Reflections on Year Five

Anniversary Weekend in Banff

Year FIVE. FIVE? FIVE! We can't believe it's been five years, it seems so long and so short all at the same time.

• This year has been the "sweet spot" in our married life so far. I think it's fair to say that we can "read" each other a lot better now, it's almost instinctive and it helps our everyday run so smoothly when we're on the same page. It's really nice to feel like we ARE on the same page almost all of the time now, and this last year has been a smoother ride because of that. Where I'm weak Steve fills the gap and vice versa, it's a really comfortable place to be. We still have all the usual life stresses, but in our relationship there's a lot less tension than in the earlier years, probably because we are more aware of each others needs now.
• I guess another thing that I've neglected to talk about is how nice it is that Steve is around/available to me and the kids quite a bit. This job of his is really conducive to the kind of life that we envision for our family and it's a huge blessing for all of us to be able to not only exist under the same roof, but enjoy being with each other. Our kids are at an age where we are having a lot of fun with them and even when things aren't going great, or we're stressed or whatever, they are a great distraction from those things and they are still offering us glimpses of the "bigger picture" when we need it.
• Friendships have become a lot more important to us this year. It's been harder for us to be as social as we'd like because so often in the last few years Steve has been away or working late and I've been so tired, but we're starting to recognize that we need the adult interaction too. Anyways, we've made some great friends so far and we've made it a goal to get to know more people this year, and reconnect with some old friends too, so hopefully that helps balance out life a little bit.

We are so grateful for the chance we had to get out of the city and enjoy a weekend of just us. It's amazing how refreshing just those 2 nights away really were. We had the best time hanging out with each other and not feeling torn in different directions. The pace of our days was so relaxed, we literally walked around downtown Banff for a few hours and didn't even realize it until we saw the clock when we got back to our hotel. We chowed down on some decent steak and had Sunday Brunch at the Banff Springs Hotel- the salmon was like butter, it was melt in your mouth delicious. We took a few dips in the spa "hot pool", we really wish that we could've splurged on the couples massage too, but holy heck their prices for that were RIDICULOUS, I'm talking my grocery budget for the month ridiculous! I stocked up on our favorite snacks before we left town and brought some games and we literally would come back from the pool and lounge around with not a care in the world, oh evenings without children how we appreciate you... We had a great time on our Grotto Canyon ice walk on Monday morning, if you've never done one you should! It was a decent hike and you get to walk on the frozen creek and enjoy views that you don't usually get to see. Bonus, we had fresh snow so everything was looking really beautiful that morning, it kept snowing too so we got a real good winter hike experience.
We were fortunate that this weekend was actually our Christmas present from Steve's sister and her husband- they found us a great livingsocial deal- so we got to do the ice walk, which is probably something we would have never thought of doing on our own, or would have had a hard time spending money on, but it was really fun and now that we know that, we'd be inclined to splurge and do it again. It also included some sparkling refreshment from the hotel (we opted out of the wine and instead had some sparkling water with orange juice), 2-for-1 ski rentals, a $20 food voucher for a place downtown, plus the hotel gave us a coupon book with really decent deals in it and there were a lot of little perks at our particular hotel. We learned that these livingsocial deals are actually really worth it and we're hoping to do some more throughout the year. The only downside was that if you stay on the weekend you end up paying a room premium, so an extra $15/nt and then they tax you 11% on the full value of the room you were in, so be aware. It wasn't a crazy amount in the end, but it's nice to have a heads up.
All-in-all we really enjoyed celebrating our anniversary, we usually don't do more than go out for dinner so this was a huge treat for us. We are also lucky to have family so close and willing to step in and help us out with our kids so we can do things like this. It's nice that we don't need to be nervous or worried to leave our kids because there's always someone who loves them and is fully capable of managing their craziness for us for a few days. Thanks family!