Big plans

For Valentine's Day this year, Kelsea and I are going to see the Blue Man Group.  It's a big step up for us.  We live in a city of entertainment, but you have to be careful what entertainment you seek.  Normally for Valentine's Day, we try to avoid the rush of going out on the evening of February 14, and that's true this year as well, but mostly we end up going out for lunch, and maybe watch a movie at home.  We got seats just outside the splash zone. It will be good.

In high school, I remember the big thing for school dances was to go to a show on the strip.  I don't remember if Blue Man Group was around then, but that was the type of show that was popular.  A family-friendly show that was popular with multiple groups of people.  I never went to one.  They always seemed too expensive, and I didn't drive in high school.  Kelsea and I went to a magic show a year or so ago with free tickets I got for donating blood (I gave blood last month and only got a coupon for a free donut).  So this will be the first time we're going out to a nice show on Valentine's Day.  We're very excited.

Other big plans include a trip to Italy.  This plan is less concrete at the moment.
I actually renewed my passport a couple of years ago (just before it expired), and tried to get Kelsea to get one. She didn't want to pay the fee at the time, especially without any real plans to use the passport itself.  So it didn't happen despite my loving encouragement, and the fact that I actually got her to have a passport photo taken.

The church recently announced that a temple would be built in Rome Italy.  The announcement was actually in 2008, but then there wasn't really any news about it.  In October of 2010, though, the groundbreaking ceremony took place.  I found out then that any building project in Rome requires a serious site survey for Roman ruins.  If any were found, the temple project might have been delayed or rejected.  Fortunately, no ruins were found on the site.  As part of the news story, no completion date was given, but it was expected to be complete in 2012 (now expected to be 2013, still nothing official).  That's when I got the idea to go.

I mean, I always wanted to go back to Italy.  Of course.  It's an expensive trip, and with three kids now, the logistics are difficult.  But with the temple opening, I figured it would be a perfect opportunity to link our travel plans with a major event, some time in the future to allow us to figure out all those issues.  I'm excited to go see some of the areas I lived in, and to see Rome as well.  It will be fun to take Kelsea to some of the amazing places in Italy.  I don't think we'll be taking the kids.  Holly might be old enough to appreciate it (Mia maybe too), but I don't know if we'll be able to afford that.  Without the kids, it will be like a second honeymoon, too.  Awesome.