Our Zämäd Azmad: 10 Years Already?

Michael and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary this year... on April 10th. Wow! The years have brought about so many changes, celebrations and joy. Our little family of 3 took time out of our business to enjoy our anniversary in Rio. No, not the hot spot that "Rio" brings to mind - but rather "Rye-oh" a small town near the Wisconsin Dells. Glad we quickly learned how to pronounce our vacation destination when we called for directions in order to get from Rio to Pardeeville (definitely pronounce Party-Ville), where we had dinner reservations our first night.

The picture below shows the Bed and Breakfast that we stayed at in Rio, the Mill House B&B. The host, Lisa, was wonderful. Mehandis quickly became enamored with Lisa since she not only shares the name of the little girl from "Corduroy" but she also made him decadent whipped cream topped breakfasts. The fact that her cat did not run away from Mehandis, like Chewy does, also was amazing to Mehandis.

We took a very chilly hike in a local state park. Mehandis enjoyed finding walking sticks, moss and puddles. Soon after the photos below our little hiker had mud covered pants, hands and shoes. We strongly encouraged him to walk it off until the mud dried some, prior to putting him into Michael's back pack carrier! Thank goodness for the offerings of the laundry facilities back at the B&B.

We took our mud-encrusted family to the fine establishment of Hooty's. No not the renowned wing establishment of Hooters. Michael and I have gone to Hooty's a number of times when we have cross country skied in the area, good salad bar but you really want fries and a good beverage when you land at Hooty's. Michael and Mehandis took their turns enjoying the Saturday Night Fever dance floor as I put quarters in the juke box to play Poison, Bon Jovi and other respectable '80's bands.

Back at the B&B we got to enjoy using the golf cart to explore some of their 40 acres. Mehandis was a little nervous about his role of steering.

Somehow his pants grew during the trip and kept falling down to his knees. Too many calories burned while hiking and dancing I suppose?

Cute photo opp's on the couch...

Lisa, our host, previously catered and really knows how to create a special dinner. She moved a table into the living room so we could enjoy a meal in front of the fire for the evening of our anniversary. She cautioned that there would be 5 courses but she would pace it right for a 2 year old. And guess what... it worked. Thank you Lisa and Mehandis!

We did take a pause before our second dessert to put Mehandis down... then enjoyed some chocolate fondue and champagne to ourselves. A very similar meal that we enjoyed the night of our wedding.