Almost 9 Years...................

Anna was born November 2, 2000. That was 306 days after we got married and after about 8 months of morning sickness. Since that wonderful day when Anna joined us, several more sweet children have joined our family. Everyone knows what that translates to - lots of love and even more chaos and the time going by very quickly. At other times the time doesn't exactly seem to fly - mostly those nights of no sleep or the nights you might just as well not even TRIED to sleep. I still look back at Claire and Eliza's first few months as awesome and at the same time incredibly hard.

Perhaps because of the chaos, a few months back I was thinking that I really was missing that 1st night in the hospital when a baby is born and it is only me and the new baby. That sweet first few days of a newborn and so on..... Only 10 little fingers and toes, room service, a good book and a phone I could mute. Then after my nap, on the phone would go and I could talk uninterrupted for the most part! Those few occasions were kind of a "forced" vacation in a sense. At least it felt like a vacation to me. I think part of me was just wanting really bad to just not be needed for 24 hours straight.

Over the years we have always said that we would "get away one of these days", but I've either been pregnant or nursing for the last 3,148 days of our 3,207 days of marriage. Translation: not able/easy to leave kids for 8.22 years out of 8.78 years. Not to say we never left home or anything - we have gotten away for lots of things, but it has always included our kids. Brett has had his scouting/YM campouts or he has left town for work or whatever and I have so envied his being able to sleep straight through the night and go to bed when he felt like it, not only after teeth were all brushed, stories read, excuses heard - you know the routine. If you don't relate just quit reading right now!

Recently I had felt ALMOST mentally/physically ready to leave our kids behind as Luke is almost 2 years and I'm not pregnant. (Yes, amazing, I know!) Brett secretly asked his mom if she would come out so we could get away(I think the part about me missing that hospital stay spurred him to come up with an alternate plan!) He surprised me with his idea and then the next step was to figure out when it would work. (Thank you Grandma for being so willing to work us into your busy schedule despite our confusion and procrastination on picking a time!)

The biggest question was Luke: Was I really ready to stop nursing Luke (my favorite child?! The one we never say no to?!) and could I leave him behind? The more I thought about it the sadder I felt even though I knew in my heart he would be just fine. A few days before the trip Brett even said that we could bring Luke if I wanted. That was VERY sweet of him. I was tempted because then I wouldn't have to worry or miss him. That was when it finally clicked. We had this great opportunity in front of us - stop thinking about the kids and start planning. I was wishing that I had lost those extra pounds too...........oh well.

Well, we never really got around to planning what we'd do except for packing and getting a map "thinger" for the car so you can find places. When Claudia got here we still didn't know where we were going, but I was very excited to leave! I was learning to block out my thoughts of Luke....Tuesday afternoon till Saturday aftenoon! The options were endless and a little bit overwhelming. I decided to rule out doing anything that we could do with the kids normally. We drove away not knowing if we were heading north or south. We chose south.

The first bag I packed was full of books that I had been wanting to read or finish reading. You know the kind - the ones you need to concentrate on when you read? Underline? Cross reference? It was a really heavy bag and Brett was a good sport about lugging it into every hotel. It reminded me of the dreaded "box" that mom would bring on EVERY family vacation and/or day trip. She would be the last one in the car - we'd have all been crammed in the car sweating for 1/2 hour waiting, and then out comes mom with a huge box that took up a whole seat or had to go under our feet or between us - papers spilling out of it. (Yes, I understand better now, Mom!) I think I got about as much reading done as mom got stuff sorted out of that box on our vacations. But it made me happy to have the "options" that were in my bag available!

Our first day was a little frustrating in that we didn't know where we were going! (but we sure could find any place we wanted thanks to the map thing) The great thing was we could do anything we wanted without diapers, without potty stops, without any whining (well, almost) and without strollers. No faces to wash, hair to comb, shoes to put on except our own and that was SO EASY! It was hard, however, to not be "getting anything done" now that we were finally free. That mindset changed and we easily settled into "vacation mode".

It was SO MUCH FUN! I could have stayed another day at least, but the nice thing was that I also couldn't wait to get home and see the kids. I actually even got tired of eating out. One thing I gained from this was that we really need to do this more often - even short day trips. I know as the kids get older (we are already seeing this) it will be easier to have conversations with each other (Brett and I), going to the grocery store won't be a 3-ring-circus or something I dread/fear - haha, and the kids will all be able to dress themselves and so on and then we might not feel so desperate. However, it sure was fun to have a little freedom now and start to remember who we were married to.

We spent most of our time at Pismo Beach. Found a great hotel overlooking the ocean. Brett got us a great deal on it just by saying how much he wanted to pay for it. (Thanks for that tip years ago, mom!) It was perfect.

The high-lights of the trip were for me:

Kayaking in the ocean: I was really afraid at first, but then realized how much fun and relatively safe it was. Brett, alas, did not enjoy it as much - he threw up 5 times. He'd feel good as soon as he threw-up. Then he'd feel sick, drink some more water, throw-up, feel good for a while more. He was a good sport. We were trying to catch these dolphins we saw, but couldn't.

Hearst Castle: I still can't believe how much money it costs just to maintain that place......but Brett pointed out the historical value.......okay, whatever. It was still amazing to see.

Eating Alone with Brett: Need I say more?!

We even went horseback riding (just because we COULD!) but Brett hated it. First thing is that he is allergic (he made sure he never touched the actual horse - so it didn't bother him this time) and he couldn't help but compare it to when he rode horses as the sun rose in Egypt with the great pyramids next to him. (Sorry! Can't compete with that one!) But the funniest part was that they wouldn't let us do more than a trot -so Brett was going crazy. I still thought it was fun. Hey, no kids - it was GREAT!!! :)

What WE did:



We came home to very happy children who were excited to tell us all about their week. There were even pumpkin, halloween decorations on the window that Claudia had made with the kids! (Not my favorite thing to do, so I was really happy to see those!) Now it is already time for Thanksgiving ones.........Claudia?
I really think they didn't even care that we were gone - just as long as we had a treat for them.

While we were gone.....



However...............the moment I know you are all waiting for. Luke first saw me when he was sitting in the car in his carseat. He saw me and his arms and legs all stuck out and were flailing/kicking and he said, "Mama!!!!!" That was the best part of all. Then I had to rush out to coach Anna's soccer game but it was great - everyone was happy.

Thanks Claudia/Grandma/Mom for a wonderful vacation!!!!!! Wish we could return the favor somehow....it sure was easy to not miss the bedtime routine!