Time with Nana and Grandad
Last week, Jason had a conference in Baltimore, and I tagged along for a few days while the kids had their first nights away from both Jason and I. Usually one of us is at home, so this was new for all of us! Since we ended up at the doctor on Monday with Alanna, and her symptoms didn't subside, it wasn't until Wednesday morning that we decided that we would both go for sure. Alanna was still complaining of headaches, but she was generally in good spirits, and she wanted to go. Aidan was NOT up for this once the reality of the situation hit him. He spent the latter part of his rest time crying about not wanting to go. I almost crumbled. We dropped the kids off Wednesday late in the afternoon with enough bags of stuff to last weeks! Aidan got excited when he saw sleeping bags on the two twin mattresses that had been relocated to the floor, and they jumped back and forth from one to the other. They had a blast! Aidan practically pushed me away when we were saying goodbye. Emory got upset, but when Nana called her to make chocolate milk, we were quickly pushed from her mind.
So off we went...for the first time in five years or so...by ourselves. We arrived late and somehow lucked out with a room in the Hyatt Regency Club floor, so we had card-only access to our floor and a little club room with "complimentary" refreshments available all day, and a continental breakfast. Sadly, Jason had to get up early Thursday and Friday for his meetings, but I got to sleep in...sort of. Between police officers directing traffic, sirens and the guy in the neighboring room hacking up a lung, it wasn't very quiet! Nonetheless, I had a lazy morning...met Jason and his colleagues for lunch, then hit the aquarium in the afternoon. We were exhausted by the end of the day, and in lieu of searching out some restaurants that were recommended to us...we decided to walk across the harbor to McCormick and Schmick's for some seafood. It was DELICIOUS! Unfortunately, after a call home, we heard that Alanna was still complaining about her head hurting. So we were a little worried. Friday morning, I called the doctor's office as soon as they opened to find out if we needed to head home and bring her in. They felt it wasn't necessary and to plan to come Monday if her symptoms hadn't changed. So...we stuck it out!
Friday afternoon we headed to DC after a lunch on the harbor. We had a great time wandering from the Washington Monument down to the Lincoln Memorial and back to our hotel on Capitol Hill. I hadn't been before, so I enjoyed the brief period of time we had there. When we checked in at the end of the day, Alanna was still having headaches but generally in good spirits. Somewhere along the way, Nana got swindled into giving Aidan and Emory medicine for headaches, too...they make medicine way too tasty these days! Alanna had at least one meltdown, and they were supposedly asking about us a lot, though no one really wanted to chat on the phone except Emory.
We headed home Saturday and arrived in time to get to a birthday party. It was a long, busy day, but we were excited to see the kids!
As I understand it...all the kids had a great time at my parents' house. They didn't get into any of the mischief I feared, and Nana had plenty of fun things for them to do. They had gourmet breakfasts and got to eat foods I never buy for them (bacon, pop tarts, frequent desserts!) Mom and Dad looked pooped when we got home...Dad cheered when we walked in the door. The kids were happy to see us...though I'm not sure who was happier to see whom!
We decided that getting away is something that we really must do more frequently than once every five years! It was so nice to see what life is like without all the pressures of parenthood and Jason's fellowship. Where to next???
