This past week I had the opportunity to go to Nampa for a conference for work on Thursday and Friday. This meant I would be gone overnight on Thursday night and that on Thursday and Friday my husband would be responsible for getting the boys dropped off at school/daycare and dinner on Thursday evening. For me this meant leaving on Thursday morning at 4:45 am and a night away from everyone. The last time I was away without my husband and boys was when I was in the hospital last spring break. So what kind of excitement did this mean for everyone?
When I got out of the conference at 3:45 I needed to go to a meeting I had scheduled at 4:30. I couldn’t believe that when I got out of my meeting it was already after 6pm. I called to check in with my boys to see how everything was going only to find they were just getting done at the Rocket Car Wash where they had gotten my van cleaned and my husband vacuumed it out for me. To the boys, going through the Rocket Car Wash is almost as fun as going to an amusement park! My husband informed me they were headed to the drive thru at McDonald’s and so I said I would call back to talk to the boys before bed. I certainly didn’t want to interrupt all of their excitement and this seemed like an opportunity to decide where I would go for dinner. I decided on a restaurant and figured I would enjoy a quiet dinner. What a concept, a quiet dinner without arguing about eating and not playing with food and goofing around. I was actually done eating in about 15 minutes because it is amazing how quickly one can eat when there aren’t any distractions. At this point it was only a little after 7pm so the thought of being able to go to the mall and do a little shopping was tempting. However, I have to admit that I was a little tired. I struggled with the fact that it was rare to have an opportunity to go shopping without kids. I don’t think it should come as a surprise to anyone that little boys don’t exactly like to hang out and be patient while mom looks at/tries on clothes.
It was on my way to the mall that I missed my turn and not wanting to deal with a GPS recalculating my route, I decided this was my queue to just head back to the hotel for an evening of opportunity to catch up on some blogging as I had brought my laptop. I got checked into my hotel and into my room in time to call home to say good night to the boys. Then I decided that a nice hot bath sounded good before I turned on my computer. As I soaked into the tub, the exhaustion from getting up at 4am started to set in. Needless to say, my laptop never even came out of it’s case, and while I struggled to stay awake to just hang out and watch some TV, I will have to admit that I believe by 9:30 I was asleep. Yes, that is just how exciting my night away turned out to be! I did manage however, after the conference the next day to make a stop at the mall for about an hour and pick up a few pieces of clothing at Macy’s for 70% off with an extra 20% off with a coupon I had so it was all good!
As I arrived home Friday evening, my 8 year old admitted he did miss me a “little bit” which is something for him, my almost 6 year old was full of hugs and kisses, and even after they were tucked into bed for the night, my 2 year old just couldn’t stay there because all he wanted to do was cuddle with me!
