First Date

Eleven summers ago I met a cute boy at a wedding. His name was Steve, and he asked me if I would consider going on a date with him.

I said yes, and the rest is history. 

This summer we decided to take the boys on our first date, to show them where it all began.

Our first date, eleven years ago, lasted 14 hours and spanned the lakeshore from Silver Lake to Grand Haven. Over the course of a summer weekend, we tried to retrace our steps and reminisced along the way.

As we waited for our dune ride, our first stop was
Little Sable Point Lighthouse.
2001: Steve and I were just getting to know each other and walked slowly up to the lighthouse.
2012: Gibson and Elliott blasted up the sandy paths as we trailed behind, trying to catch up.

While we were at the dunes, we sat, took in the view and talked.

2001: We sat for quite some time talking about

 anything and everything.

2012: We sat just long enough to get a picture,

 before the boys wanted to try their hand at dune jumping.

Still waiting for our dune ride, we decided to play 

a round of mini golf.

2001: Steve and I placed a bet on the winner of the round.

 The loser had to make dinner for the winner.  

{first sign the date was going well...mention of a second date*}

Steve won... I made dinner.

2012: Steve and I were more concerned with passing the 

swearing teenagers in front of us and quelling the mounting

competitiveness of our boys than placing a bet.The winner? who knows?

The time for our dune ride arrived.

2001: I pretended I was not nervous at all and acted cool as a cucumber as we blasted through the dunes.

2012: Was a little less composed as we tried to figure out the *rules of the dunes. Instead of worrying about how my hair was getting bigger by the moment, I was worrying about the boys getting whiplash and corneal abrasions from massive amounts of flying sand. 

{*Hint- there are NONE}

After our dune rides, Steve treated me to a twist cone.

2001: This ice cream cone was the only food stop on our 14 hour date, and I was STARVING.

2012: Steve now has many years of 1st hand knowledge of the result

of  not feeding me often, and he scheduled in a stop for some real food.

The final stop of our date took us to the end of the north pier in Grand Haven.

2001: I knew that Steve could be the one for me as he prayed at the end of the pier and said hello to the lone fisherman on the pier at midnight.

2012: As Steve prayed at the end of the pier for the next eleven years, I was ever more thankful that he is the one that God chose for me.

In the wee hours of the morning Steve dropped me off at my college house.

2001: As a true gentleman, Steve walked me to the door, said thank you, and he walked away without kissing me.

2012: Steve walked me to where the door used to be and still didn't give me a kiss, explaining his first date rules to the boys.

Sixteen months after our first date this handsome man became my husband,

and eleven years later we were lucky enough to go on our first date all over again, this time with two handsome boys in tow.

Outtakes

{all of the fun things we didn't do on our first date}

We climbed the lighthouse and took in the beautiful view on a very windy day.

We climbed down and received a sticker to mark our accomplishment.

The boys hitched a ride in a authentic dune buggy.

And, we each took a turn dune jumping.