The time after Mitch arrived was full of new adventures for us both. We were working hard building our careers, but we were building great memories, too. We started to create traditions, like finding our favorite Indian restaurant, Mother India, where we go on special occasions, and local businesses we frequent, like Brea Bead Works, where we've made good friends through the years. We also began to explore some of the great attractions Southern California has to offer.We had our first visit to Disneyland together in 2000, a visit that included Mitch's first ride on a roller coaster (the Matterhorn- and for the record, Susan is much braver than Mitch when it comes to roller coasters). A later trip saw our first, and last, ride on Splash Mountain (that drop at the end is a doozy!).
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| Yes, that's the two of us in the back of the boat. We're both completely terrified on the final Splash Mountain drop at Disneyland. |
While we've been back to Disneyland a couple of times since, another place we first visited during this time has become almost a home away from home for us, the San Diego Zoo. Our first visit together was on a cold and rainy Valentine's Day in 2001, and it would be impossible to count how many times we've been back. We cannot wait to come to the Zoo as parents and see which animals our child likes the most.
In between visits to the Zoo, we took trips to Santa Barbara and Las Vegas, and began to visit the museums of Los Angeles, such as the Getty Center, the Natural History Museum and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. On each of these trips, there was always the thought that someday we would be doing these activities as a family.
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| Taking a break in the garden on an early trip to the Getty Center. |
Another long-time tradition started when some good friends introduced us to the LA Times Festival of Books. Held every Spring at an LA area university, the Festival brings together authors, publishers, booksellers and readers from across the nation in a two day celebration of the written word. We've gone almost every year since we learned about it, and 2012 marks the fourth year Mitch has volunteered to help run one of the panel discussion rooms. We've seen some great authors speak, gotten a few autographs, discovered interesting new books, and made some fun memories. That said, we know the best times are yet to come, when we can explore the many offerings of the children's area of the festival with our little one.
In 2006, we took our first trip together to the UK. Susan has some dear friends there, and while she'd been there many times before, being able to visit them together helped to bring our relationship even closer. We rode the London Eye, we visited the British Museum and the National Gallery, and even saw the Roman ruins in Bath. It was another wonderful experience that we added to our life together.
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| Mitch posing proudly at the entrance to the British Museum. |
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| Susan enjoying Trafalgar Square outside the National Gallery in London. You can see Big Ben in the distance. |
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| We went on a boat trip from Greenwich past the Millennium Dome and out to the Thames Barrier. It was cold and windy, but worth it! |
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| Mitch was delighted to see Roman ruins in Bath. |
During these years, we had good times, we formed wonderful memories, and we found places to go and things to do that we're looking forward to sharing with our child. We had done all this feeling that we had all the time in the world. But by late 2006, we had started to think about the next step. What did we want the next part of our life together to be like?
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| In May 2007 Mitch asked Susan to marry him and she said yes. Yay!!! |
In May 2007, Mitch proposed to Susan. We had lived as two people in a committed relationship, but we hadn't really combined our lives as one. The time had come to do just that and to move into the future as a family.
(Looking for the rest of the story? Here's part 1 and part 3.)
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