Anniversaries

Our Anniversary Celebrations

Several years have gone by since our marriage and we treasure each anniversary and thank the Lord for each other. We have enjoyed celebrating our anniversary over a special dinner on each June 3rd.

In 2001, we took our Venezuelan pastor and his wife out to Bern's Steakhouse in Tampa, Florida. What a special night!
In 2002, we ate at our favorite restaurant, Victoria and Albert's, at the Grand Floridian Hotel.
In 2003, we dined on top of CK's revolving rooftop restaurant, Marsha's fabulous choice.
In 2004, we dined at Restaurant Bonaparte in Montreal, Canada during a 5-day vacation trip.
In 2005, we invited our close friends, Tracy & Denise, to dine at luxurious Victoria and Albert's.
In 2006, we ate at the elegant restaurant of the hotel Medeo in Kostanay, Kazakhstan.
In 2007, we dined by the ocean at Ferraro's Ristorante at the Four Seasons Hotel in Maui.
In 2008, we ate at one of our favorites, Bern's Steakhouse in Tampa, Florida. However, we also decided to celebrate our Anniversary at the Ritz-Carlton in Naples, FL at The Grill.
In 2009, we tried a new place and enjoyed dinner at Fleming's Prime Steakhouse in Tampa.
In 2010, we traveled to Grand Cayman Island and had dinner at Westin hotel's Casa Havana.
In 2011, we traveled to Cuba for missionary work and enjoyed a Delta cookie biscuit together.
In 2012, we were treated to an all-you-can-eat meal at Texas de Brazil in Tampa by Margaret.
In 2013, we dined at two fine restaurants in NYC: Oceana and La Grenouille (Frog Legs).
In 2014, we enjoyed seafood and steak with a beautiful sunset at Oystercatchers in Tampa.
In 2015, we enjoyed an oceanfront dining experience at Orchids outside the Halekulani hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii, with our friends Paul and Pauline Lai.
In 2016, we enjoyed two celebrations: In Tampa at Bern's Steakhouse, and in NYC at Bull & Bear restaurant inside the grand Waldorf Astoria hotel.
In 2017, we enjoyed dinner at Tampa's Oystercatchers, one of Marsha's favorite places.
In 2018, we vacationed on the Hawaiian island of Maui, and we enjoyed dinner with our friends Paul and Pauline Lai and one of their two daughters.
In 2019, we enjoyed fine dining at one of our favorite celebration restaraunts: Bern's Steakhouse, in Tampa, Florida.
In 2020, we went to a safe, elegant place for our first dinner-out after COVID-19 restrictions started 3 months earlier: Bern's Steakhouse, in Tampa, Florida.
In 2021, we vacationed on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, and we enjoyed an early celebration with our friends Paul and Pauline Lai at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and ate at BLT Steakhouse in Honolulu on our anniversary.
In 2022, we did not have time to celebrate. On the heels of suddenly moving my mom out of her apartment and relocating her to an ALF, I then flew out to Africa (on morning of June 3rd), while Marsha took care of things at home.
In 2023, we enjoyed dinner at Tampa's Oystercatchers, one of Marsha's favorite places.

Cutting the 1 year old defrosted cake for our 1 year anniversary	Doug & Marsha cutting the cake with Sigrid, Doug's mom.
Ian and Nora, our pastors in Venezuela, celebrating our 1 year anniversary at Bern's Steakhouse in Tampa, Florida	The dessert room of Bern's Steakhouse
In 2002, we celebrated our anniversary at our favorite restaurant, Victoria and Albert's, located in Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. This is the same hotel where we had our honeymoon!
CK's revolving restaurant at Tampa International Airport was Marsha's choice for our 3rd anniversary.	The dinner and atmosphere were fabulous. Marsha says it was one of the most fun things that she has ever done--especially since we could watch all the planes land and take off from TIA.
Using "Frequent Flier Miles" and some "Hilton HHonor Points" we took a trip to Montreal and ate at one of the finest restaurants in Canada and Montreal: Restaurant Bonaparte. (4th)	The dinner and atmosphere were fabulous. Marsha had a lobster and Doug had chicken for the main course, but each one was prepared in elegant French style. (4th anniversary)
Our 5th anniversary had to be special so we invited our friends Pastor Tracy & Denise Larson to join us at our special place: Victoria & Albert's!	The Grand Floridian Hotel in Disney World is elegant in every way! It is always a delight to visit the place where we had our honeymoon.
Our 6th anniversary was spent at the restaurant in hotel Medeo in Kostanay, Kazakhstan during our 5+ week trip to the country of Kazakhstan where we adopted a precious 6-year old boy, Dimitri. The artwork surrounding the place is magnificent.	This restaurant was a very fine place to eat and even had Caesar salad and good ice cream. It was a special place since we had agreed upon adopting Dimitri at this restaurant a week earlier.
Our 7th anniversary was spent in Hawaii on the beautiful Island of Maui (after playing golf on the Island of Molokai earlier in the day). We decided to spend the special evening at one of our favorite hotels, where we stayed as a couple in November of 2005.	We dined by the ocean at Ferraro's Ristorante at the Four Seasons Hotel in Maui. The restaurant served fine Italian food, most of which we could not read on the menu, but the close ocean view and sounds of the waves coupled with lighted torches made the evening extra special.
For our 8th anniversary, we ate at one of our favorite local restaurants, Bern's Steakhouse.	The restaurant is very fancy on the inside, and it serves some of the finest steaks around.
For our 8th anniversary, we also decided to celebrate with a night at the Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Florida and eat at their grand restaurant, The Grill.	The Grill restaurant had the best steak that we ever had!!! All the food was magnificent! It certainly was a great way to celebrate our 8th anniversary.
For our 9th anniversary, we checked out a new Restaurant that was rated highly by Zagat's Guide: Fleming's Prime Steakhouse.	Marsha enjoyed her fish while Doug enjoyed his steak.
For our 10th anniversary, we flew to Grand Cayman Island and ate at the 4-diamond restaurant at the Westin Casuarina hotel, called Casa Havana.	The food and service was excellent. The restaurant is located on one of the best beaches in the world: Seven Mile Beach. We appreciated our friends for looking after Dimitri so that we could finally have a celebration dinner while on Grand Cayman Island.
For our 11th anniversary, we flew to Cuba for missionary work and spent a week at a government sponsored home, run by a wonderful Christian couple. We did nothing fancy, but enjoyed a delicious cookie biscuit given to us specially by Delta Airlines on an earlier flight.	While in Ciego de Avila, Cuba, we made a special event out of the common transportation for Cubans in the area by taking a horse-and-buggy ride from our hotel/home to the District Office for the Assemblies of God, where we had a nice lunch.
For our 12th anniversary, we were treated by Margaret to an all-you-can-eat meal at Texas de Brazil in Tampa.	Several of the 15 different meats require that you use tongs to grab the meat as it is being cut. We also enjoyed the Lobster Bisque soup!
For our 13th anniversary, we traveled to NYC and enjoyed a fine dinner at Oceana, where we had steak & seafood.	Oceana presented us with a special dessert, after our steak and seafood dinner.
We continued our 13th anniversary by eating lunch at one of the finest restaurants in NYC and in the country (per Zagat): La Grenouille. Richard Simmons (the fitness trainer on TV) sat at the table beside ours.	We decided to have their specialty of cheese soufflé and it was out of this world! This was a one of our favorite dining experiences of all time, and Marsha raved about it afterwards. (I did good :) ).
We celebrated a belated 14th wedding anniversary at Marsha's designated spot. We enjoyed crab bisque, fresh seafood, steak, key-lime pie, and a beautiful sunset at Oystercatchers in Tampa, FL.
We celebrated our 15th anniversary with a two week trip to Hawaii and enjoyed an oceanfront dining experience at Orchids outside the Halekulani hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii, with our friends Paul and Pauline Lai.	The Orchids restaurant was Marsha's premier choice for its gorgeous scenery and fine dining experience outside by the ocean at the magnificent Halekulani hotel.
For our 16th anniversary, we ejoyed two celebrations: First, in Tampa at Bern's Steakhouse, after returning from working in NYC for 50 days for Verizon. Bern's is a classic and one of my favorite places for its steaks, onion soup, and atmposphere.	Second, we celebrated during dinner in NYC at Bull & Bear restaurant inside the grand Waldorf Astoria hotel, where we stayed for 2 nights. This occurred right after competing in the Topcoder NYC Regional contest and placing 2nd.
We celebrated our 17th anniversary with a dinner at Oystercatchers, one of Marsha's favorite places in Tampa, FL.	Beautiful, window-front view of the Tampa Bay area.
We celebrated our 18th anniversary on the Hawaiian island of Maui.	We enjoyed a nice dinner with our friends from Hawaii, Paul and Pauline Lai and one of their daughters.

To celebrate our 19th anniversary, we enjoyed fine dining at one of our favorite celebration restaraunts: Bern's Steakhouse, in Tampa, Florida.Bern's is a classic and one of our favorite places for its steaks, onion soup, and atmposphere.	Bern's dessert room is fabulous and we really enjoyed the sampler of 5 desserts.

To celebrate our 20th anniversary, we went to a safe, elegant place for our first dinner-out after COVID-19 restrictions started 3 months earlier: Bern's Steakhouse, in Tampa, Florida.	Salad and onion soup were enjoyed first, prior to this elegant dinner plate. Dessert was nicely served in the dining room for the first time due to the separate Dessert room being closed during this season.

We celebrated our 21st anniversary with an 8-day trip to the island of Oahau, staying at the Rainbow Tower of the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Just prior to June 3rd, we celebrated over dinner with our friends Paul and Pauline Lai and one of their daughters at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Honolulu.	For our anniversary dinner, we had fine dining at BLT Steakhouse in Honololu, which resides in the same building as Trump International Tower hotel. We enjoyed the steak, lobster, onion soup, shrimp, mushroom risotto, and other items.

In 2022, we did not have time to celebrate our anniversary. On the heels of suddenly moving my mom out of her apartment and moving her from the Nursing Facility to the Assisted Living Facility (after she recovered from COVID and its after-affects), I then flew out to Africa for FGBMFI on the morning of June 3rd while Marsha took care of things at home.	For our 22nd anniversary, we congratulated each other as Marsha drove me to the Tampa Airport for a flight to Uganda and DRC in Africa for FGBMFI conferences, where I was a guest speaker and joined our International President for FGBMFI for his tour of several African countries.

In 2023, we went to one of Marsha's favorite places, Oystercatchers in Tampa, Florida.	For our 23rd anniversary, we celebrated over a seafood dinner at Oystercatchers in Tampa, Florida.