surprise! we're in the middle of new jersey?!

on sunday, my dearest blonde

~~boyfriend~~

fiancee

(it's still fun to say that, and it will be for the next 350ish days...but who's counting!)

said he had a surprise for me,

so after church (which included my getting to sit in on his sunday school class of 4th graders that he taught,

which was inevitably amazing because 1. devin is great with kids, and 2. he was so inspiring as he explained obedience per philippians 2's description)

we headed off in his car towards center city, philadelphia,

where my guesses ranged from a picnic by kelly drive to a phillies game, but once we crossed the bridge into new jersey, my guess of a beach trip was met with his logical reply:

"would i have taken you to the beach in just a dress, without you bringing your bathing suit?"

impeccable reasoning, i thought.

so i only guessed the beach 2 more times.

while we drove through the heartland of jersey, i was honestly stumped. no idea where we were going...

...and then we ended up at the jersey shore, with the magnificent salty air and ocean wind gently accosting us. it was marvelous.

and i was COMPLETELY surprised.

he had had my sister, lisa, pack a "beach bag" for me while i was still on la vida, so that directly after church, he could drive the bewildered me to the beach with all necessary provisions already carefully stored in his trunk.

we laid in the sun-warmed sand, walked along the coast with refreshing waves splashing at our feet, and picked up shells that we ended up leaving in their natural habitat. we built a sand castle town resort city that was actually a two-room walled structure, abandoned when we got bored and wanted to go back to the water's edge.