17 weeks - and 5 years

It's our 5th anniversary today!

Dylan planned a doozie =). He's had an Ace up his sleeve since April when he put together a plan to get my mom up here for the long weekend to watch Paul ... so he could take me away for a couple of days! So, Wednesday night, he had a "work thing" in St. Paul after-hours, and when he came home around 9pm, NANA walked in behind him. HA! Boy, was I surprised! He told me a little of what he'd planned but said I'd learn more on Friday. So, today in his lovely card, he'd prepared a "to-pack list" for a couple of days in La Crosse, WI via the Bluff Country and a tour of Mystery Cave. It all sounds lovely! I'm looking forward to heading out tomorrow morning.

And I'm grateful so far that he's got a full agenda because I sure will miss that boy - goodness! I know he's in the best of hands, so I'm not at all worried; I'll just miss him. He's so funny. And he's fun, and sweet. And he smells good. Mostly. He is sweet, though; twice this week, he came up to hug me from behind while I was spraying a dirty diaper. I took that as a big "Danke, Mama".

Dylan felt BEE! He caught a little flick or two just yesterday morning when we'd awoken early ... because I was too excited to sleep. We know you've been there all along, but, Bee, you're really here!

UPDATE:

It's Tuesday, September 3rd now, and the weekend was wonderful! Saturday's scenic drive - with an empty back seat - was lovely, and the cave tour was great! Once we made it to the hotel in La Crosse, we went for a swim and then headed up to Granddad Bluff after some snack shopping. We'd brought leftovers for dinner that night, so we ate in the hotel watching a movie. May sound boring to you, but it was luxury to us! Sunday was beautiful! We spent several hours, including Mass, at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It's in a beautiful location and has several devotionals on the large grounds that really make it feel like a pilgrimage. One of the devotional spots was a Memorial to the Unborn:

That evening, Dylan took us to dinner nearby with a beautiful view of the Mississippi Riverfront, and we had a delicious - rather large! - meal. The next morning saw us reunited with our little man - he was doing his shaky-fist thing for ages after we got back, ha! - and then we had to take Nana back to the airport in St. Paul. Overall, suprise-Michelle-with-5-year-anniversary-weekend was a great success! Thank you to all who were involved, even if that means just keeping it secret ;)