We're still "Dating"!

Spring is fantastic. Mark and I have been taking severe advantage of mother nature lately. We have found ourselves heading to Forest Park twice since this beautiful weather arrived. Last week, we celebrated our 32-month anniversary. I know, what kind of couple celebrates their 32nd month anniversary? Of course we do!! We celebrate the 13th of every month, not just July :) To mark this specific month, Mark took me out on a date. Ever notice when you get real comfortable in your relationship and there is a tendency to get caught up in work and to-do lists (not the fun kind I'm always blogging about, the never-ending-do-I-really-hafta-? kind.) or doing a lot of "group things" with friends and family? So, as happy as Mark and I are, and we are pretty stinkin' happy, we decided we needed to have more fun just the two of us. Enjoy our time a little differently. We don't want to stop "dating" each other just because we've decided to spend our lives together. Mark said to me "I want to take you out and show the world you're mine." Sounds pretty perfect to me! So, since my favorite place in St. Louis is Forest Park, we've been spending a lot of time there lately.

Anyways, back to last week. Mark heard about a couple of "married" owls that have lived in the park for several years now and they had two owlets. Apparently, this was a BIG deal, because when we got there we arrived to a hefty swarm of people with their cameras aimed at the trees... and you can bet we joined right in! Afterwards, we trailed over to The Great Basin for a picnic right up next to the water and dined to the sunset; snuggling and being all sweet and sappy until the park closed. It was perfect. (Photos are on my Facebook)

We ventured back last night. It was a beautiful night. Perfect weather. I'll post the photos here instead of Facebook, this time:

This little bird we just happened to walk past.

We went to the History Museum (our favorite) to see the Mammoth & Mastodon exhibit.

Cameras are not allowed inside the actual exhibit, so we took a few snappies of Mr. Mastodon on display in the lobby.

The exhibit was actually quite fantastic. Very informative, and incredibly interesting. Mark and I even wrestled with tusks LOL :) He won, but only because my mastodon was handicap and had only one tusk and because he cheated and turned his mastodon's head upside down - which only a demon possessed mastodon would have been able to do in real life. 

I had packed us dinner as well this time, and once the museum closed we ventured back to the car to grab our dinner and then walked a little ways until we found the perfect spot to settle.

Spring trees at night. (Next to the History Museum)

The back entrance of the museum all lit up. Just beautiful :)

 

We found the sweetest place for a picnic, right near a pathway through the park.

 I made super yummy Southwest Kickin' Chicken (Thanks to my friend Kendra, who introduced me to the most amazing chicken spice I have ever had & now always keep in stock!!!)

 

He insisted (because I always insist I photograph him)

And, last but certainly not least, I will end this post with a photograph of the beautiful scene we sat in front of while we enjoyed the last several moments of our date night. Forest Park really is lovely, especially at night.