It’s been a while since I actually blogged, aside from the occasional book review, I’ve been out of energy and out of things to say, or type rather. But after an amazingly fun and relaxing (and much overdue!) vacation with my husband for our 5 year anniversary, I’m feeling so blessed and refreshed and ready for this next year! To catch everyone up on the past month, we have had a lot of fun surprises and adventures! Ben’s birthday is May 21 (He won’t admit that, and he will change it on his FB page, and he will deny if I wish him happy birthday on his actually birthday) and so for his birthday I had a big surprise planned for him! I arranged for him to have an introductory flight lesson with a local flight school. We went to the local airport and he got to fly a little plane! The instructor was co-pilot and I rode along in the back seat of the small 4 seater plane. He has been talking about how much he wants to learn to fly and get his pilots license, but he is terrified of rollercoasters, so I didn’t know if he would really be able to stomach the task enough to make it into a hobbie. So I set up for this lesson to give him a taste of it before he decides to shell out the money to get his license. I’m so glad I did! He was a bit nervous, and screamed like a little girl (sorry babe! its true though!), but he enjoyed it and after the instructor showed him how to land in a “touch and go” at the beaufort airport, we turned around and Ben flew us back to HH and landed, all by himself, at the Hilton Head Airport!! Boy, that was the BEST way to start out our last week before our anniversary vacation! This happened on Sunday, May 23, an dBen’s mom arrived into town with her neice, Melissa, on May 26. The kids were so excited to see Grandma! She always brings tons of goodies and gifts for the kids! She brought a lot of really pretty dresses for Layla, and some nice clothes for Reilley as well. I loved the dresses, and was very excited to receive them because I needed to find dresses for Layla to wear this summer for my brother, Jacob’s wedding in August. Little did I know though, that one of the dresses and a nice outfit she bought for Reilley were secret outfits planned for another wedding ceremony that I was unaware we were having!
Let me give a little history here. In December, when we were in Pittsburgh for Ben’s Aunt Wendy’s funeral, we went to one of the malls to take the kids to the play area and there was a big fancy jewelry store that was having a going out of business sale when we were there. Bailey, Banks and Biddle. I remember taking the kids to the play area and Ben decided to peruse the BBB shop for any great deals. He came back telling me that it was all still way too much for our budget. Which I figured, and I honestly wasn’t anticipating or expecting him to actually buy anything. Fast forward a few days, and Ben is driving us (the kids, myself and his mom) around town on one of him never ending, chat filled, windy drives through pittsburgh, and the kids had fallen asleep so he announces that he wants to stop by the mall to pick up something he saw. So we get to the mall, and since the kids are sleeping, I’m the lucky one who gets to sit in the car for 45 minutes while Ben and Sharon head in for the undisclosed item at an undisclosed store. When they return, and with no bags, boxes or receipts in sight, I’m hungry, hot, cramped and irritated, as i’m sure he planned. 
He informs me that I’m not allowed to look at the credit card bill for the next few months. He told me not to ask about the purchase, not to look into any receipts or bank accounts or statements, and that i’ll know when i need to know about the purchase. I tried not to ask, but of course over the next few months i had to ask a few times, only to be shut down and every time ben would get more and more irritated with me for asking!
Fast forward to May 28, the night before our anniversary, and I decide to ask again about the purchase, because i know that our anniversary is the next day and I still don’t know if I should be expecting a nice little velvet box with something pretty in it or not. I asked Ben about it, and he tells me he bought his mom a pair of earrings, the new ones she has been wearing the whole trip, and that I did actually notice them over the few days she had been here. This just made me mad, as Ben usually is good at doing right before he debuts his big surprises. He did it the night of our wedding when he surprised me with a trail of roses to our apartment after making me wait in the car for him for 45 minutes to tell me where we were staying the first night of our married life. He did it for my birthday one year when he surprised me by taking me and my neice and her husband to the Cypress restaurant for dinner in Charleston. He did it the day of our anniversary last year (#4) when he delivered me to a top notch spa in downtown Charleston, then picked me up with no kids in tow and took me to an old plantation for a tour, then on a private carriage ride through downtown and to dinner at a restaurant on the water. I know this is what he does, I expect it every year, i know whats coming, You’d think after 7 years of being together and all the surprises thush far I would have learned. But no. I fall right into his little tricks every time! But I know that’s what makes it that much more fun for him. Back to our recent anniversary. So, I’m upset because he has me believing that 6 months ago he purchased a pair of earrings (which happen to be MY birthstone, not hers!) for his mother and “didn’t tell me ” because he didnt want to make me mad. Then his mother plays along!! So, the night of the 28th (day before our anniversary), Sharon announces at dinner that she would like to go to charleston for the day (the 29th, our anniversary) and wants to see the Angel Oak. Okay. Not surprised. She always wants to go to Charleston when she comes to visit, which is great, I love Charleston. But it’s on our anniversary. And they’re playing the conversation a little scripted. Then “ring ring”, ben has to take a call…outside. … okay, now i’m thinking “Something’s fishy”. But i’m still believing the story about the earrings, and i’m still upset, but i’m working on getting over that. Skip ahead to the next morning. It’s our anniversary. I want to leave for Charleston at 10, so we can get there by lunch. But Ben has other plans, and tells his mom (without me knowing) that she needs to stall us so we don’t leave til 1115. So she “forgets” to plug in her curlers, and takes FOREVER to get ready. I’m up and ready by 9, irritated by the snails pace everyone else is taking, so I offer to leave to pick up some breakfast and make a stop by Wal Mart for a card, cause I forgot to get a card for ben. I know. I’m horrible. But I’ve been busy getting the house cleaned and taking care of kids and preparing for a trip!!! give me a break. haha. I get back with breakfast and am informed its going to be another hour before Sharon is ready. So i go outside with the kids to breathe and calm down and watch Ben wash the cars (his tactic for stalling as well). THEN, Ben realizes we are LATE!!! so he rushes everyone into the cars, and I get into Sharon’s car and drive myself and Missy (poor girl had to listen to me rant and rave the whole 2 hour drive there! SORRY MISSY!!), and Ben is leading in our car with Sharon and the kids. We get into the last leg of the trip to Charlston and I’m excited because we are almost there and i’m STARVING and i have to pee!!! then Ben turns down towards John’s Island…..towards the Angel Oak…which i’m not surprised…but i’m hungry. and he said we were going to eat downtown first!!! UGH! and i have to pee!! and i don’t know what we are doing!!!!! I am so type A, i like to have an agenda, a schedule, and stick to it, mostly. I’m a flexible type A. Unless I’m hungry. and have to pee. Then i’m just terrible. I admit it. I won’t lie. Anyway. We get to the Angel Oak, and i’m pretty irritated. and I have to pee. And Ben walks up to me and says “Surprise!” But I’m annoyed, and i’m like “i have to pee. I’m hungry. What. are. we. doing. here.” Ben- “Go inside and say hi to your family, they are here” Me “Where’s the bathroom” Ben- “you’re ridiculous” Me- “I know, let me pee then i’ll be better” So I walk into the little shop and there are my sister Kelly, her husband Richard and a few of their many children waiting for us. Hmmmm…what is going on?! and where’s my lunch!!
After i hit up the ladies’ room, i head back outside and see Sharon and Ben changing the kids into some of the pretty, dressy clothes Sharon had bought for the kids before coming to visit. Then Ben rips off my wedding rings and says “I need these”….uh..oooookay….He then leads me to the Angel Oak, and Richard whips out his pastors book and starts our own little wedding renewal ceremony. Awwwwww…..Ben starts crying, says his vows, I start crying, say my vows, people are staring (it was supposed to be just us, as Ben paid a lot of money to rent the area but i guess they didnt get the memo and there were tons of people there), then Reilley brings the little pillow with our rings on them. I put Ben’s ring on his finger, say my little thing, then Ben puts my rings on my finger….wait… I say “Those aren’t my rings!!” “SURPRISE!!!!” ……sooooooo….I was RIGHT. Ben DID buy me something from BBB in Pittsburgh! that sneaky sneaky man!!! You can check out pictures of all of this excitement on our facebook pages in the photos section http://www.facebook.com/#!/mauraprelich
So. that was just the beginning of a beautiful anniversary. The next morning, (sunday 30) we flew out of Savannah to head to Cancun and then to Isla Mujeres for our awesome, relaxing trip. It was just what we needed. A dream come true. We haven’t spent a night alone together away from the kids EVER. So this was a great time for us to reconnect, review and reevaluate our relationship and make our goals for the next year, 5 years, so on. You can see pictures from our trip to Isla on our facebook pages as well.
I have to say, everytime I look at pictures from our trip this year, I start to cry. It was just that amazing and beautiful. Now, back home, I can’t stop looking at my beautiful new wedding ring, dreaming about the amazing time we had in Isla, and the whole past couple of weeks. I am much more relaxed, much happier and feeling extremely blessed. Blessed that my husband cares so much for me to keep sweet secrets, even when I make it extremely difficult for him. Blessed that he has a great job that he can afford to take me on a vacation and buy me a new ring. Blessed that he is wiser today than he was when we first married, and that he has created an amazing budget for us, which has made it possible for all of these things to happen financially. Blessed to live on a beautiful island, which makes leaving our vacation in Isla Mujeres a LITTLE bit easier. Blessed that I can stay home with my kiddos and care for them, our home, and ultimately my wonderful husband. Blessed by the fact that my Lord, Jesus Christ loves me most of all and that He has made all of this possible in my life. I’m on cloud 9, and praying that when the storms come and we hit the inevitable bumpy roads in the coming years, that I will always be reminded of the amazing things that took place in the past couple of weeks.
