True Celebration

As some of you know, the Certified Financial Analyst (CFA) exam consists of three parts only offered once a year.  My husband found out a few weeks ago that he has now passed part #2. I am so proud of him. With everything else he is dedicated to, including but not limited to: a father, a husband, a community group leader, a committee leader for the men's retreat, his accountability group, and his demanding day job - he was able to find time to study and pass. This is truly a time for celebration.

Seeing that we had access to babysitters and one of the most charming mountain towns, I made reservations for David and I to have a date night to celebrate him and his hard work. We drove an hour to Breckenridge and enjoyed a stroll through the town. It was pleasantly and surprisingly quiet with the summer ending and children back in school. Some of my favorite things to do in Breckenridge are to wander through the many art galleries on main street, watch the water roll through the town at the base of the mountain, and eat good food. 

So, we enjoyed an unbelievably nice dinner at Hearthstone Restaurant, complete with a bottle of Pinot Noir from our favorite wine region, the Willamette Valley. It really doesn't get any better than that for us.

After grabbing Clint's coffee to go (love their Hazelnut Latte), we made our trek back to my parents house. We fell asleep only to wake up at 4:00am to a loud bang. I ran outside onto the 2nd floor balcony overlooking the driveway and noticed a large dark blob moving in the night. I immediately woke up David and we both peered out to see a bear making his way back into the dense forest. Hating ourselves for not having our camera ready, we were anxious to see the trash sprawled out the next morning as proof we were not dreaming. 

As God would have it, the very next night at 11:55pm, the bear returned. What can I say - my mom is a very good cook. :) This time, we were ready. We woke up everyone and this time all peered over the 2nd floor balcony for at least 30 minutes while the bear enjoyed the trash. It was a large bear. A very large bear. Here are just a few pictures that really do not do it justice of seeing a  bear face to face in the night, thankfully from a distance. 

I could not have planned anything more fun or special for my husband. I now pray that we won't ever see a bear again in person, except at a zoo.