jason could install the car seats properly into her car. That was a huge help - more than we knew at the time.

Jason went into the basement to discover it had flooded during the night. Thankfully it wasn't deep, but had covered probably half of the basement and had soaked everything in its path. My favorite discovery was the bag of charcoal that got soaked. The bottom of the bag tore and all the contents spilled onto the floor. Wet charcoal - not the easiest thing to mop up. Jason lost some books and newspapers he had been saving. Some of my college files were literally inches from the water's path. Laundry I had sorted on the floor was soaked with dirty water, so I had to do two loads of laundry to make sure they didn't get ruined. Thankfully many things were in plastic bins, but because more rain was (and is) in the forecast he had to make sure everything was up off the floor. We also had to find places to dry a crib mattress, rugs, suitcases, and cardboard boxes. Because of this escapade we didn't get to leave the house until 11:30, an hour and a half late.

We then had to stop at church to get a phone number and to check on the basement. I found a mud path from the emergency exit door to the floor drain. The majority of the water was dried already, so we just moved a couple things out of the path (in preparation for any more deluges) and I emptied the dehumidifier tank.

Our next stop was our "hotel", more of a romantic get-away than a hotel. We went there in the winter for one of my Christmas presents and we really enjoyed it. Each couple has their own little building which has no phone and no windows. You can almost forget the world is still going on around you outside. It is a great place to relax.

As we were unloading and checking out our room, I realized the suitcase we had hastily thrown together had been forgotten at home. Jason offered to go back and get it, but since that would have taken an hour and a half, I told him not to. Thankfully we had carried our bathroom organizer separately. We got out the phone book and the laptop and discovered a Walmart was not too far away, so we picked up a few items there. We then bought some sandwiches and pastries for our lunch and breakfast with a gift card from Panera (thanks Mom!).

We went back to enjoy our room and its many amenities. Later I noticed Jason was sweating and as the afternoon went on it seemed to get hotter and hotter. He tried adjusting the thermostat, etc. and we waited for a few more hours. We finally called the front desk at seven o'clock after sitting in an 85 degree room all afternoon! For the next two hours we had two different guys come in and out three different times. Even after they changed the filter - which they told us was filthy - it took a few more hours to finally cool down. They had no other rooms to switch us to and we didn't want to downgrade our room, so we decided to stay put. Thankfully it was cool when it was time to go to sleep and we both slept really well!

This morning when we checked out the head manager asked Jason how our stay was. He had already planned to talk to him after the night manager told us we could speak with him in the morning. The manager hadn't gotten a chance to see the report yet, but he gave Jason a gift certificate for a free stay anyway. We couldn't believe it. We were really just hoping they would take some of the charge off our bill - we didn't expect a free night's stay!

All in all, in the midst of our adventures and mishaps, we enjoyed a nice, relaxing day together. It was nice to have some time for just the two of us without any distractions. The best part about it is that we get to enjoy another one!