Happy 31st Anniversary Today!

Today is our actual anniversary, but we celebrated this past weekend.  We had a great time on our Anniversary Trip....no matter how many threatenings to roll our yard  "we miss them" thoughts we evidently received while we were gone about not working on the church's parade float and being in the parade!! Ha!

On the way up to Joe Wheeler State Park Friday morning, Mike and I stopped and ate breakfast at Cracker Barrell and then went "junkin", just stopping at little junk antique shops along the way.  It's a sign your getting old when all the stuff you grew up with is in an "antique shop" with high prices to boot.  You used to want to throw away that stuff, but people now want to collect it!  I wouldn't bring the truck because we have no room in our house for anything that would need a truck.  We visited a little area outside of Cullman on Hwy. 31 and met Miss Lavendar who got a little bit of our money :-) when we purchase a Coca Cola Crate wagon (like the one in the pix, but with no handle).  That's ALL the coke stuff we're getting.  Several years ago we looked for a crate to put Mike's bottles (not all coke) in, but we wouldn't pay $20+ for any.  This year we found one with dividers for $10 at the Tannehill Trade Days, but alas Mike's bottles didn't get their home because I put it on the wall with ornaments in it this year.  Ha!  When we saw the Coca Cola Crate wagon for $12, we got that one too.  It was too cute to pass up...and no Sis. Horne can't have it. Ha!  It is now holding velvet gift boxes under my tree. We also picked up a green wrought iron metal lamp that fashioned its own "lamp shade" to hold a candle for my bedroom and a big galvanized watering can to go with Mike's galvanized tub.  I have plans to create a potted flower arrangement in in front of the house (maybe a water feature...who knows!)  Miss Lavendar sent us to three other stores around the block and at the second shop, I picked up a twisted branch walking stick. Each store had lonely store owners, just crazy to talk the ears off someone and my husband of course obliged while I looked around. :-)

We spent the weekend at the lodge at Joe Wheeler State Park.  I can't retrieve pix from my camera because it didn't work or from Mike's iPhone because I don't have the right app or something.  Just imagine that most of those boats are decorated with Christmas lights and decor and you'll get the picture.  All the big windows of the lodge are the restaurant which has a beautiful view of the marina while the windows below the meeting rooms which on this occasion was hosting a corporate Christmas party.  Remember that piece of info for later.  

Just imagine Mike 5 years older (This pix was taken in 2007).  Our room this year was on the 3rd floor, 3rd room on the left of the corner pillar. 

Same view from our room.  We love Joe Wheeler Park.  It's quiet and small and beautiful and we like to sit in front of the lit lobby fireplace and play checkers.  THIS TIME I BEAT MIKE AT CHECKERS THREE TIMES IN A ROW!!!!!!  He was STUNNED!!!   The first two times I had him in a stale-mate and the third time I beat him OUTRIGHT!  Hahahahahaha!  I told him I learned a few things in the past 31 years and I now think I'm ready to take on JOE HORNE!  LOL!  Mike of course blames it on him being tired.  I told him "any excuse will work" if it will save his ego. ;-)

During the middle of those 3 games, a young couple suddenly appeared behind us exclaiming, "We can't believe ya'll are here!".  I look up from my intense checker strategies and see my cousin Mitchell and Kelly from Moulton.  Kelly's employer was the one having their Corp. Christmas Party in the meeting room downstairs and she had made Mitchell come along.  He thought she was dragging him out in the middle of nowhere and suddenly he stumbles upon his cousins playing checkers!  We had peeked into the decorated meeting room earlier while we were having a long distance hike  romantic stroll on the marina docks and knew from the agenda on the screen they were having karoake at the end.  I told them to be sure and join up with that!  They didn't look too enthusiastic over karoake.  I made them stand in front of the fire place and took a pix of them, but it is stuck on Mike's iPhone for now along with the pix of Mike's Checker Defeat face. hahahahaha!

Saturday morning we ate at the restaurant's breakfast buffet and had this beautiful view again. This pix is actually from 2007, but it hasn't changed at all.   After breakfast we went to some shops in Rogersville and visited with all the lonely shopkeepers, but didn't purchase anything and then went drove down to Courtland which has several old southern Victorian and Civil War homes and mansions.  http://www.deepfriedkudzu.com/2011/03/courtland-saunders-hall-and-rocky-hill.html.  Every year they have an annual Christmas Home Tour which we did in 2007.  I thought it was last weekend, but it was this Sunday, even though we decided not to come back.  We spent our time driving around and looking at the old homes from the outside and talking to a lonely store keeper in the unfortunately deserted downtown.  She was greatly relieved someone came in the store to see her!!!  :-)

After Courtland, we decided to skip Joe Wheeler's Christmas buffet (which would be crowded) and go to our favorite steak house in Moulton (the one with the Silo in front) since we were so close.  I consulted the map on Mike's phone and while he told me the long way to get there...I lovingly corrected explained that I had the map and there IS a shorter way to and from Moulton that didn't go through Decatur. Okay...with that behind us...we had a very nice steak dinner.  The only problem was that the place felt like the Chattanooga Steak N Shake when the Assembly was not in session.  We walked into the restaurant and NOBODY knew our names!!!  We're always there with a whole bunch of church people and we were a little lonely.  We kept looking around hoping someone would come in that we know, but even Brenda Staggs wasn't there that day.  Oh well, the food was still good and we had each other. :-)

After our dinner, we made it back to Joe Wheeler in time to freshen up and get ready to watch the Christmas on the River Light Parade.  This year, we got to stand on our balcony (every room has one) and see 16 lighted boats sail 3 times up and down the river.  On the second round, we walked to the end of the dock Mike is standing on in the picture above and watched them a little more up close. You could talk to the boaters from that vantage point.  It was so beautiful with all the lights on the water. Afterwards we strolled to the marina in front of the restaurant and looked at the lighted boats up close.

Sunday morning, we slept late (bad, bad Sunday School Superintendent) and ended up using our Free Meal card at Cracker Barrell for lunch that someone had given us.  It paid for the entire meal, so Mike ordered steak again and we both allowed ourselves DESSERT for our anniversary.  I had the Coke Cola cake and Mike had a Strawberry Sundae.  Yes, we jumped off the no-sugar wagon this weekend!  But it was for a good cause. ;-)

We wandered home stopping in Hartselle at the only shop open (the rest close on Sunday which is a good tradition) and kept that lonely shop owner company while we purchased a round cheese box with a painting on the lid signed by the artist in 1985 and a long wooden box with dovetail joints from Japan which we later found out was a box that had held some kind of caliper/measuring tool.  Anyway, the top and bottom comes apart and I'm going to put pillar candles in one of them after Christmas.  We stopped by Sam's to replenish our empty cupboards and to purchase Christmas Candy for the Church Fruit bags and made it home some time around 8:00pm I think.  It was so nice to come home to a unrolled yard clean house ;-)  We unloaded the car, put away the groceries and I ended up watching the original, but colorized version of Miracle on 32nd Street and fell asleep on the couch and woke up at the very end. Ha!  Enjoyed our weekend away and now we're back to work!