**Started writing this awhile ago**

Last weekend (specifically the 17th) was our 4th anniversary and honestly, we had SUCH a great time! On Friday, we added the kids & sweet Milly into our anniversary tradition of watching our wedding video. It was SO MUCH FUN! Charlotte loved it. There was a lot of… “That’s Mommy!! That’s Daddy! I see Nana! There’s Paba!” and so on! AND a lot of dancing and clapping.

It was really sweet to watch her enjoying our special day. The icing was the cards Charlotte had made for us, with the help of Milly!

Once the crazy kiddos were in bed, we did what we do best… ATE RAMEN! Duh. I mean, it’s not a celebration without Ramen from our favorite takeout restaurant.

Then, on Saturday, the real celebration began. We spent ALL MORNING trying to get out of the house to deliver our lovely children to Grandpa Ivan & Grandma Mimi’s house. Despite runny noses, crabby children, and so. much. stuff, we made it.

Once out of our care, we booked it to take advantage of a full 24 hours of kid-less fun. We went to the Third Ward where Mark had planned a day of adventure & fun. We started at the Public Market where we ate at the fish market… LOBSTER ROLLS! OYSTERS! BLOODY MARY’S WITH LOBSTER. Yeah, that was fun!

Oh hello there, oyster!

Then, we did an amazing amount of shopping, exploring galleries, shops and boutiques, drinking so much coffee, and even a wine tasting.

Mid-day wine tasting!

We had sushi for dinner and decided to go see Beauty & the Beast in loungy recliner chairs. The movie didn’t start until 10pm, so we went to Splash, a paint / wine bar first.

Mark ordered us a couple of “first date” shots, we had a BLAST painting and then booked it to our movie.

My masterpiece for Stef!

I buried my face in popcorn and somehow fell even more in love with… Emma Watson. Oh, and Mark!

The next morning, we slept in (for me that was 8am) and then went to Cafe Grace for brunch. French bistro. SO GOOD. We had mussles and I had the yummiest Croque Madame sandwich thing that I’m still thinking about. And, to top off all the fun, we went to Holy Moly for donuts and then to NORDSTROM. So fun.

All in all, it was an AMAZING celebration. I’d do it again any day of the week 🙂

Oh! Mark got me an amazing gift… the gift of guilt-free shopping!!! YES! Hello, new watch and purse. I love you!

My gift to Mark was an Amazon Dot or Echo Dot… I don’t know… the little Alexa thing. Needless to say, the toddler loves it. “LEXA, PLAY FWOZEN!” “LEXA, PLAY DOCA STUFFINS!”

With the traditional gift for year 4 being “flowers or fruit,” I decided to also gift Mark with one full week of all vegan cooking. For anyone that knows him, you know that this is a happy treat for him. I’ll be sure to share all of the good recipes!