Count down...from Dubai to Brazil

Let the count down begin! The new year always holds new adventures and exciting possibilities for our family, especially because our favorite oldest daughter was born just two months into the new year.
Therefore things always start off with a bang.

This year the 6 year old traveler wants to return to her roots and go back to Kiawah Island for her 7th birthday (where she spent her fifth birthday). She loved the luxury, the food, the beach. Now she wants to indulge in the spa and the new shopping centers they have added since we lasted visited. What she does not know is while there she will get to enjoy the Pirate and the Princess by Disney (shhh, it's a surprise). A show she has been dying to go to for nearly six months. We will cap it all off with a visit to her Mimi's house. Oh what fun!

But this year is a highly anticipated year for more reasons than just the fact that the 6 year old traveler will be turning 7 in style. This year also marks our ten year wedding anniversary. Now, because I love to celebrate, I have foreshadowed the coming of  this day (in various posts) for quite sometime. We talked about our ten year dating anniversary, our ten year engagement anniversary and our 7 year wedding anniversary (completion and fulfillment). Yet, all the prior conversations were always just a practice run, warming me up for the event I have been planning since my new husband and I left our reception at the iconic Charlotte Motor Speedway on the night of June 27th, 2004.

I knew then that I would have to find some way to re-capture at least a snippet of the bliss we felt on that precious day. And ever since that moment I have planned and wondered how we would make our ten year anniversary special. Would we renew our vows? Would we jump out of plane? Would we have another child? What on earth could we do that would be as special as the day he sang to me, "The Closer I get to You" with over 250 guests gazing on at us teary eyed at the spectacle of new love...

I finally came to the conclusion that we could do nothing more special. We could never re-capture that moment nor did we need to. It was ever seared into our hearts and minds. And the fact that we love each other much more now than on that special day is really all the celebration we really need.

With that said, being who we are, we could not let the day pass with just dinner and flowers. So we decided that we would do something special after all. We were going to spend our anniversary doing one of our favorite hobbies-traveling. We recently decided that we would pick up our journey in South America (making this our 4th continent. We plan to see all 7 before we die). It had always been our plan to go to Brazil and see the Christ, but we modified those plans to go to Dubai and Abu Dhabi instead (2013). We are glad we made the detour because it was our most decadent trip to date. However, now it is time to realize our dream of standing at the foot of Christ the Redeemer. We may even commemorate the event by exchanging our vows again at Christ's feet. What better way to begin the next decade of our lives together?

Once we reach our anniversary a few months later one more huge milestone awaits - I turn 35. Surprisingly I am not at all depressed about it, although when I was 16, I remember trying to imagine what 35 would be like and could not even fathom it. I never thought that approaching 35 I would be this young or this smart or this full of life.

So once again the count down begins. This just may be the most special count down yet. Follow us as we live life to the fullest and make dreams come true...Brazil here we come!

Stay tuned for count down to the dress on Examiner.com!