Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Five Years and Counting

I remember sitting down with Ben when we were first married and talking about our goals and where we would like to be in five years.  I wish I knew where that list was so that I could compare it with reality.  I remember that we wanted to own at least a condo, so we went above and beyond on that one.  I am sure we said something about how many kids we would have, still waiting on that one.  I also am sure we thought Ben would be done with or close to done with his education, also still waiting.  One thing I am 99.9% sure was not on that list was that we would have already lived in 2 states and a foreign country by this time.  No matter how much Ben and I have always discussed the fact that we would some day live in Asia (most likely the Philippines), I know that neither of us thought it would happen this quickly.  What an exciting place to be to celebrate five years of marriage!

I do wish we had those kids and that Ben was done with school, but I would not give up where we are or any of the experiences we have had to get here.  People tell us all the time to take advantage of this time, this time with no kids where it is just the two of us.  Well, we are definitely doing just that! This weekend we took a ferry out to the island of Bohol.  I know some of you are asking why we need to go to another tropical island when we already live on one.  Well, Bohol is like the quaint, quiet, old fashioned, restful, calm, clean, no traffic, no people, no stray dogs, no garbage, better version of Cebu.  We needed a break from this place and Bohol was the perfect place to do it.  We spent time relaxing in a hammock by the ocean, eating great burgers and home made pizzas, climbing the chocolate hills, having lunch on the Loboc River, seeing tiny monkeys and huge pythons, crossing a hanging bridge and just enjoying the history of this place.  We  loved every second of it (maybe not the power outage from 7am to 7pm on Sunday).  We were also mindful of how very blessed we are to be safe and healthy and alive after the horrible disasters in Japan.

I cannot wait to see where we are five years from now!   Happy Anniversary Babe. I LOVE YOU!


The relaxing view

The oldest Christian church in the Philippines (supposedly)

Python....ick!

Tarsiers....tiny, awesome little monkeys native to Bohol

I don't like heights and a "hanging bridge" didn't seem really safe, but it was fun anyway


On our floating restaurant

We went to a butterfly sanctuary, I loved it

The Chocolate Hills (this doesn't even do them justice, they were amazing)

Sunset on the beach

Our resort at night (with no electricity which made it even prettier)
For the rest of the fun pictures go to my album on facebook

7 comments:

adam johnson said...

Awesome. People tell us all the time of how jealous they are of our freedom that we have being in this stage in our life. I know you would rather be in another stage but I think it's so great that you are taking advantage of these once in a lifetime opportunities. And I am officially jealous of your tropical anniversary. Great pictures. Can't wait to see you guys.

.the palsky's. said...

those pictures are amazing! (minus the python. that's disgusting.) it sounds like you guys had a great little anniversary trip.
xo

David said...

Nice! Those pictures were beautiful, I bet you had a lot of fun. Good luck with the next 5 years.

David

Amy said...

Happy Anniversary! I know my comment is a little late.... life is busy...haha!

You guys make me smile! I love the top picture... and I love this post!

Miss you guys!

The Staheli's said...

Glad you guys got to really enjoy celebrating your 5th anniversary! Loved all the pictures. Here's to a fantastic next five!!

Amy Sue said...

Looks like the new camera is working for you because you have some great pics! Such a beautiful place to celebrate your 5 years!

Tiffany Johnson said...

um... AMAZING pictures!!! What a great adventure. I love love love the sunset pictures. And the one of the monkey doesn't even look real! That is so stinkin cool! Loved it. I showed it to Hailey and Addy and they both asked if they could hold one. :-)