5 MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF OUR 5 YEARS TOGETHER

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May 10

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CELEBRATING OUR 5 YEAR ANNIVERSARY ON MAY 5, 2017

5 MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF OUR 5 YEARS TOGETHER

1.Honeymoon

Our honeymoon would have to take first place. It was not your typical 1-2 week honeymoon to the Bahamas; it was a full 6-month journey of exploring and traveling the world. I know some people think we were crazy, but this is what we both really wanted. Our wedding day flew by, although it was a fun (maybe stressful) day, we were really eager to hit the road and start our life together. We invested a lot more into our honeymoon rather than our wedding. Only thing that we invested about 1/3 of our wedding budget was our wedding photographer. As I am crazy about photos and good memories, I never regret a day of doing that. Many might think its silly and not the wisest choice, but this is something that Ruslan and I wanted to do together practically since the moment we met. Looking back, these are the best decisions and investments into our marriage that we could have done. No regrets! In the future, I plan to share more of our honeymoon travels, but for now, I will give you the basics. I sincerely apologize for the picture quality for a lot of these are iPhone photos.

We traveled to Portland, OR ——> Vancouver BC, Canada ——>Back to Florida ——> Punta Cana, Dominican Republic ——> Florida ---- Ukraine ——> 23 different countries in Europe —> Back home to Florida.

In a six-month period, we visited and explored a total of 25 countries! Our entire trip starting from the day after the wedding and cost us a total of $18,000. No, we didn’t stay in 5-star resorts the entire time, but it was such a fun experience staying in different kinds of hotels, friends' houses, hostels and sometimes we even slept in the car. We used all forms of transportation including cars, mopeds, boats, trains and planes (and a lot of walking)! It was an unforgettable experience and worth every single penny. I will talk about what countries, what we did, where and whom we stayed with, why such long trip, our budget and so many other details in future blog posts. But this is definitely our first and one of our favorite memories together.

2. GETTING OUR OWN PLACE

We did not have our own living space for the first two years of our married life. We decided since we wanted to travel a lot we would live with my sister in law, and we are so thankful that we were able to do that. Our room was very big, included our own private bathroom and walk-in closet. It was an ideal living situation at the time and we were happy just to be with each other at the end of the day. While we lived with family, we saved up for the next two summers of Europe trips consisting of 3 months each. It was a lot of fun and was exciting but after two years we decided to get our own apartment and settle down a bit. It felt as if we just got married and I was finally able to open up and use all the gifts from the bridal shower and wedding. It was the month of November and I will never forget our first apartment where a lot of great memories took place. Now, we had a place that we could call home and we had so much fun picking out furniture and other tidbits.

3. HAVING A BABY

After traveling a lot in the first few years of marriage and then getting our own space, we decided it was time to expand our little family. So, the next most heartfelt memory we had was having a baby. It is the most life-changing event of our lives as well! Often times people say life changes after you get married, for us, life changed drastically when we brought a little human into this world that we were completely responsible for! It was quite stressful and difficult because we were accustomed to our free lifestyle, doing whatever we wanted. Lucas came into this world on our 3^rd year of marriage. Things definitely changed, but we love him wouldn’t trade him for the world. He is growing quite amazingly into the sweetest little man. Recently, we celebrated his 2nd birthday and we are loving this boy more and more every day.

4. CROSS COUNTRY ROAD TRIPS

When Lucas was only 6 weeks old, we hopped in the car and drove across the country for my brother’s wedding. Even though we were a bit worried of how Lucas would handle the road trip; the road trip didn’t scare us since we have done so many in the past.The trip turned out amazing and enjoyable. Lucas did great and we were able to the U.S. We stopped by to visit our friends along the way in different states and arrived at our final destination (Portland, Oregon) in two weeks. We loved the trip so much that we did it again the following year with a toddler! I was able to book a couple of weddings along the way and we made a whole 2-month trip out of it. Some people call us crazy and would never road trip with their babies/toddlers but we truly enjoyed it and mainly loved spending the time together as a family. The road is long but the memories are always well worth the drive. How you ever traveled with a baby/toddler? How did that turn out for you?

5. FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY TRIP GETAWAY

Our most recent memorable moment was our first romantic getaway since Lucas was born. We went to Clearwater, Florida. Just the two of us, just like in the old days. We really needed that time to just be together, I believe all couples need a few days to be childfree and reconnect with each other. We stayed at the Wyndham Grand Clearwater, a brand new resort right at the beach. We had an incredible room with a gorgeous view! It was so nice to relax and rejuvenate the mind, body, and soul. Even though the trip was short and nothing extraordinary, we loved being together and lounging by the pool without having to worry about changing a diaper or nap times. :) The trip turned out much better than anticipated and we are so thankful we had the opportunity to go. Sometimes it is the little moments that take up the most space in our h.rts..