Surprise Anniversary Trip || All the Details!

If I could say one thing about Chris, it would be that he is not a creative gift giver. He waits until I say exactly what I want, then goes and buys it. The only time he ever deviated from the list I gave him is when he bought me the Be Active knee brace for sciatic pain #romantic.

Anyways, I say this in the most light-hearted way, but he totally dropped the ball on Mother's Day. I decided this year I would no longer tell him exactly what I wanted for a holiday. I wanted him to be creative and think a little. And, you know what I got for deciding to let him be creative? NOTHING. I got absolutely nothing for Mother's Day. Not a card, not a piece of gum, nothing.

I tried to not make a big deal out of it, but inside I was crushed. By the end of Mother's Day I was bawling and telling him that all I needed was a little note or something to show he (and G) cared and that didn't even happen.

He felt terrible.

Fast forward to our anniversary on June 16th and, again, at my own risk, I refused to give him ideas. I feel like I'm really easy to shop for, but he disagrees.

Moving on. For weeks he had been telling me that I was going to LOVE my anniversary surprise and this surprise would make up for him totally dropping the ball on Mother's Day. I'd hinted at so many things I'd want that I figured he had finally listened to my hints!

Well, not only did he blow my mind, but he set the bar so high for our 10 year anniversary that I think he may have to take me to the moon!!

Long story short:

- Thursday around 9am he shows up at the house (he had gone into work) and tells me to pack my bags for a sunny vacation. We (including G) needed to leave the house by 11:30am, so I was happy I had a few hours.

- We arrive at the airport, check in at the kiosk and I finally find out we are headed to Ft. Lauderdale!!

----- Interjection...Chris's sister and her husband just (literally last Wednesday) moved to Ft. Lauderdale, so I wasn't surprised we were going to visit. I was excited, but also a little bummed because I really thought we were getting away just the three of us.

- Arrive in Ft. Lauderdale and go to my SIL's house where we (Chris's WHOLE family) literally moved them into their house until approximately 1:00am. I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a terrible attitude. I didn't fly all the way to Florida to move some boxes around for my 5 year anniversary. Chris had talked this "surprise" up so much that I thought, "If this is the surprise, G and I are taking an Uber to the beach and Chris can get us on Tuesday!"

- Friday, I'm still in a bad mood because we are still moving boxes. (Side note: Had Chris told me we were taking a trip to help Lauren move, I'd have been all for it! But, he kept telling me this was a "surprise anniversary getaway" and all I could think was how I could be chasing a child and moving things around in my own house in Texas.)

- Friday afternoon Chris caves and tells me that I just need to stick it out a few more hours because he had a really nice dinner planned for us. Again, I'm not my happiest self, but at least we were going to enjoy an evening out for our anniversary. Still, though, I'm thinking, "I didn't need to fly to Florida to go have a fancy dinner."

- We go to dinner and it was delicious!! We had the best time and went and got ice cream after. We headed back home and I was sad my "surprise" was over.

- Saturday morning we get up and Chris, his sister, and his dad announce they are going to three different breakfast places to get different things so everyone will have what they want. I thought it was weird, but whatever.

- 1.5 hours later and I am FUMING! All the breakfast places they named are within 2 miles of my SIL's house and everything would be cold by the time they got back at the pace they were going. I hadn't eaten and was so, so grumpy.

- I text Chris and say something about how pissed I'm getting. He replies with, "coming."

- Five minutes later they show up with NO FOOD. I blurted out, "There better be a really big freaking surprise or else someone is getting hurt."

- Sure enough, Chris told me to look out the window. He had rented a jeep for us to drive to Naples!!! I was THRILLED! Three baby free days on the beach. I could have kissed the ground.

- I quickly packed a bag, kissed G goodbye, and we were off!

- Chris wouldn't tell me where we were staying, so I just went with the flow.

- Next thing I know we are pulling up to the Ritz Carlton and I just about started crying. Not only were we taking a much needed, really relaxing vacation, but Chris spared no expense and spoiled me rotten.

Maybe I shouldn't have had such a terrible mood the first two days, but I couldn't help but think he really thought bringing me to Florida to help his sister move is the "vacation" I was hinting at.

We spent three glorious days lounging on the beach, by the pool, eating tons of ice cream, ordering fruity drinks, sleeping in, reading, and completely relaxing. All Chris had to say when it was time to go was, "I should have booked us for two more days. I need two more days to recharge." Amen, hubby, amen.

Monday, when we got back to Ft. Lauderdale Chris and I drove down to Miami to go to a Marlins baseball game! We are on our way to seeing all the baseball stadiums, so I'm happy he surprised me with tickets while we were down there!

Words cannot express how much we needed that time as a couple to relax and be kidless for a few days. We agreed that every six months we would do an alone vacation....now let's see if we stick to it!!

Happy Thursday!