28 Years!

For our anniversary this year, we decided to take a short road trip to see a couple of hockey games. B2 kindly offered to stay with my mom to care for her so we could get away for a few days and we appreciate it so much!

We left on December 27 and drove to Columbus; as I've already shared, the Blue Jackets game was cancelled and we went to the Columbus Zoo Wildlights instead. On December 28, we drove to Chicago, and spent three days relaxing and visiting places we loved when we lived there. On our anniversary - today, New Year's Eve, we drove to Toledo, checked into our hotel, grabbed lunch, and then drove to Detroit for the Red Wings game.

One happy coincidence? Nine years ago, on our anniversary in 2013, we were also in Detroit to watch the Red Wings! It was the alumni game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, as the teams were actually playing in the Winter Classic the next day, and both games were super fun. This year's game was against the Ottawa Senators and you may recall that we've been to 38 NHL arenas and Little Caesars Arena in Detroit is our absolute number one choice in terms of the best arenas in the league. We had aa awesome time at the game and continue to be so impressed with this arena! The Red Wings won 4-2 and despite some New Year's Eve traffic and congestion, we were able to get out Detroit pretty easily after the game. We drove back to Toledo and will be heading home early tomorrow.

What a great little getaway to celebrate 28 years of marriage with two of our favorite things: hockey and road trips! I'm so grateful for C every single day - for the million little things he does to make our life magical, for planning amazing trips, and for making me laugh on even the most difficult of days. I read a quote once about happy marriages being the result of both people thinking they got the better end of the deal.

I know I definitely did.

Cheers to the next 28 years!

December 31, 2013
Detroit

December 31, 2022
Detroit

Happy Tails to you!

Columbus Zoo Wildlights

We had tickets to the Columbus Blue Jackets game last night, but the game was unexpectedly cancelled because they were hosting the Buffalo Sabres, and we all know just how awful things have been in Buffalo this past week. Not sure if or when the game will be rescheduled, but regardless, it was too late to cancel our hotel, so we drove to Columbus yesterday and found something else to do: Wildlights at the Columbus Zoo, which is their holiday light display. It turned out to be a great night - the lights were beautiful and although it was cold, we love snow and it added to the holiday ambiance! We'd never been to the Columbus Zoo before, and we will definitely have to go back during the warmer months!

Happy Tails to you!

2022 Postcard Challenge Completed!

Back in January, I challenged myself to send my niece and nephew 365 postcards in 2022 and I'm happy to report that I was successful! I usually wrote them out in batches, and then mailed a couple at a time (when we were going to be out of town, I mailed several at once). When I started, it seemed like it would be an easy thing to do, which it was, but finding cute, kid-friendly postcards was trickier than I'd anticipated! I did find some nice beach, space, animal, and nature scenery postcards, as well as a few random ones throughout the year when we traveled. I dated each one so they (and I!) could keep track, and the only time I messed up was when I came across the one dated October 26 not too long ago, which I found in the box where I kept the postcards, stamps, and address labels. I popped it in the mail, but I don't honestly recall if I realized it was "missing" back in October and just sent another in its place. So either they didn't receive the October 26 postcard until very recently, or if they now have two postcards dated October 26. LOL! Either way, they surely took less time to arrive than we ones I mailed them from Portugal last November, which took eleven weeks to arrive!

For the final fifty postcards, I found a set of "Greetings From..." postcards with one for each state, so I sent them in the order that each state joined the Union. I mailed the last two (Alaska, dated December 30 and Hawaii, dated December 31) this morning before we left on our road trip. Given their young ages, 5 and 3, I know they can't grasp what an undertaking this was, but I do know they liked getting mail all year, and I had fun doing it!

posted this in January 2022

first bunch that were mailed

they didn't get the Portugal postcards that
I mailed in November until February

the final fifty for the year

the last two!

Happy Tails to you!