My "SparkOmatic" EXTRAordinary 20th Wedding Anniversary EXTRAVAGANZA!!

The Most Wonderful, Most Romantic and Memorable Get Away EVER!!

Relaxing on remote beaches to sleep in the sand under the starry skies in the eveings....


He read me Patrick McManus and I read him Bill Johnson.

Refreshing Mornings.......






"Where do you want to go?" "I don't know - where do you want to go?"

Me diving off the rocks...

Hiking and exploring above a remote beach....

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On Sunday, we met up with the kids. As you can see, they were ready for fun!!

- Super Catman -

Catman and ArtDog

Miss Moonbeamer "yikes the beach"

The Girls

Miss Moonbeam waiting while the older kids are cliff jumping and diving....

My husband, Sock Fashion Expert and Archer doing a big jump together....

We missed the kids, but had a super fun time ALONE together!! I was glad to see my babies though....

ALL the kids love the boat!! SFE's perpetual smile....

Miss Moonbeam wasn't all that sure about going out in the water, but she loves her Daddy....

The Boys pretty much FROLICKED, wrestled and played all day!!

Smiling ArtDog

Miss Moonbeam "yikes the boat and yikes to drive"

Hard at play with The Fam

Me Diving off the rocky cliffs....

Archer Diving......

My husband encourages me as I "do it afraid"......

My amazing Son "swims his camera" over to the cliffs for these crazy jumping and diving pics!!

Miss Moonbeam played all afternoon with the cooking dishes we found along with her "sand purse"

Remote, Sandy Beaches, Big Clumps o' Clay for playing, Pristine Waters, Ninety Degree Sunshine, What More Could A Person Ask For?

Back around tax return time, I reminded my dear husband rather bluntly that it was our 20th wedding anniversary this year. He responded with "let me worry about that" and proceeded to pay off our debts and spend the money, "harrumph" rather wisely. Me, well I would have spent it going some exotic place......

Month by month, day by day, I worried the anniversary like a dog on a bone. "Uh, by the way, what do you think we should do for that big anniversary?" I'd hint subtly with the nonchalance of a neurotic baboon. The more I badgered him about it the less he was willing to discuss it and the more I began dreading the big day's arrival. I had this gnawing fear that I would be home doing nothing other than drowning in a mosquito infested swamp of self pity.

Finally, about 2 days before our anniversary, my husband said out of the blue. "What would you think about buying a boat?" "What?!?!" I asked, rather shocked. He'd been looking at houseboats, like we'd done for our 15th and he decided that it would make more sense just to buy a boat than throw a lot of money away renting one for a few days. He's just one of those practical minded people who can't stand to waste money. After thinking about it, I knew it was a great idea. Whats not to like about buying a boat? I'd been asking for us to buy one for as long as we've been married. It seemed like something he could peacefully spend money on and something that would satisfy a deep craving for romance that I'd been longing for.

Then he showed me an awesome one on Craigs list in a far away city. It was perfect. The next day, we embarked on the adventure. Turns out, it was a super nice family man who owned it and took care of it like a child. He was such a great guy that he threw in anchors, safety stuff, a pile of life jackets and even some oil and other assorted doo dads. My husband was real pleased and I could hardly contain my excitement.

It was well past lunch, but I couldn't possibly imagine eating once that boat was in our possession. I didn't want to do anything but try it out!! He was rather pleased that I had lost interest in the idea of eating in the big city. In the end, we took it out on Ponderay and had so much fun!! Then we docked her and ate at a restaurant not far from the lake. The novelty of docking a boat to go eat was just too much fun ;-)

That week, the official "anniversary get away" plans were full in motion. My husband worked like crazy getting stuff ready. By Friday morning, he was exhausted. Luckily, as he was leaving he happened to find he'd almost walked out the door without the keys to the boat!! Yikes!! With Archer and Sock Fashion Expert in charge, we left confident that they could handle anything that might arise. We also had a cell phone along just in case. I could hardly contain the excitement!!

After an hours drive, we were out on Lake Koocanusa in no time and embarking on our adventure!! "What do you want to do?" "I don't know what do you want to do?" "Where do you want to go?" "I don't know, where do you want to go?" We sounded just like newbie daters ;-) It ws so exciting!! First we anchored at a remote cove so my husband could take a well deserved nap. I didn't last long with those beatiful, remote sandy beaches and beckoning green waters calling my name. I had to dive out and swim for shore so I could go exploring along the beach. Drift wood everywhere, powdery fine sand, big globs of clay. Could this not be an exotic paradise after all?! It was as close to heaven on earth that I could possibly imagine. Suddenly, flashbacks came from dreams I'd had as a little girl and I knew I'd walked this beach before. This was my destiny, realized, and this was the man, all along that God had intended just for me......

After swimming back to the boat, with a little persuasion, my husband woke up and swam the cove with me to explore paradise. It was probably 90 degrees and the waters were just perfect. We ran and played along the beach together like it was some kind of honeymoon paradise. It was like living out the most romantic movie ever..... After a good long while, we swam back to the boat. Some people had pulled ashore, but they were off in the distance and we never talked to them.

Next, we found a private cove to camp in. It was a beautiful place, and I couldn't imagine wanting to sleep in tent. He built a fire, and I warmed up some food on our camp stove. While sitting around the fire, he read me Patrick McManus stories and I read him Bill Johnson. It was idyllic. Then we snuggled up in our zipped together bags under the stars. Its the stuff dreams are made of :-)

In the morning we didn't have to go anywhere in a hurry and planned our our next days adventure. It was incredible fun just playing in the sand and water!! He found some cliffs and tied the boat up a ways off. After sunning a while, I couldn't imagine not playing on the rocks, so I swam over and dove off a few while he took pictures. He even gave me a foot massage. I felt so pamered!!! Everything about the whole weekend made me feel so blessed and pampered. It was like God just smiled down on us and gave us the perfect weather, and the most ideal everything. Later on he swam over to the cliffs with me and encouraged me up them higher. For a while, I sat paralyzed with fear on one, but he coaxed me off. After a while, I realized that the fear was never going to leave. I just had to "jump afraid". Then I felt like once I'd conquored fear, there were no limits anymore and anything was possible. Shaking and afraid, I did it again, but higher :-)

That afternoon, he took it out to choppy waters in another part of the lake and let the boat rock like crazy just for fun. I turned the radio on an old rock channel and as if on cue, the "Bad Company" song he dedicated to me and recorded for me when I was 16 came on. Again, it was like God just smiled on us and made everything passionate, romantic and euphorically wonderful.

Camping and exploring that evening was much the same, except that it was more like a dream than a reality. The stars were bright above us and the world was a wonderful place. We even saw some crazy ufos, though he makes fun of what I see when I don't have my glasses on ;-) In the morning, the kids woke us up at 7am sharp to tell us they were leaving. We laughed at how prompt they were. The kids were to meet us at the docks Sunday morning so they could spend the last day of the trip with us.

All of it would have been pulled off wonderfully except for the small inconvenience that the key somehow got bumped to the "on" positon and the battery was stone dead. Fortunately, the boat came with an extra little motor, and we trolled our way back. My smart man switched batteries with the car the kids drove so he could take them out for the day.

As you can see from the pics, the kids had a wonderful time too. We took them all over, showed them the cliffs and the remote beaches and let them play in the beautiful pristine waters all day long. It was another scorcher of a day and perfect for water play of all types. As if on cue, a little pink bag was left on one remote beach with toy cooking dishes perfect for Miss Moonbeam. She entitled it her "sand purse" and played all day with the dishes in the sand. Another beach had a crazy looking face on a ball one of the boys claimed. All day long the kids never stopped smiling. The Sock Fashion Expert had spend THE ENTIRE DAY before making all kinds of things from scratch for the day. She made 3 kinds of home made crackers, bean dip from dried beans, casadias and home made grahm crackers for s'mores. She'd thought of everything. Whan an amazing girl!! All in all, I can't possibly tell how wonderful the weekend was. All I can say is that it was the BEST ANNIVERSARY GET AWAY EVER!! And some of the best days of my life :-)