It’s been 4 years of absolute joy with Paul. Every day with him is a little adventure. He’s the most supportive, smartest, generous, kindest, and of course, handsome person I know. :) Am I laying it on a little thick today? I can’t help it. We’ve had the most wonderful time this past week, celebrating our 4th wedding anniversary and I wish we could relive it all over again. But like all good things, they must come to an end. Unless you have photos!! :)

To start off our week of celebration, Paul and I went to the Mary Poppins Broadway Musical at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre last Tuesday. My goodness. I could barely contain myself with excitement. If you know me, then you know I have a profound love for all things Disney. And if you really know me, then you know I have an enormous love for the practically perfect Mary Poppins. And to tell you the truth, my love for her didn’t really begin until March 2014 when I saw Saving Mr. Banks. (If you have not seen it, please stop reading right now and go rent it, buy it, or whatever. Just see it. Then feel free to email me and chat away about all the wonderful goodness of that movie.) It was like a whole new world was opened for me. I bought all the Mary Poppins books (yes, there’s 4 books and only 3 were used to create the Disney movie), cried when I finished them because really, all good children never want Mary Poppins to leave, and then when I saw the commercial for the musical, I immediately bought the tickets for our anniversary.

Finally, Tuesday got here and we were both dressed up, ready to attend our first musical at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre. When we arrived and gave our tickets to the hostess, even she was excited about our seats – front and center, unable to miss anything from the performance! Hurray!! (The photo of the moon is our view from our seats. Lovely!!) We ordered dinner (wild rice stuffed chicken for me, grilled sirloin for him), clinked wine glasses and cheered our four years, and enjoyed an incredibly magical night  together. I don’t think I stopped smiling once throughout the entire performance. I cried as soon as they played Chim Chim Cher-ee, Feed the Birds, even Step in Time. I loved everything about it. Mary Poppins, the actress, was absolutely fabulous. Nose in air, rosy cheeks, blue overcoat, carpet bag – practically perfect in every way. It was one of my favorite nights to date. During intermission, the waitress brought out more wine and a hot fudge sundae. Perfection. :)

Our actual anniversary, the 15th, was a pretty normal day with the exception of a legit chess game before bed, and re-watching our wedding video that my Uncle was so wonderful to record. (Someday we’re going to renew our vows and throw another awesome extravaganza. The Tarantella will be played and there will be another Michael Jackson dance-off.)

On Friday, the real vacation began. Paul came home from work, we left Rusty with our wonderful neighbors, and then began the 2 1/2 hour journey down to Lanesboro for a quiet, no-plans getaway. Ahhhh. Bliss.

I made sure to document the trip as much as I could because I knew you friends would love it. Driving into Lanesboro (about 30 miles South of Rochester) was like a scene from a postcard. It was at sunset, the trees were crimson red, bright orange, golden yellow, the river was flowing right through the little town that was swallowed by bluffs. Gorgeous. We picked Lanesboro because a. When I was little, my parents took us South to visit Amish Country (Harmony, MN) and it seemed quaint back then and b. We’ve been to Duluth enough so we wanted to try something new!

So, welcome to the cutest little town in Southern Minnesota. :)

We stayed at Mrs. B’s Historic Inn. Highly recommend it if you’re ever in the area. Matthew & Trish are super nice and the entire stay was really a wonderful, quiet, vacation.

We chose the Garden Room. It had lovely views of the bluffs, the colors, the river, and the inn’s garden. The electric stove was perfect on those chilly nights. And the desk was perfect for documenting our little getaway. :)

The windows were so tall and GORGEOUS! Loved our view in the morning.

On our way to the Farmer’s Market – I had to take photos of the leaves!! :)

Yes, a shameless bathroom selfie.

We did good at the Farmer’s Market. We came back with banana bread, apple bread, goat milk soap (the inn had goat milk soap and I LOVED it so we bought some for our house), chapstick for Paul, and garden salsa.

After having dinner Saturday night at Pedal Pusher’s Café (you’ll see that soon), we stopped at the Lanesboro Art for a watercolor artist’s reception – it was one of my favorite moments of our trip! :)

Downtown at sunset. :)

Another Time Ice-Cream Parlor – delicious ice-cream and fudge! :)

We had lunch at this 1920’s diner on Saturday and absolutely loved it. 

Instead of taking the guided Amish Country tour, we decided to drive towards Harmony and find Amish stands on our own. We did and loved it. We ended up picking up some jam, pies, more bread, and pumpkins and gourds. 

Before the sun went completely down on Saturday, we took a little walk. :)

We saw the geese…

…crossed the bridge…

…walked on crispy, leaf paths…

…watched the river…

…and then made it back to our (new) favorite spot, Pedal Pusher’s Café for dinner. 

On Sunday, our last morning, we managed to wake up and drive up the bluffs at sunrise which I am so thankful for, especially after looking at the photos. :)

Downtown & Mrs. B’s at sunrise.

The drive up the bluffs…

Good morning. :)

And then we stopped and just soaked it in. 

My goodness, friends. This was so wonderful. 

Have you seen Pride & Prejudice (Keira Knightley version)?? Does this not make your heart pitter-patter?

Hundreds of cows, speckling bluff country’s rolling hills.

My favorite. I’m thinking I might even make this into a print to sell – what do you think??

So friends, that was year 4 of our wonderful marriage. So much has happened in these four years – I can’t wait to see what the next few years have in store for us. :) Thanks for all the wonderful words on Facebook (you know who you are :)) and cheers to a week that’s almost halfway done!! :) xoxoxo