An Anniversary, A Museum, and the End of 2011

Please don't think that the flurry of blog entries this past week mean anything more than a greater amount of free time than usual. No resolutions on my agenda this year. Last year I worked myself up for a few, but I guess my heart really wasn't in them. I still can't play Hungarian Rhapsody, but I have played the piano more this year than I have in... many years put together. I may have to admit that an actual backbend just isn't in my future, but my back is in better shape than it has been for a while. Still not where I would like to be, but headed in the right direction. My third resolution had something to do with mileage walked and biked. I'm pretty sure I made that happen, but I stopped keeping track a few months into the year.

Hubby and I spent a couple of days celebrating our anniversary in Wichita, the city where we spent our very first night as a married couple twenty-one years ago. We enjoyed unseasonably warm weather this round. Twenty-one years ago, the high was 8 degrees and the low was 3 below. It was a cold day for warm hearts, or something like that. 

We went to the Museum of World Treasures, which is one of my favorite museums in Kansas. We had lunch at Red Lobster, also in memory of our honeymoon night. 

We picked a much nicer hotel this round, however. The Downtown Inn, as it was called then, is now a completely remodeled Holiday Inn, but the memories of the place are still enough to give me nightmares. Our plan the day of our wedding had been to drive all the way back to Lawrence, where we were living at the time, but a relative gave us the gift of cash and we decided, at the last minute, to treat ourselves to an overnight stay in Wichita. There was some sort of convention going on, however, and we could not get a room anywhere. We ended up at the Downtown Inn where, I kid you not, they wanted to know if we were interested in the hourly rate. It was truly the worst place I have ever stayed. Ah, the memories... 

Twenty-one years later, we are older and wiser.

Rand at the Museum of World Treasures.

The Buddha Room is my favorite. 

Right now, quite honestly, I'm just trying to keep myself awake to ring in the new year with my kids. I don't want to be that old person who can't stay up till midnight. So far we've tried out a new board game with the grandparents and we taught the kids to play Call-for-your-partner Pitch. My children have returned, so I shall see what they have planned to entertain me for the next couple of hours. 

Goodbye 2011; Hello 2012.