Queen Mary getaway

This weekend, Stace and I stepped back in time to celebrate eight years of marriage and 10 years of couplehood.

Ten years! How can that be? Aren't we still 25?

We're a bit older than that now. But we're still not as old as the Queen Mary, the luxurious 1936 ocean liner that must have ferried transatlantic couples like ourselves when making its frequent England-to-New York trips.

Back in July, I snagged a Groupon deal for two nights and a few extras aboard the Queen Mary, which has been docked in Long Beach as a hotel/historical monument since 1967.

Stace and I have been looking forward to this getaway since then. It was our first full weekend away since before Cora was born, and the first time we've been away for a night since Violet came along.

It went brilliantly! The girls had a good time with Grandpa and Grandma - more on that later - and Stace and I just had a ball.

Our first visit to the ship was for the Fourth of July, 2003, not long after Stace made his big move over here. We hadn't been back since, so we spent a lot of time exploring.

In the 1930s and 40s, the Mary represented the height of luxury travel for its well-heeled and often famous passengers.

A first-class passage across the Atlantic cost the equivalent of $75,000 in today's dollars. The wooden inlay with the painting of the ship shows some of the 50-some different types of old-growth wood used in the ship.

When World War II came around, the Queen Mary was painted battleship grey and turned into a troop carrier, nicknamed the Grey Ghost. Over the course of the war, she transported a staggering 750,000 service members, mainly from North America to the European theater. Sir Winston Churchill frequently traveled on the ship, and finalized the plans for D-Day in his suite.

Stace took a moment to man one of the antiaircraft guns left over from wartime duty.

Then, when the war ended, tens of thousands of British war brides (and their babies) took the Mary to their new homes Stateside.

Stace and I thoroughly enjoyed the WWII-themed tour we took, though it made us both miss the veteran grandfathers we loved so much.

The tour, breakfast, parking and a bottle of champagne were included in our package deal.

Our room had a porthole with a view of the Long Beach skyline, and we enjoyed drinks both nights in two of the ship's bars.

We also toured a 1970s Russian submarine docked next to the Queen Mary, which was an interesting experience.

On our drive home, we stopped at the Point Vicente Lighthouse in Palos Verdes, where we ate our Subway with a million-dollar view.

Stace and I had so much fun together on our weekend away.

Ten years after we jumped into our relationship, we are so blessed to have each other.