Guess who's THIRTY??

(Hint:  Not me!)

"I think I'll take a moment, celebrate my age

The ending of an era and the turning of a page

Now it's time to focus on where I go from here

I'll do it better in my next thirty years

My next thirty years will be the best years of my life

Raise a little family and hang out with my wife

Spend precious moments with the ones that I hold dear

Make up for lost time here

In my next thirty years"

-- "My Next Thirty Years" by Tim McGraw

Have you guessed?  Our Daddy is the big 3-0!  A few months back, I got a wild hair and decided to plan a little something special for Justin's 30th.  Unfortunately, Justin's birthday falls at the beginning of June and the months of May/June/July are so busy for us, that his birthday is usually done casually and super simple.  But with it being such a milestone, I decided -- even given the timing -- it'd be nice for us to have a little getaway just the two of us.  It's no secret that Justin loves to fish (and hunt and mudbogg...pretty much anything outside) and we've always had such a great time fishing with Capt. Dave on our trips to Sanibel every summer, but we've never had the chance to go just the two of us. 

So, I got in touch with Dave and we set up a night tarpon and snook fishing trip the weekend after Justin's birthday.  I booked a hotel, arranged some childcare, and wrapped up the rest of the details.  And then came the hard part...keeping a secret.  The weekend came for our little trip and having had all our bags (and the kids' bags) already packed and in the car, I shuttled the boys up to Meme & Papa's house while Justin was in the shower.  He knew we were doing something that afternoon for his birthday, but I wouldn't tell him what.  I think he thought I was taking him somewhere -- like to a store -- to buy him something.  Wrong. 

He was a little surprised when he got out of the shower and realized the boys weren't there.  I just told him that his mom was going to watch them for a few hours.  Wrong.  Moments later, we were South bound.  We drove for an hour of so without him guessing where we were going.  I just knew that once we made it to I-75, he'd figure out where we were going.  Wrong.  After answering a multitude of yes/no questions, I had him believing that we were going to Disney.  (Note:  Justin strongly dislikes all things Disney.  He went for Harrison's first trip and he'll go for Brig's first trip, but that's about all of Mickey he can take.  But, it's a well-known fact that I LOVE Disney.)  I could tell he was a little upset about going to Disney.  I could see the wheels spinning in his head...Why is she taking me to Disney for my birthday?  Doesn't she know I can't stand that place?  How selfish!  Wrong.

We stopped for lunch just shy of the Florida Turnpike and I told him we weren't going to Disney.  With a sigh of relief and a huge smile on his face, he said, "Then we're goin fishin??"  Right!

We had a fun little weekend and so enjoyed the time just us.  Seems that the older we get, time together is harder to come by, but we've realized that even the most simple time together is still fun.  A lunch date and a trip to the hardware store totally counts as quality time!