date night at the refinery hotel...

mike is a soul who craves and thrives in alone-ness (i, myself, would prefer to experience most anything with someone [although, ironically, i'd classify myself as really independent?]). this balance of alone/together-ness has been something we've been working on for years- hearing and adjusting our personal preferences, particularly in the framework of a marriage when we're a very close familial unit, heightened exponentially in the past 12 months. we haven't had a night without each other in........ years? he went on a few work trips to cleveland when harvey was a baby... i was terrible at "it." (fomo? jealousy? both, likely.) rather than keeping waiting for a time when the world opens up again & he can walk down the hudson pathway with a rolling suitcase and jump on a cruise ship; reminding ourselves we live in a vacation destination littered with under-filled hotel rooms, i booked mike a room at a hotel in the city for a couple of nights. he took 2 days off work, and i vowed zero contact for the duration of his escape (albeit, a mile from home). 

mike, being an excellent compromiser, acknowledged my immense nosiness, and invited me to dinner on the rooftop one night, satiating both of our needs. it's taken 16 years, but we're getting the hang of this.

in the last few weeks, just shy of the 1-year mark when the city shut down, restrictions are slowly easing (indoor dining opened at 40% valentines weekend, and this last weekend movie theaters opened as well). while i'm still skittish inside, being indoors still requires a mask when you move inside, and typically when staff approaches the table. as anxious as i am, it's also really nice to not freeze to death dining outside when it's 5 degrees. 

the refinery hotel is beautiful (i had a shoot here a few years ago), and the rooftop bar is as beautiful as i remember. we sat in a big, clear tent and stared at the sparkling empire state building. (*the tent industry is probably the 3rd most successful industry this last year, just behind zoom and peloton, yes?)

mike also got a room upgrade, and showed me his massive windows just to make me jealous. it was very batman-esque.
 

jet skiing around manhattan on 4th of july weekend!!!!!!!

there will never be enough exclamation points for this post.

or selfies.

OH MY GOSH THE PICTURES! the vanity! it's sort of pathetic. 

really though- THIS WAS THE MOST FUN WE HAVE EVER HAD!!! (uppercase, bold, underlined, and italicized "ever.")

we celebrated our 11th anniversary by working the day away, and then taking the kids with us to dinner because jude was recovering from a fever. suuuper romantic! we did have a saturday backup plan though: jet skis. i kept seeing people doing it on instagram, and oh my gosh, not enough people are talking about this. it's literally the best-kept secret of this city!! 

let's start at the beginning.

the morning started off way too early so we took the kids to the park (6am), then jude went down for an early nap. it was the first cool day in months- wind, no humidity... totally ironic since we planned on being on the water, right!? our sitter showed up, and mike & i headed out for our trip to jersey. we did a lyft vs. uber comparison. spoiler alert: uber won. uber always wins.

off to hoboken!

we made it to the pier!

then we took about a thousand pictures.......

BUT CAN YOU GET OVER THE VIEW!?!? it was insane. no one around. blue skies. breeze. cool air. and nyc in front of our giddy faces!

60-minute tour agenda: head down the hudson, pass the freedom tower, cruise on by the statue of liberty, loop around to the brooklyn bridge, and head back.

as we got our safety briefing we realized it was the weekend of the 4th!!! i mean, i knew it was, i just didn't process that we were getting the view we were getting on the most patriotic weekend of the year! honestly- does it get better?!?! we'll pretend we planned it that way. what a view!! what a city!! they also told us to stay with john, our guide, or we would be shot- snipers don't care for jet skiers getting to close to lady liberty- there are helicopters and police equipped to kill those who get too close for comfort.  

duly noted! 

we boarded the green jet ski. shared it like little lovers. mike drove most of the time. i started out scared out of my witts (i have ZERO adrenaline pumping through my lame body), but seeing a non-english speaking couple next to us who was clearly more terrified than myself made me feel better. (they also wore their normal clothes, brought cell phones, and wore fancy watches? it was odd... super odd...) well, that couple ended up being escorted back to the dock 3 minutes after we left- they literally could not drive/steer/control the jet ski. fail. so then there was me- praying i wasn't going to be the lame duck who slowed down the group...

 the water was SO CHOPPY!

we screamed and screamed and screamed. 

and laughed and laughed and laughed. 

there weren't many other boats- just huge ferries, so we basically had the water to ourselves. the huge wakes slammed into us and drenched us. we swallowed more hudson water than i care to admit- SO GROSS. i figure if we make it through the week without being violently ill, we're golden. (we also didn't see any body parts or floating rats in the hudson, so that's good.) there was a point at the tip of the island when the wind was so strong and the waves so big that i literally was blinded. my sunglasses were useless, and my eyes burned so bad i swore i was never going to see again. i could not stop laughing! mike gagged so hard twice on water i thought for sure he was going to puke everywhere. i can't remember the last time i laughed that hard for that long.

we said a million times that we were having more fun than we've ever had before. it was the coolest date- just us two on that jet ski, trying to keep up to the other skis- they max at 61 mph, and we got to 40, at which point i was sure we were going to die, so that's that.

every time it gets quiet one of us mutters, "man, that was fun." 

"yah. so fun. the best."

date day...

^^ one of mike's best friends from high school got married on saturday, and mike & i made a day out of it thanks (once again) to my lovely parents; we went to the temple sealing and wedding luncheon while the kidlets were with my parents. it's been ages since we went to a sealing in the temple, and it was so neat to sit together and remember the covenants we made almost 8 years ago (EIGHT!?)... not to mention we were married for forever (FOREVER!?) in that same room:) 

after the ceremony, we ran in the rain (romantic, eh!?) to the mall- hey, when you're kid-less, you take advantage! and let me tell you: determined adults can do damage in a mall without kids. even when one is wearing heels. (blisters? totally worth it.) we decided 2 hours was "too long to wait for food" (the best excuse we could agree on), so we went to johnny rockets and ordered to-go: an oreo malt & onion rings. they split the malt so we could share (ooooh!)... which just meant i drank both anyway (oh.), and got twice the whip cream (i have an addiction). 

more running in the rain. 

a great luncheon. 

followed by a couple hours to play as a family, and off to the reception with the kiddos for more fun & a crepe bar i may have hit up twice. (not including the fact that i ate mike's crepes, too. and maybe elle's when she wasn't looking. 

( see, it's no wonder mike is so skinny. i eat all his food.)

FUNDAY!

mr. brian reeegaaann!

we had a stupendndous night last night- a date to see brian regan downtown!

the dude is hilarious. i haven't laughed that hard in who knows how long.

our neighbor buddies doubled w/ us, and thanks to some pretty outstanding grandparents, we enjoyed an awesome date night!

first? dinner at biaggi's, next, to get warm cookies from bear country (it was so cold outside!), and finally we were off to see the funny-man himself!

from the 4th row.

hello, awesome.

my jaw & ab muscles (or lack there-of) still ache from laughing so hard.

also noteworthy below: the boys were more-so on a man date. they ditched kristen & i in our heels and walked around together.

also, also noteworthy below: mike's faces of hilarity. there were more not shown here. for the sake of his pride, i shall keep those from non-public viewing.

a date! a daaate!

mike's mom (& moe) hosted a "grandkid sleepover" at a hotel just after christmas.

what? brave woman, huh?

there were 9 kids. NINE!

she was even brave enough to take the nocturnal tank we call elle.

AH! imagine that!

we waffled- what do we do? go home? get a hotel in logan? the hotel in logan won.

logan! our old stomping grounds. where we met. fell in looooooove. spend our first years of wedded bliss (???).

we stayed at the university inn on campus- it was cheap, and campus was like a ghost town! the little room felt like the room on a cruise ship- it had one tiny window. in an insanely awkward part of the room i must admit. it did have a good view, however. and we had free breakfast in the morning! i'm slightly sure we were the only guests that night?  

elle practically lept from the car when we arrived. she screamed, "tusins!!" (cousins.) they swam & ate pizza & played. i think they even slept a bit!? maybe.

we went to dinner at mandarin garden (shocker). walked around the fantastic logan mall (bah!). drove around to see our old houses, the temple, and main street. we always go to edgehill where we met (we were next door neighbors. our beds shared a wall. precious, huh?). we sound like an old couple as we talk of "those days." we walked around for about 8 minutes until we froze our bee-hinds off. went back indoors. cleaned my wedding ring. shared a malt at charlie's. oh, and we went to a cheap movie- "in time." we almost fell asleep before it started (hello, it was like... 7:45, and it was dark. we were sooo tired! told you we are old people these days). good movie though!

such a great little night away!

thank you pam & moe!