5th Anniversary - Nordeast Style

Jesse and I just celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. We've actually been together for 8.5 years so sometimes it seems silly to say we are celebrating 5 years. I want credit for those extra 3.5 years - they were some pretty awesome years.

Our anniversary was on the Monday after Easter so it was pretty low key... like any other Monday. We decided to delay our 'celebration' until the next weekend when Grandma and Grandpa were able to take Riley for an overnight. After a little research, we discovered that the traditional 5th wedding anniversary gift is wood. Initially, we thought we might go on a nature hike together as it was something we used to do more often pre-kid (and sort of 'woody'). I also realized that we had to go over to our rental property to do some spring maintenance before we left for our trip in a couple weeks. Jesse then suggested we spend our day doing things that we did when we were dating. I know it doesn't sound very romantic to spend part of the day changing furnace filters, and fire detector batteries at the rental property, but that's where I lived when I met Jesse and after a year of dating he moved in with me so that house was a big part of our early years.

But first, after dropping Riley off at her grandparents, we went to eat at Whiteys. This was my favorite restaurant when I lived in NE Minneapolis and am ashamed to say I haven't been there in years. Whitey's doesn't look like much, but they have really good food. Their burgers are my favorite and Jesse says that they have the best pulled pork. I love that they offer fresh fruit with their meals and it's always really fresh and tasty all year round.

Luckily, our rental maintenance time didn't take too long so we headed off on the next leg of our date. NE Minneapolis has a really great walking/biking path around the river. I've spent a lot of time on that path and miss it so. From my rental we headed through the neighborhood that Whitey's is in (so many new restaurants since I lived here!) and towards the Stone Arch Bridge.

Jesse took this picture in 2006. He needs to start taking more pictures again.

Jesse brought the good camera along and the tripod. I assumed he wanted to get some good pictures of the river (he likes taking landscape pictures while I take pictures of people usually). Turns out he carried that tripod for the sole purpose of getting a picture of the two of us. Ahh, he's so cute. Oh, and that's him holding up 5 fingers below for 5 years, of course.

As we continued across the river we noticed a lot of people decked out for prom. I assume it was prom even though it was only 2 in the afternoon. It was fun to see all the different styles and photo shoots going on.

We looped back over the Hennepin Avenue Bridge and then under it and across Nicollet Island and Boom Island and then cut across back to the rental where our car was. Along the way we reminisced about many of our dating moments. Like how we went to Pracna's on our second date and then walked across the Stone Arch Bridge where we held hands for the first time. Or when we used to go to the outdoor concerts at the Mill City Museum. We talked about the many different paths we would take and Jesse's favorite running route... We both talked about how much we miss the neighborhoods (seriously, the food options alone make this a great place to live), but we also agreed that we love our house now and won't be moving back here anytime soon. We do have to make it a bigger priority to check out some of these new restaurants that moved in since we moved away.

Edit: How could I forget to mention the naked screaming guy? Before we got to the Hennepin Avenue bridge we noticed a couple cops scaling a rocky hillside where there was a naked guy screaming. Oh Minneapolis, how I've missed you.

We talked about when we took that photography composition course and took pictures on Nicollet Island like the one above. 

Jesse took this picture on 4/21/06 which is sort of funny because our anniversary is 4/21/09

We talked about our favorite houses on the Island and how peaceful it seems there compared to our old neighborhood.

One of my favorite photos Jesse took of this area in 2007

One of my bus stops when I lived in this hood.

After we left NE Minneapolis, we  thought about picking up some sherbet to eat while watching a movie (it's what we used to do), but decided to make a stop at the new Yogurt Lab near our house. Close enough to feel like we were reliving that part of our dating experience.

We ended the night with a movie (Wolf of Wallstreet) and a decent night sleep. I even got to sleep in to 7 am. Haha... not quite the sleep in I would have had back in the dating days, but still a pretty luxurious feeling. All in all, it was a wonderful day.