Everybody Wang Chunged Tonight

Thursday, July 5, 2012, was the date of Mark and I's wondrous and astounding 20th Anniversary!!!!

Just typing that freaks me out a little bit, I have to admit.  Here we are, July 5, 1992:

Yeah, the picture is crap - we didn't have a professional wedding photographer. This was probably taken by Uncle Jack.  It is what it is.  But look, we were skinny and we both had lots of hair! *sigh*

These are our wedding tulips (see 'em in the background up there in that photo?) that I recently brought back to life (see that blog post here).  And when this happened the day BEFORE our 20th anniversary, I took it as an ominous warning sign.  GULP.

Reflecting back, though, the beginning of our marriage had ominous signs, too -  Remember that sad little wedding photo you just saw?  Well, I never took care of the wedding photos that we DID have and when our basement flooded (around our 10 year anniversary mark) a whole boatload of photos, including the wedding and honeymoon, were damaged and most ruined.  Oh, and Mark has been through 3 different wedding rings, the first of which was lost on our honeymoon.

Fortunately, the worst that happened today was that Mark had a cold.

Well, no, that's not true…typing this next part freaks me out more than the 20 years bit.  We started our 20th anniversary off at Denny's.  I know, I KNOW!  NOW, if you'd told me 20 years ago on the day I married Mark, that 20 years from now on our anniversary date I'd be sitting makeupless and tired at a Denny's restaurant in piddly Cicero NY with misbehaving kids … well, you all remember Runaway Bride, right?  I would have BOLTED.  Seriously.

It is what it is.  One of my favorite quotes - "It isn't what it should have been.  It isn't what it could have been.  But, it is what it is."  I may use this quote a lot today.  *sigh again*

We DID have big plans to celebrate our 20th in Santa Barbara, California - both Mark and I's favorite place on earth.  And to be perfectly honest, Denny's was my idea. Do NOT ask me why.  I think my brain woke up on the morning of July 5, confused at being in frumpy boring Cicero NY rather than in spectacular, glorious Santa Barbara.  It melted down at this horrific cruel reality it was suddenly faced with.  I can't blame it.  I don't even remotely like Denny's.  So, if I'd known that 20 years ago - that we'd be at Denny's AND it would be MY idea - after leaving Mark at the altar, I probably would have bolted to the nearest mental institution and committed myself.  The fallen tulips now make perfect sense, I'm afraid.

Anyway, a few months ago, we had the most idiotic, dimwitted idea that instead of doing a romantic vacation for our anniversary, we should put in a back patio with that saved money instead.   At the time, it seemed like a good idea.  And it did turn out nice, although small (which reflects that our anniversary trip budget did NOT include staying at Santa Barbara's Bacara Resort - it was more of a Best Western budget).

Our patio-instead-of-vacation plans also involved having a nice little anniversary dinner on that patio to celebrate.  THANK GOODNESS we weren't quite that cheap (and DUMB) and nixed that idea to go instead to a regional attraction called Beardslee Castle, now a restaurant in the hills of upstate New York.  At least we made ONE semi-intelligent decision today.

The Ritchies have arrived!  And ummm, inexplicably, in lots of stripes...

Our personalized menu: 

Nah, just kidding.  No one had gator cakes.  But I did think it was cool that our anniversary date was on it.  I had good, old-fashioned steak.  None of that new-fangled weird highfalutin' cuisine-y stuff like calamari and remoulade.  It's my 20th anniversary, remember?  Means I'm OLD, right?

Here's Noah's reaction after being told by the hostess that Beardslee Castle was believed to be haunted and that there might be a ghost upstairs RIGHT THAT INSTANT.  After which Noah remained petrified for the rest of our stay.  :)

The boys wandering in search of the bathroom.  Noah REFUSED to go by himself and made Connor and Mark go with him.  Better Connor gets attacked by a ghost than himself, you see. 

After they returned, Shelby ran over and hugged Noah and exclaimed, "I'm so glad the ghosts didn't eat you, Noah!"

We probably had a little too much fun at Noah's expense, spending most of the meal talking about ghosts.  This is Shelby's ghost impersonation.

This is Connor's reaction to that.  SUCH a classic Connor look.  I guess he has plenty to roll his eyes about, being in this weird Denny's-eating family and all.
 

Naturally, in-between courses, we had to explore the entire castle in search of ghosts.  Noah explored with his eyes closed:

Even Shelby (usually my bravest kid) was nervous to go into the DEEP DARK DUNGEON.  And Noah, below her, was actually standing there shrieking (too bad I didn't think to video!!).

In the dungeon, we found the private dining room, a small real dungeon room.  And, like the unabashed tourists we were, we all took advantage of the photo opp - except Noah of course, who refused to step foot in the cell for fear he'd be trapped forever with the ghosts.

Noah's fear eased up at the sight of the dungeon's pool table.  Ghosts who play billiards and foosball can't be mean, haunting ghosts, right?

Back upstairs after the dungeon exploration, for dessert and more photos.  On a positive note, if I'd known that 20 years later I'd be surrounded by this cute little gang of faces, well, that would have been pretty terrific.  Maybe I wouldn't have bolted.  :)

$5 bucks to whomever can spot what is wrong in this picture! (Hint: Mark STILL can't figure it out, but let's just say the joke is ON him.  Literally!  Bwa ha ha!)  Have I mentioned yet that *I* have been an absolute joy to be married to for 20 years?  Yup, it's true.

Connor frantically trying to cover up his crayon drawing on the tablecloth.  DOOFUS!  He thought it was "like at Bonefish Grill where you can color on the tablecloth!"  This kid has a freaky genius level IQ and can't tell the difference between linen and construction paper?!?

Noah was relieved to be back outside and exploring - at this point, we didn't tell him that many of the ghost sightings had actually been OUTSIDE of the castle, feeling he'd been traumatized and teased enough for the day.

For some reason, I found this picture (taken by Connor) of Mark and I hysterically funny.  Here's how I'd caption it:

• Estelle:  Uh, look!  Is that a ghost??
• Mark: Take the freakin' picture already!  The mosquitoes by this bush are awful!!

Oh yeah, 20 years older but we still got it!  Oh yeah.  What "it" is, I don't know, but I'm certain we have it.  High cholesterol?  Check!  Achy bodies? Check!  Thinning hair?  Double check!  Lots of mortgage debt? Check!  Yes, then, we definitely have IT.

And looky here!  WE DID IT!  We captured it on film! Check out the GHOST of Beardslee Castle in the upper left corner! Shelby is cutely oblivious to the photobombing ghost.

A by-product of our road trip to Beardslee Castle was an exciting new discovery - my kids LOOOOOOVE 80's music!  Hallelujah!!  Since it was MY anniversary, *I* got to pick the music in the car (for a change from Ninja music and primary music) and I picked my 80's favorites playlists.  We Wang Chunged all the home and had a blast with the disco ball shakin'!

Mark and I finished out our anniversary day by watching The Vow on cable.  All I can say about that ridiculousness was summed up nicely by this little gem:

So, for my true friends, I need a favor - when I do an anniversary blog post next year, and we're NOT in Cancun like we should be, because we decided to do something stupid and romantic like fix the basement water leaks instead ….then at least please come take me out to Taco Bell to console me, okay? Anywhere but Denny's.

Surprise! Wednesday and Happy Fourth of July!

It was sooo convenient for me that the Fourth of July fell on my Surprise! Wednesday (see my kid Summer Schedule here).  Although, because we had so many surprises today, I'm afraid that all future Surprise! Wednesdays won't live up to this one.  Hmmm, didn't think that one through, did I?

Anyway, of course I must have cute Fourth of July clothes for the kiddos.  Here's model Shelby:

Then, I decorated Noah (ever since my boys were babies, I've LOVED the backs of their necks, is that weird?):

And then we decorated our front yard using a Pinterest idea that actually worked! Surprise for me, too!  Yay!  FINALLY!  (My Pinterest fails are well-documented on Facebook and here on my blog.)  It's just a star stencil cut from cardboard, the grass wetted inside of it, and flour sprinkled on top.

Our original plan was to do all 50 stars, BUT we pooped out at 21 stars because it was so blasted hot.

Our dog Tiki licked up our practice star in the backyard.  Weird dog.

You can see the photographic evidence around her mouth.  Weird dog.

For lunch, the Rocket Dogs were a huge hit (thanks AGAIN, Pinterest!).  They didn't turn out quite as perfect as the Pinterest photos (what DOES?), but were still mostly recognizable as rockets, right?

The Rocket fruit and marshmallow kebabs were also a hit!  (To be fair, these would be hard to mess up, even for me.)

After lunch we enjoyed a very LOUD swim in our friend's pool (THANK YOU for sharing your pool with us while you're on vacation, awesome Newman family!).

For a while, I felt guilty that our kids made SO much noise and that Janell would probably have to profusely apologize to her neighbors when they returned home.  But THEN, I got a text from Janell talking about her In-N-Out Burger eating exploits.  Yeah, so now I don't feel so guilty, JUST INSANELY JEALOUS!!!

I didn't plan on swimming, but thought I could gracefully board a huge floating chair without getting wet (despite never having been graceful a minute in my life).  Yup, here's how that turned out.   Yay for Mark being at the ready with the camera INSTEAD OF HELPING ME.

Since we've rarely been around for the Fourth of July here in Syracuse, we were excited to see the fireworks from across the lake and got ourselves set up amidst the dirt and bugs.  Yeah, not my typical happy-place scene, and next year I'm 100% certain we'll do something else, but ANYWAY.

Shelby adorning herself in as many glow necklaces, bracelets and earrings as possible.  Of course.  That's how my girl rolls!

She also had fun WAITING FOREVER for the fireworks to start by pretending Daddy was her stallion and she was a knight.  That worked well until the glowstick being used as a whip did NOT work out well.  For Mark.

 

And then when waiting forever turned out EVEN LONGER, she started out with the tantrums.  You can see her about to blow in this photo.  I sincerely apologize to those sitting within 1/4 mile of us (all of whom I'm sure read this blog) who had to listen to her ear-splitting complaints.  Oh wait, water carries sound, right?  I need to apologize to everyone across the lake at the stadium, too, then.  UGH.

Meanwhile, Shelby's dorky brothers entertained themselves in other ways with the glowsticks:

At some point, party pooper NOAH changed out of his Fourth of July shirt.  Hmmmpff. 

I used a glowstick (NOT the one from Noah's nose) in a more clever manner, to make sure my Diet Coke did not go missing in the dark.  Because then there would have been ADULT tantruming to add to Shelby's.

The fireworks were farther away than I thought they'd be, but hey, it was something new and different.  A life experience (as I tell the kids when something did NOT go as planned or expected).  Independence Day is still one of my favorite holidays, we're incredibly blessed to be citizens of this country, and Happy Fourth of July to all!