An Unexpected Enchanted Evening

Andy had an exam on Monday, and even though he regularly has exams, we use those days as an excuse to celebrate.

Each successful exam is, after all, one step closer to him being a doctor.

The days leading up are usually busy and somewhat stressful for him, so when the test is out of the way we all breath a sigh of relief.  And we do something fun to celebrate, even if it’s just a fun dinner.

This week we went out for burgers and beers at a local restaurant.  Don’t worry, the girls drank water.  Someone needed to drive us home…

Just kidding :)

After dinner we walked around The Village (a quaint, upscale shopping area) and made a quick stop at Trader Joe’s for a jar of almond butter.  Their crunchy almond butter is the perfect accompaniment to cold, crisp apples.  Trust me on this.

It was a gorgeous fall evening with cool breezes and crunchy leaves abounding.  Our walk around The Village was short, but really refreshing after getting stuffed at dinner.

Andy chose to drive along the lake on our way home which is something I always love and especially appreciate about living in Michigan.  But before we made it to the expanse of road where the lake is fully visible, he turned into the driveway of the Grosse Pointe War Memorial.

The place we were married just over 10 years ago.

It’s a beautiful lake-front mansion that oozes history and charm.  I always wanted to get married there and was thrilled when they had dates available the year of our wedding.

On Monday evening when we parked near the entrance to the gardens, the sun was getting ready to set and the sky was painted beautiful shades of teal, lavender, pink and peach.

We grabbed the girls out of their carseats and set out on foot to explore the lawn and gardens.

It was so fun to tell Grace that this was the place where mommy and daddy got married, and that I walked through the gardens before heading down the aisle to meet daddy.

She asked lots of questions and seemed generally interested in the whole thing.  Every once in a while she’d say, “This is such a great day!”

We told her how daddy waited at the top of the steps for me and that’s where the pastor led us through our vows.

She had fun putting on a little dance routine for us :)

We all had fun walking around the lawn, soaking up the beautiful scenery.

Avery loved the fresh air and the challenge of grabbing my pearl earrings.

Before we left, we sat by the lake and marveled at how we were standing there 10 years later with two beautiful daughters.

An unexpected detour on the way home from the restaurant turned out to be such an enchanted evening :)