Our 9th Wedding Anniversary

It was this past Tuesday, 5 February, when we babysat Hailey, so this post will also be about Hailey...and how we were able to weave her into our 2019 anniversary celebration. You'll see.

First, let's start with the 9 yellow roses Astrid gave me on Monday

(knowing we'd be busy with babysitting on Tuesday).

Bless her, Astrid is number specific each year with yellow roses.

It was a rainy day on Tuesday and because Hailey has been under the weather,

we knew there would be no walk outside.

In fact, besides feeding her pear, she did little else but sleep.
[She's now had carrots, pumpkin, pear, banana, zucchini and green beans!]

The last two hours before Papa came home, I held her asleep in my arms.

Before I show you the next video, here's one Mama sent us last Saturday.
This little pip-squeak is finding her voice!
[Sorry this is so big; I don't know how to make it smaller.]


Remember, this is 3 days later and she's still not feeling well.
You hardly know if she will laugh or cry...or cough or poot!  HA!
How can you not just eat her up!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Okay.  That was Tuesday, when we were the scheduled ones to babysit.  So we waited till Wednesday, yesterday, to celebrate our anniversary.

As a rule, Astrid and I do not buy material gifts for each other on special occasions because...well, because we have everything we need.  We prefer to spend our money on travel or experiences.  Which we did!

I had seen this experience on Facebook a couple months ago and pursued it,

not really knowing if it would interest Astrid.  When she got excited about it, too, 

we booked our tickets for yesterday's 2:30 afternoon performance in Rotterdam.

O M G

It was a rainy day but nothing rained on our parade, as you already know about us.

We decided to eat our anniversary meal at the nearby Hotel New York, just 3 blocks away.

Rotterdam's "Swan" bridge was, yes, right there.

The fun thing about the big meal at noon is that you get a lot for usually cheaper than at night.  

When you live on a budget, that's important, even for a special occasion.

Astrid was ecstatic about her pasta with seafood, as was I about my lamb shank.

And because there was so much left over, we'll have it again tomorrow!

We knew there would be gratis wine later at the Shen Yun intermission, 

so we opted for our next big favorite, latte macchiato.

Hotel New York in Rotterdam is a landmark because it's based in the former 

building of Holland American Lines (cruise ships).

"It was used as temporary accommodation for European emigres

in the late 19th and early 20th centuries."

Sometimes you just have to taste the history!

With plenty of time to spare, we walked back to the New Luxor Theater.

Our 24-page program whetted our appetite.

Absolutely no photos/videos by camera or mobile phone were allowed!
My guess it that it's not only because of copyright protection but because
many of the dance routines, some from 5,000 years ago, are not allowed in China.

At the intermission we had our glass of wine...and even a bottle of water.
Everything was so well-organized.

Happy anniversary to us!  We'll never forget it.

And now let me bring wee Hailey back into the mix.
Two years ago her mama and papa went to China, walked the Great Wall,
and continued on to Tibet.  They want to go back!
Guess who will probably get to tag along???
(No, not us, silly!)