CONTENT WARNING: If you tend to have a gag response to over-the-top romance we advise that you do not read this post any further.
Date 3 of 10: For our 3rd of our 10 dates for our 10th Anniversary we had the most wonderful time. After going back and forth with details for childcare we finally decided that it might be easier for everyone if we just take the boys with us on this date. They were so excited to go and promised to be very good for us. We drove to Newport Beach and found a great spot to watch the beautiful Christmas boat parade.
One of the many decked out boats of the parade.After the boat parade finished it was time for our scheduled date to begin- Gondola ride along beautiful Canals! It was just gorgeous. The kids were seated way at the front of the boat and for most of the trip were very quiet and taking it all in. The canals we went down were along the back of stunning homes covered in Christmas lights. We were snuggled in to the back seat of the Gondola curled up under a blanket and the kids and us each got a basket of goodies from the Gondola company including French bread, cheese, salami, chocolate, and Sparkling Cider. Beautiful Italian music was played and everyone enjoyed it so much! It was peaceful, beautiful, and so very romantic.
The boys quietly taking in the ride and all the lights. Ducks came along side of our boat hoping that we would share some of our French bread and the boys loved it. It was fun for us to watch them enjoying it so much and were glad we brought them with us.
As we went along our Gondolier told us that people from Catalina Island have been throwing bottles into the ocean and sometimes they float all the way over to where we were so we should keep our eyes open for any. Just on cue- straight ahead in the water we saw a bottle bobbing up and down and showed the kids and the boat filled with excitement. The Gondolier lined up the boat so that we went right next to the bottle on Me and Johnny's side of the boat. First Johnny tried to grab it and missed then by the time it got to me it had gone too much under the boat to reach it, so he turned around and gave us another chance at it.
Here I am with my retrieved bottle from the water. And look at that- There was a message in the bottle. It was really exciting and the kids went nuts wanting to know what it was.
Luke helped me take the message out and Kyle begged to be the one to read it but Jim insisted that maybe I should read it first. To my surprise it was a love letter from Jim telling me about his love for me, what these last 10 years together have meant to him, and then in the letter asked me if I would MARRY HIM AGAIN! (I will not share the actual contents of the letter because it was so special and private, but it would make any woman weak in the knees!) Then Jim got down on one knee in the boat and told me again how he feels about me. I was so surprised and overwhelmed by his words that tears were just streaming down my cheeks. Then after I told him Yes, I would marry him again.... He brought out an unexpected gift....
After the proposal the Gondolier took our picture and I am holding the gift and the message from the bottle.
The gift: It's a bit difficult to get a great picture of this beautiful and sentimental necklace so I'll describe it. The necklace is heart shaped with a smaller heart at the very top. In that smaller heart is my birthstone. Along one side of the necklace is lined with a row of birthstones for each of our children in order of their ages from Jacques all the way to Lovenie. We were not able to add Vilner yet since we do not know when his birthday is and Jim couldn't find anything that would hold so many stones! ;) On the other side of the necklace- a cross- a symbol of the foundation of our marriage and family. I hear he had to do a lot of searching for this. I was so moved by the necklace, the loving words, thoughts of how God's blessed us and added to our family over the last 10 years that it must have taken me at least a half hour to get my tears under control again!
As we went along our Gondolier told us that people from Catalina Island have been throwing bottles into the ocean and sometimes they float all the way over to where we were so we should keep our eyes open for any. Just on cue- straight ahead in the water we saw a bottle bobbing up and down and showed the kids and the boat filled with excitement. The Gondolier lined up the boat so that we went right next to the bottle on Me and Johnny's side of the boat. First Johnny tried to grab it and missed then by the time it got to me it had gone too much under the boat to reach it, so he turned around and gave us another chance at it.
Here I am with my retrieved bottle from the water. And look at that- There was a message in the bottle. It was really exciting and the kids went nuts wanting to know what it was.
Luke helped me take the message out and Kyle begged to be the one to read it but Jim insisted that maybe I should read it first. To my surprise it was a love letter from Jim telling me about his love for me, what these last 10 years together have meant to him, and then in the letter asked me if I would MARRY HIM AGAIN! (I will not share the actual contents of the letter because it was so special and private, but it would make any woman weak in the knees!) Then Jim got down on one knee in the boat and told me again how he feels about me. I was so surprised and overwhelmed by his words that tears were just streaming down my cheeks. Then after I told him Yes, I would marry him again.... He brought out an unexpected gift....
After the proposal the Gondolier took our picture and I am holding the gift and the message from the bottle.
The gift: It's a bit difficult to get a great picture of this beautiful and sentimental necklace so I'll describe it. The necklace is heart shaped with a smaller heart at the very top. In that smaller heart is my birthstone. Along one side of the necklace is lined with a row of birthstones for each of our children in order of their ages from Jacques all the way to Lovenie. We were not able to add Vilner yet since we do not know when his birthday is and Jim couldn't find anything that would hold so many stones! ;) On the other side of the necklace- a cross- a symbol of the foundation of our marriage and family. I hear he had to do a lot of searching for this. I was so moved by the necklace, the loving words, thoughts of how God's blessed us and added to our family over the last 10 years that it must have taken me at least a half hour to get my tears under control again!Yes Jim... I would marry you again and again and am so happy to have you as my husband!!
7 comments:
WHAT A MAN! You hold on to that one! So sweet!
Love ya,
LeAnne
OMG I'm a mess.
Beautiful :)
He scored a 10 on my gag reflex!!!!
ange
I LOVE Ange's....Thanks for the laugh!
My hubby thought it was pretty crafty...he would shake your hubbies hand if we were close enough! :-P
Love ya,
LeAnne
That was ridiculously beautiful. Italian music at that!!! They could have been singing the Barney song and it would have sounded romantic in Italian, eh? I'm so thrilled for you both!
Paul says he makes the rest of the men look bad when he does things like that!!!! we thought the drive to san antonio was romantic ;) we are pathetic, you score big on mushy!
I love ya!
ange
Awww, that was so sweet- it brought tears to my eyes!
Tanya
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