28 December

by The Creative Punk with 1 comments

#3 Post Of All Time On The Creative Punk

I Surprised My Wife With The Greatest Trip Of Our Lives

As you may know, Courtney and I just celebrated 10 years of marital bliss.

I know, I know. You are thinking, “You guys must have gotten married when you were 12”.

10 years is a big deal.

That means that I have been married to Courtney 1/3 of her life, we have made it beyond the 7 year danger zone of marriages, and we have become comfortable, but not complacent in our love for one another.

Things I never thought about on my honeymoon…

The Childcare Dilemma

Last year, I asked my parents, who live in Texas to watch the kids for 4 to 5 days for the week of our 10-year anniversary, however some unavoidable circumstances came up and we found out in the spring that they would not be available to watch them until after October.

I stressed so much over this week, because I didn’t want to just let this week come and go without giving Courtney and our marriage the honor it was due.

Finally, I decided I would make the most of whatever time I could get with her away from the kids.

Thanks to some dear friends who watched the kids for 40 hours, I was able to plan the whirlwind trip of a lifetime that resulted in the best time of our lives.

Preparation

First, I took her shopping for a dress worthy of the cause. She picked out an adorable Betsey Johnson dress, which was on clearance, and some earrings (she had the shoes and the purse already).

I was able to get away with a clearance rack, Kenneth Cole jacket, combined with some clothes that I already had.

Keep in mind, at this point she still had no idea what I had planned.

My initial plan was to let her find out where we were going at the airline ticket counter. Her anxiety over leaving the boys was too high though, so I had to tell her the Sunday before so she could mentally prepare.

I told her we were flying to New York City for a 24 hour date.

Yes, it sounds extravagant, but it was worthy using our tax refund money to fund the trip.

The Day Of

We had someone come to the house at 4:45 am to stay with the boys and we drove to Jacksonville and boarded the 7:00 am flight. This put our arrival time at 11:20 am.

Next, we took a cab to the hotel. When I told them it was our 10 year anniversary, they upgraded us to a room that overlooked the Statue of Liberty. I was like a little boy staring through the telescope in our room at that iconic symbol of American History.

Next, we took the subway to Times Square where we boarded a double decker bus for a 2 ½ hour trip through NYC.

We saw Macy’s, Madison Square Garden, the Empire State Building, the Rockefeller Center, Freedom Tower (that is replacing the twin towers), the United Nations, the Village, and on and on it went until finally we arrived back in Times Square.

Here are a few pics & a video of this part of our adventure:

Not having a ton of time, we quickly disappeared into the subway for a quick trip back to our upgraded hotel room to change into our evening attire.

We caught a cab to the theater district where we ate at an amazing restaurant called, Remi.

This was the best Italian food we have ever eaten. The hotel called the restaurant and made sure they knew it was our anniversary, so after the meal the waiter brought out a special dessert to contribute to our celebration.

Next, we took a rickshaw to the Gershwin Theater. If you don’t know, NYC has these tricycle taxis called rickshaws. They are the best. They weave in and out of the dense traffic providing an aggressive open air view of the city streets.

Once we arrived at the Gershwin Theater, we watched the Broadway show “Wicked”.

“Wicked”, although it does not sound like something a pastor should go and see, was a quite hilarious story that sets up the Wizard of Oz story. Of course, it is Broadway so everything was amazing, but I also loved the story. Without spoiling it, you got to see where the Tin Man came from, and the lion, and the many subtle references to the Wizard of Oz were both virtuoso with brilliant humor.

After going through 3 packs of Skittles, (Yes that’s right, don’t judge us. We had been up for 18 hours at this point, we needed the energy.)

We took another rickshaw to Central Park where we rented a horse and carriage for about an hour private tour through the park.

It is crazy, as wild and busy as the city is, to be alone in the park at 12:00 am in the morning, with the only sound being the clickity, clop of the horse (Martin) pulling us through the verdant tranquil park.

Next, we walked to Times Square (a longer walk for Courtney in her 4-inch heels).

Times Square was jumping at 1:00 am, filled with such life and literally thousands and thousands of people.

We sat down in Times Square and ate from a street vendor. As we were sitting there in awe of the 360 degree glitz, I looked up and saw Steven Baldwin, just walking through Times Square.

I turned to Courtney and said, “It’s a Baldwin, it’s a Baldwin! It is Stephen Baldwin.”

No, we didn’t chase him down for a picture. We wouldn’t do that, ok well we would have, but both of our phones were dead.

So after our second dinner, LOL, we took a cab back to our hotel. The hotel made a strawberry and chocolate sculpture that said “Happy Anniversary” in white chocolate.

We got about 4 hours sleep, then got up as the sun was silhouetting the Statue of Liberty.

We then walked to Ground Zero.

What a humbling and overwhelming sight. You could still see the cavities that once held the foundation of the Twin Towers.

Next, we had breakfast at a little Italian spot and I discovered the “One Eyed Jack”. It is toast with an egg in the middle. Courtney has made me 3 since we got back.

Then, we walked to Battery Park, where we finished our cappuccinos.