Our Third Anniversary

Man how time flies. Claire and I celebrated our wedding anniversary yesterday, August 7, making it 3 years now. It was a year ago to the day that we moved to the Dominican Republic to start our time there so we both figured no matter how we spent the day this year nothing could be as nerve racking and scary as that.

I started the celebration by telling Claire to pack an overnight bag the morning of the 6th. She had no idea where we were going but was forewarned that I had planned an activity for that day. After I ran some earrands in the morning we loaded our things and headed north to Indianapolis. It wasn't until we checked into the room that Claire discovered the first part of the surprise: a desert themed room. I had done some research online and found a hotel that had theme suites. Such themes included: Arabian Nights, Cesar's Court, Cupids Corner, Pharaoh's Chamber, Jungle Safari, and a few others. I choose the Desert Nights room for the large whirlpool and the octagonal bed. The rooms and the hotel probably aren't the most romantic setting in the world, you wouldn't want to honeymoon in a place like this, but it was a fun-something-different-kind-of-thing to do for a night. After we reached our room I revealed the second half of my surprise to Claire: I had packed a picnic for us to enjoy that night in our Dessert suite along with bringing along some games and the laptop with some DVDs to watch.

After a quick snack on the picnic items which included a couple different types of cheese, bread, crackers, strawberries, and blueberries, we decided that we were going to need some bubbles in our whirlpool later on that night. So we found a Wal Mart and picked up the necessary items. Then it was off for dinner at a local brewery that we spotted on our way into town. We decided it would be better to eat at a local place then to settle for a place we have been to before. It was fun try a new place and a few different tastes.

After dinner it was back to the room for the night. Our first order of business was filling the whirlpool up and putting in the bubbles. Once the water was just above the jets, we turned it on. In a matter of seconds we had more bubbles than either of us had ever seen coming out of a tub. When the bubbles started piling higher than the tub and started creeping up the mirror nearby we decided to shut off the jets. I would guess the bubbles were about 3 or 4 feet deep at one point. We had a great time playing around with the bubbles for the next hour or so designing all sorts of hats, facial hair, and clothing.

Afterward we set up the laptop and spent the rest of the night watching movies, playing Scrabble, and snacking out of the picnic basket.

In the morning, our anniversary, we decided to head to the Indianapolis Zoo and spend the day there. We saw all kinds of fun animals and a couple shows. My personal favorite was the Ocean exhibit. It might have partially been due to the fact that it was in an air conditioned building. During the day the temperature reached triple digits. Inside the Ocean building we had the opportunity to pet some sharks, watch a swimming polar bear, and see the penguins. After catching the dolphin show we getting up close with a bear we headed out to the Plains where we saw rhinos, giraffes, elephants, and the king of the jungle. After a picnic outside the park and our final stop before heading back to Bloomington we visited the White River Gardens. This is located next to the zoo and is included in the price of admission. Inside they have a butterfly room and an outdoor garden area. Despite the heat we had a great time together.

After getting cleaned up back home we finished off the night with dinner at Red Lobster and a stroll through leisurely Borders. The book store was a popular date spot for us while in college. It was just about the only place away from Huntington that we could go and spend time together.

Throughout the day we made reference to the fact that we would be landing in the D.R. or we would be getting into our apartment for the first time, or trying to settle our nerves enough to have dinner. Each time we talked about "this time last year," we were glad to be spending another year together back home.