I met up with Mark for a blissful 6 day vacation in Palm Desert.
It was our first trip together without kids in over 10 years (that was longer than 2 nights). Our honeymoon was cancelled because we were scheduled to fly to Mexico September 12, 2001 and there were no flights that day because of 9/11 and we never re-scheduled. We finished our basement instead. Practical but not so fun.
This trip was wonnnnddddeeeerrrrfulllllllll!
We laid in the sun.
Frankly I was worried that I couldn't sit still in the heat for that long now that I'm no longer a teenage and have a million things to do.
But it was so nice.
We drank cocktails whenever we felt like it.
We drank coffee at Starbucks watching the people around us.
We bar-b-qued chicken and steak and made fantastic salads.
Then went out when we felt like it- Los Consuelos, Red somebody's, California Pizza Kitchen.
We drove to Huntington (and Laguna) Beach with friends.
We slept undisturbed (except I was well awake before 7am every morning).
We had no chores.
It was so restorative.
And our kids were more than well cared for.
We had a whole, wonderful village pitching in to help.
It was tricky overcoming the guilt, at first.
The first night poor Sarina was so frantically upset she kept calling, sobbing to the point that I couldn't understand her. I don't think she likes when we're gone because she feels responsible for the kids. She internalizes things until her stomach is cramped and she takes tiny little breaths of air.
I think she'll be a person prone to panic attacks when she's older. I'm trying to give her tools to ease herself back from that anxiety she tends to get.
But I knew that my good friend was taking better than excellent care of her.
And she settled herself by crawling into bed with her baby sister and washing her hair with my shampoo.
Sweet, anxious little girl.
Then there was the play.
Every year Griffin puts on a fantastic, professional level play. And this was the first year Sarina could participate. Of course we booked the trip before we knew the play performance schedule, so we missed every single one.
Here's where the village stepped in.
She had both grandmas, a grandpa, aunt, uncle, and cousins, friends, her babysitter, even her great-uncle's ex-wife (who we keep as family) all attending performances, bringing flowers and candy. This village dressed her, covered her in make-up, and transported her to and from the performances and I know they cheered nice and loudly for her.
At the end, the director said some wonderful things about my baby girl that A-Mandy was sweet enough to record and post on facebook for us to hear.
Then there were the lost teeth.
First Charlie lost tooth number 2 (unassisted). He's down to one front tooth left...
Then Carl lost one. I didn't get a picture of that one.
Boy was the toothfairy was one busy lady out Oyster Bay Road!
Carl pitched his first game of the season and we hear he struck out two kids on the other team.
Elsa was her busy, quirky, wonderful little self.
Rumor has it she let Kristi braid her hair and paint her toe nails. Woo hoo! Rumor also has it she had TWO ponies in when she went from Kristi's to Nonna. Miracle of miracles!
I'll admit, re-entry was a little tough. The grass was long and we had a short window to get it mowed before the rains hit. So that had to be done.
Sarina was working on fractions which were as painful for her as they were for me.
The rain is dumping.
The kids had lots of fun late nights that need to be made up for.
Elsa had bad dreams that kept her crying out and thrashing about in bed. Nothing I said or did could make her come out of it so I had to let her work it out on her own.
But we're back together again, and it feels good.
So incredibly good.
I missed those little buggers, but sure needed that break.
But it's tough to be an adult and make decisions like the one I had to make for today.
I had a public hearing scheduled for tonight. One that requires public notice and will actually need my area of expertise.
Trouble is, tonight is the one and only night of the Kindergarten Round Up. Usually Griffin has two nights. Just my luck, not this year.
Sweet baby Charlie isn't going to get to go tonight.
But I'm going to make an appointment to take him in to meet his teacher and see his classroom.
I'm also going to see if I can finagle a bus ride before school's out for the "big" kids.
I may be letting him down on the official event but I'm going to create my own, gosh darn it! Poor baby number 3 won't be skimped on. Not when I'm on guard.
Special thanks for that amazingly relaxing trip go to: Arel for offering to keep the kids (we NEVER would have booked that trip without her not so subtle nudge), A-Mandy for keeping the two big kids 2 nights (including the 3 plays and a baseball game, one SUPER wiggly tooth, and a nervous wreck/anxious little girl who jumped ship), Kristi for keeping the two little kids 2 nights including a baseball practice and game and LOST tooth(!), Nonna and Grandpa for keeping 4 very busy children in their own home for 4 days and 3 nights, and Grandma Chica for many, many errands, transportation of kids and dogs, and lots of support- always.
Want our yummy Palm Desert/CondoLane Salad recipe?
1 bunch red bib lettuce
1 cucumber
3 hard boiled eggs
1 avocado
4 mini-bell peppers
sprinkling of Mediterranean feta cheese crumbles
1 1/2 grilled chicken breast (rubbed with olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper)
grilled asparagus (also rubbed with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper)
dress with:
1/2 lemon
garlic salt
fresh ground pepper
drizzle of first cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
I didn't get tired of it. It was so good!
And my favorite cocktail was Tommy Bahama's Coconut Martini, so incredibly GOOD!
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