3 part anniversary!

We celebrated our anniversary in 3 parts because that's what you do when it falls on a Wednesday and you barely see your husband. So for Part 1: Wednesday May 2nd. Max left for work early, I got Charlie to school and took Miles to swimming! It was his last day and he got to do the water slide so that was exciting!

Then we went out to the middle of nowhere to buy pig food because apparently they don't have local pig food shops, and pig's gotta eat. We were going to continue on our way to Max's work and meet him for lunch but he let us know he would be downtown (closer to home) so we could meet there. So that is what we did, with two little kids in tow! We found a nice little amazing restaurant called Teote. (Sidenote, it was all gluten free, if that's your kind of thing) Lunch was delicious and also wild and distracting with little kids and Max needing to be on the phone to finish a couple projects.

Miles wanted me to take his photo a lot in the red shade.

After lunch We dropped Max back off at his car then made our way to get Charlie.  
In the evening we had a brief moment for dinner and playtime before Max had to leave for a big event he was in charge of for the youth in the church. We scarfed down our dinner then went to play in the nearby field and let our kids take our picture to document our 9th anniversary. 

 They get super excited about taking pictures, here are some of the best one.

 

And there you have it! Maybe this will be another tradition, who knows, but I like that my kids are excited to take photos of us for now. Also, just know there were a lot of photos that looked like this, blurry faces! But I know that is painful to look at so I'll spare you.

Max had to run off to his youth activity so the boys and I stayed and played in the field for awhile.

and they took more photos of me. haha!

Max was gone for a long time with this event but eventually he came home and we got to have some hammock time and eat chocolate covered strawberries and spend a couple moments without interruptions. So that was a peaceful way to end our anniversary day.

But with that busy day we had to plan a date for just the two of us. So for Part 2 We planned on a bike ride and Heather so kindly offered to watch all three of our kids along with her 3! The day of, Miles helped me prep the bikes.

 

On that same day (yes, this is turning into a photo dump) we played with Nelly and rubbed her belly because we had just arranged for her to be moved to another family. 

So then Max got home from work and and we loaded the bikes and dropped off the kids. The weather was perfect. We planned a bike ride from Sellwood to downtown Portland and to attend the Cinco de Mayo festival on the waterfront. Once we got there Max realized he forgot the bike lock key (and he had locked the bikes to the rack) We didn't have time to go home and get it because there was traffic and we wanted all the daylight we could get for our bike ride. So he just hacked off the lock and we decided we would find a place to buy a new lock somewhere downtown.

 

We were off on our bikes shortly after. We were only a mile in and I was dying (the ride was about 9 miles, round trip...9 miles for 9 years...get it?...yeah that wasn't really planned but I'll go with it.) Anyway, the path was pretty flat but my bike wouldn't let me coast at all, so eventually we pulled over for a break..and to take this selfie...

 

Max checked my bike and realized that my rear brakes were not coming all the way off my tire so I was essentially riding my bike with the brakes on and creating a whole lot more resistance for myself. We started laughing so hard. In the past I had done 3 sprint triathlons and I had only used this bike on the last one where I was the most fit (and not pregnant or breastfeeding) but that bike ride was the absolute hardest out of all of the triathlons....so now I know what to blame...and Max is already telling the boys the story of when  "mom did a triathlon with her brakes on her bike." anyway, Max disconnected my back brakes and after a little test run, I realized I could use my bike with just the front brakes and we set off on our way. It was so much easier to ride after that. 

We rode along the river and it was beautiful .  We crossed the new bike/MAX bridge and saw the hotel where we stayed on our wedding night. (Max drives by it everyday but we figured we should point it out on our anniversary, also I realize it looks like I'm pointing at a bridge, but the hotel is behind the bridge)  haha!

Anyway, we made it to the waterfront and asked around for a bike shop or somewhere to buy a bike lock. We were directed to go to target 10 blocks away. So we were able to ride through the city with all the traffic and it was a fun experience. I ran in while Max stayed with the bikes. Once I found one we were finally able to go to the Cinco de Mayo festival. We were able to see some live music and eat some Mexican food, which I never really photographed. We ate our food together on the grass while looking at the river with the sun getting lower in the sky. We walked around and checked out some of the booths. Then decided it was time to ride back while we still had some daylight. 

It's kind of funny to think that we spent very little time at the festival which would appear as the main outing for our anniversary but I feel like this date was so symbolic of marriage. Setbacks like the missing bike lock key or my brakes on my bike were unexpected and could have been frustrating but that is pretty much what happens in marriage. It doesn't go how you expect and you have to find a way to roll with the punches while still loving each other and having fun. We loved this date and we were happy to have some time together.  

And I think I'll save part 3-Our family beach trip, for the next blog post since that will require more photo organization and I've already made this one pretty long. You're welcome!