date: Wed 27 Aug 2025 09:05:56 PM PDT subj: Wedding Anniversary with twins ------------------------------------------------------------------ It was a big day for us as a family. Our wedding anniversary with our twins was yesterday. My wife had it all planned out; a nice breakfast, a hike in a state park, a picnic with our idea of fancy food, and a family photo with our two new family members, and take out for dinner. Breakfast was made by my wife. Eggs with cheese, and blueberry pancakes. So yum for our tums. The last of our eggs for our special day. Time was like a blur between breakfast and packing up to go. Loading getting the kids ready and loading up to go anywhere is always a small event. No more grabbing a wallet and keys and leaving the house. Its a bag of diapers, wipes, extra clothes, ice-packs, bottles of formula, stroller, .. of course kids, and ourselves. Just as the power went out for the day, we got out of the house. This time I didn't forget anything though, none of us forgot anything. .. wait I did forget something I had to drive back, and forgot the power was off as well. First our hike, we started with baby packs. My wife carried our daughter, and I carried our son. We had to move fast out of the parking lot due to mosquitoes, and yellow jackets but after our baby packed up on ourselves we walked out to the trail with minimal fuss from our daughter. She doesn't always like being picked up and moved around, but once mom started walking she started to relax. The trail was nice, it was a bit dry this time of year compared to last year, but it was still really nice. The large cedar trees throughout the various other evergreens were nice to see. Our babies enjoyed looking around at the new sights. They are at the age where they notice things and seeing new things appears to catch their attention. They also like the movement. The hike wasn't a long or difficult hike, but it was warm with a little person attached to the front of our body. We talked during our hike/walk and noticed the spots we stopped at last year. One was just above the fern grove. It looked a lot dryer this year compared to last year. Just after fern grove I got a call to help with work. I had to help and did my best to provide support over the phone while in the forest with bad reception. Eventually we made it to the largest of the old cedar trees where other hikers were enjoying the company of the tree and each other. We asked if they would take a picture of us using our camera. The young woman did her best to take a fancy picture for us. After that we let the group enjoy the tree, and we headed for the food so our daughter who was started to get hungry could eat something. On the way back to the parking lot the mosquitoes were looking for food as well, and they decided we were food. So it was a big rush to load up the babies, ourselves, and leave the mosquitoes and yellow jackets at the park. We decided to go to a place closer to home for our picnic where we never see mosquitoes. We arrived a Ebeys and it really is one of the best places. There are tables under shade, and a beautiful view. Mom unpacked the picnic basket and put out a table cloth. I really felt like we were in a fairytale, or back in time somehow. I've never once seen a tablecloth on the park tables at Ebeys once. I'm sure over the years since the 1920's there has been cloths laid out at Ebeys but in my time there I haven't seen it. She put the plates out, our utensils, our fancy food. Our babies next to us, enjoying the breeze on their face, we enjoyed our food. Fancy food: -------------------------------- Thin dry salami sharp cheddar cheese fancy mix olives with pits salmon spread Ritz crackers Asian thin noodle pasta lavender shortbread cookies bubble water -------------------------------- After food we just relaxed a bit. I sat with my son looking out at the water. He seemed so content looking at the trees and the ocean. For a moment I felt real joy sitting with my son. It wasn't a long moment, but it was there, and enough to recognize it. I felt thankful of my wife for making this moment happen for me, creating our child so at this very moment I can see someone and something beautiful. I think moments with our family like this are few and far between, but if more people could have them and more so recognize those moments, the world would be different. After while we prepared for a family photo, and eventually found our spot and took a few pictures. Then we headed for home, but on the way there was a lot of smoke, and a lot of firetrucks heading towards us. A fire broke out not far from where we were, but luckily was put out shortly after. We eventually arrived back home, and went inside to hide from the smoke. We had a wonderful day. It went by so quickly. We eventually got dinner, stood at the counter and ate it. We didn't even sit down. In the midst of chores for the evening, prep for tomorrow we ate dinner. My wife and I put the kids to bed, did some chores and hung out for a bit. We love each other. No more wedding anniversaries with just the two of us, not for a long long time from now. Now its us with kids. This one was wonderful. I hope next year's is too, but we'll have to find out.