West Baden

 So as I mentioned in my last post , we visited lots of places in Southern Indiana on our Anniversary trip.  One of those places was West Baden.  West Baden Springs was a hotel back in the day.  After it changed hands a number of times it fell empty and into disrepair.  You can read the entire picture here.

 Thankfully it was restored to it's former glory and it is such a gorgeous place to visit.  So neat.  I can only imagine what it would have been like back in the day.  And so many celebrities came here, it's just incredible.  A huge group of investors came together to make the renovation possible (Donald Trump's group among them).  It is breath taking. Of course none of this will be as neat as being there and experiencing it but here are some photos for you.

 Going down the entrance lane

 The Piazza of the hotel

 All of the rooms are around this huge dome.  The sound and the feeling of the place is so still.  When it was built it was dubbed the 8th wonder of the world.  The planters in this picture: you can't tell from this picture but they were as tall as Nick.  He's 6'3" in case you were wondering :)

 Details...

 The middle of the dome

 View from upstairs...so neat! You just have to go :)

 lights

 We ate lunch under the dome at the restuarant...my lunch compainion.  Good thing I like him because the service was so slow, lunch took FOREVER!!!

 After lunch we went outside to the grounds...

 I took these mainly for the kids but I love the small details...Frogs spitting, kids!

 Turtles spitting back...

 Here I am.  I was inside a springs building.  It was popular due to the mineral springs that people could soak in for medicinal purposes.  One of the owners had all of the spring tubs filled with concrete.  It's really sad.  It said on a plaque that each tile that had been there had been about $100 and they were just poof, destroyed.  I can't even imagine how awesome it would have looked back then.  I think there were 4 spring houses, all fiilled.

 Towering flowers...

 Another Springs bath location, now just a slab of concrete in there.

 This was the original entrance to the hotel.  I'd follow that boy in the pink shirt anywhere :)

 Here he is waiting for me to join him on our green couch of love :)  By the way, do you like his new kicks?  Finally convinced him to buy Sperry's and he L.O.V.E.S. them!  See?  I use my powers for good!

 Our view from the green couch of love...

 Here I am...hi world!  Hi blogging friends! Seriously, so comfortable.  We both kind of fell asleep.  Yep, tenth anniversary vacations you go away to sleep...it's all very scandalous here.

 Bye hotel :(    Well after the West Baden and before we moved on we decided to visit the other hotel in the area that is owned by the same people, the French Lick Hotel...

 Here's the foyer of the hotel...very nice.  Very different from West Baden but amazing.  The Indiana Democratic Convention was going on at this hotel...we didn't stay at this one and that kind of shortened our stay.  People standing around arguing...they should have had wigs on or something in this setting :)

 Ceiling..

 Chandelier...

 The upstairs hall...  I kept telling Nick in this hotel that I felt like I was on the Titanic or something

 More ceiling :)

 The hotels are owned by the same umbrella...pool time in the indoor pool...

 And the outdoor pool...

 To get to the bowling alley we had to go through this hallway which was pretty neat.  They had to carve everything out of limestone and this hall they just left as limestone.  Wit's looking at the pictures on the wall that explain how they had to do the excavating with hand shovels.

Last picture's a little dark but I had to take it for Emma...on our way to the car there were these HUGE windows.  Like in Cinderella!  So I had to take a picture for Emma...otherwise she might not have believed me, yo'!

So that was our trip to West Baden. You should really go!  It is out in the middle of no where and rooms are pricey but worth it for a new adventure :)

Our 10th anniversary Vacation

Last week we loaded up the family truckster...I must say this is our favorite car ever!

This past weekend we left for our Anniversary Trip.  Here we are being cheesy taking selfies in the car.  :)  This is from my phone which is so big that the two of us had to hold it.  My friends who tease me about it are laughing now, I know :)  It was so good to get away and not worry about things for a while.  We left Thursday morning and returned Sunday evening.

It was so much fun!  We took a roaming tour of Southern Indiana...staying different places, trying restaurants we had heard  about, hunting down old shops...a blast.

This is our kind of sign :)

Nick smoking a cigar on vacation...my mother is tssskkking right now

While on vacation we drove which was so wonderful.  One of my favorite things is to drive down long, windy country roads.  Nick being the ole' architect and me being a history buff, we meet in the middle with historic architecture :)  

Of course I'm a sucker for an old church in the middle of nowhere with a blue sky above and behind...priceless.  

And a really, really old church.  Anything more perfect than that?  

When I was a little girl I remember my Grandpa dragging me to railroad museums and maybe it's because of that but there is just something I love about an old train.  

But we are home now and amidst the clutter and the to-do's it's so easy to feel the stress come rushing in.  Nick took me aside last night from the packing and unpacking (did I mention our family vacation is next weekend???) and encouraged me to let this be a new beginning for me.  To not let the stress and harriedness of life get to me but to keep the fun, free spirit of vacation.  Challenge accepted!

Our Weekend

As I mentioned in the last post, this weekend we celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary!  So exciting!!!  But I think what may have been even more exciting was...

 The finding of the old legos!    Nick has been asking his mom for the past three years to look for the legos he had when he was a kid.  They are in Portland on vacation right now so he seized the opportunity and stormed their basement for his toys.  He said he found them in about half an hour.  Three years of waiting for these makes for some very, very exciting children!

 How cute are these vintage legos?

 The kids have been having so much fun with them!  His mom kept the boxes and instructions and everything...they are so cute and fun!

 Our little boy is in heaven!  Sunday Nick sent me out for milk after supper and when I got back this was here...

 A wedding cake!  A real, live wedding cake!  In eloping we didn't have one and Nick surprised me with having this made!  A cake for 30 people for the four of us makes for a lot of leftover cake!  He remembered  the cake I had planned for our wedding, the color and everything...isn't he just the sweetest thing ever?

I was so shocked and I am so in love with him!

Awful picture but after cake Emma thought dancing was appropriate. Aren't they just adorable?

So those were the parts of our weekend you hadn't heard about yet.  I'm loving our life! Up next is our anniversary get away!  Packing and cleaning and preparing for that.   :)

10-year Anniversary!

 10 years ago we stood on a grassy shoreline shadowed by Diamond Head and said simple words with eternal meaning...

 10 years ago I had the privilege and honor of marrying this man (swoon!)

 10 years ago I was a young 21 year old woman with no clue on how to be a wife, but Nick loved me anyway :)

 Fastforward 10 years to this...our family.  Our mission in life that God has given us.  We feel so blessed by God for this life He has given us.  A life that 10 years ago would have taken my breath away and still does...it all is just better than I could have possibly imagined.

And 10 years later we have this kind of love.  We fight and make up every day.  We joke, we stay tease.  We tickle, we poke.  And last night after 10 years of marriage we still stayed up all night talking.  About everything.  About nothing.

Still so in love.  In love more than I ever could have dreamed.  Thank you so much Nicholas for making me your wife.  For leading our family in your calm and gently manner that is so characteristic of you.  You are the man God made for me and I love reminiscing on my favorite quote ever that you said: "You can''t thank me for being with you.  I didn't choose to be with you.  I'm stuck with you.  And you with me.  God made us for one another and that's that."

I'll be stuck with you anyday, Wit!  Till death and then beyond!  :)  Love you!