30 Years Young

March 19th came and went 5 months ago and I had to succumb to the idea of turning 30. It was a hard pill to swallow, and now every time someone asks my age I have to remind myself to say 30 (not 20-something).

Today Ben feels my pain and turns 30. Today he is the same age as me!! Nevermind the 5 months age difference, we ARE the same age now. For weeks now, he has been wanting to "get away" and maybe go surfing. We did a little research and decided to try St. Augustine Beach (just south of Anastasia State Park) for his birthday weekend. It was the perfect storm (so to speak) as Hurricane Bill rumbled by hundreds of miles off the Atlantic Coast it sent decent size waves to the shores of Northeast Florida. Colliding with his birthday weekend meant our timing couldn't have been better. Armed with a new Garmin GPS (an early birthday gift for Ben from my parents), we headed to St. Augustine. It was a nice (albeit quick) trip over. The shores were unfortunately packed with other thrill-seeking surfers, the water was cold to this Florida Gulf girl's liking and the weather a little rainy, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless. I planned accordingly and brought my Nikon, but realized when I pulled it out that my batteries were dead and my back-up wasn't anywhere to be found so, unfortunately, no photos to record the trip.

Below is the one photo that I snapped from tonight of Ben's card collection, peanut butter cupcake and his beer with an IOU label for his home brewing kit. Also on the far left is the birthday card that Jack made for him. He did get to unwrap two new pairs of shoes, so he wasn't totally empty-handed on his birthday. Happy 30th Birthday, my love. To 30 more together!! We love you.