We had a pretty fantastic Friday! Karl came over for the first time in at least a million months (he’s been busy working so hard)! I’m happy to say that Kaya is officially over the “stranger danger” phase, because although she didn’t remember Uncle Karl, she fell in love with him again pretty quickly. She kept “asking” him to help her stand up! Michael kept teasing about having some sort of surprise date night in honor of our anniversary. As usual, he didn’t disappoint- he took me out to the best Greek food in town. Mmmmmm. If I ever make it back to Europe, revisiting Greece is at the top of my list.

The next part of the date was a complete shock- he drove to our Institute director’s house and we left Kaya with his family! It was the first time we’ve had a date without her… which was strange at first, but it let us relax a little more. We had a great time just joking around without worrying about pacifying a sleepy baby! (Of course, we had to go to Dairy Queen. It’s not a real date if you don’t.)After ice cream, Michael surprised me again by bringing me back to the very place where we both realized we’d marry each other. We sat under the same little tree (well, we at least tried to pick the same one) as nearly 5 years ago now and just talked.I loved having some special time with my buddy to just reflect on the past few years. Thanks for the fun night, pal!