Two days of leisure

Andy and I always travel with the kids.  In fact, Katie (and therefore Drew as well) had been to the Bahamas,  the Catskills, Myrtle Beach, Spain, France, and Puerto Rico all by the time she was 6 months old.  We love taking them wherever we go!  They love to travel and see new places and we don't like being without them.

This year has been a little different because Andy is on call for 365 days in a row and he can't leave the city.  The kids and I have done a little traveling on our own here and there, but no family trips this year.   With the birth of baby #3 (you did see my little baby countdown on the side of the blog, right?) this summer, and another year of nursing and a baby never leaving my side right around the corner, I decided it would be fun to get away for two days ON MY OWN.  WHAT?  I haven't done that since May of 2008 when I left my sweet one-year old Drew in the capable hands of his father for a long weekend while I went to my friend Janinne's wedding in Massachusetts.

Janinne just happened to have her first child on January 27th, so I called her up and invited myself over for a few days.  (You can do that with really good friends.) I then called my parents and asked them if they could watch the kids for a few days (which they have been asking...or begging...me to let them do for awhile now).  All was set for my two days of leisure!

My parents came to NYC to get the kids and I left around 10am on Wednesday for my big adventure. It was so weird to walk out of the apartment on my own. I wasn't pushing a stroller, running after two kids,  or carrying anyone on my shoulders.  That almost never happens.  Then I started driving and I realized that I could listen to music or talk radio or whatever I wanted! I didn't have to listen to whatever DVD the kids had picked out to watch.  I planned to stop in Middletown, CT to meet up with Jen and her kids for awhile and I asked Jen if we could have a lunch just the two of us. As a mother of two kids under two years old, she was up for it as well.  We went out to a nice, relaxing lunch and had a great time catching up and just being friends, not moms. Jen and her husband are having a house built for their growing family and we went by to see it. It is beautiful and I was trying to talk Jen into renting out her enormous master walk-in closet. It is that big!  After the house tour, we picked up her kids at her mother-in-laws and went to her current home to hang out and play.

How cute is Andrew? He was either smiling or sleeping the entire time.

Julia and Katie are the same age and I did miss my little girl when I was playing with Julia at her house.  She is so cute and smart and a mini-Jen!  She already loves softball and can hit the ball pretty well.  I loved listening to her talk in her sweet little voice.

Julia seemed to like the number cards that I brought her.

Julia and Jen. Jen looks exactly the same as she did in college!

After a nice visit, I headed to Boston...to sweet James!  James is absolutely adorable. Janinne and I had so much fun just watching him make his funny faces and talking about his toots!  I loved getting him dressed and walking him around Janinne's house.  I really liked holding a three week old, and I couldn't help but wish that my new baby was here!  Janinne looks incredible and is doing extremely well as a new mom. She looked well-rested and her house was spotless!  We had so much fun and it was really nice to just enjoy being there with her and her family.  Ninne's house is so nice and I loved having my own guest room to myself (Janinne even put out towels and chocolates for me!).

James!

Janinne and James

How cute is his room?  Janinne designed, cut out and painted all the letters. 

I found this adorable picture of Janinne and 2 month old Drew staring at eachother!

Janinne and I took James out for his first walk.  We went to a wonderful lunch at this really cute restaurant about half a mile from Ninne's house.  James slept the entire time in his stroller and we were able to enjoy a delicious lunch.  Thank you to Janinne, her husband Mike and James for hosting me for two nights. I had a wonderful time and I just love your sweet baby James.

 First walk.

The other highlight of my solo trip to Boston was my Thursday night dinner with some of my college friends.  Janinne, James and I met up with three of our friends from Amherst- Katie, Laura and Chris.  Katie also brought her new fiance, Kelly, and we all had fun talking about their wedding plans for the fall at the Vineyard.  It is these kind of friends that you can go months or even years without seeing, and it seems like no time has passed at all when you are together again.  It was a wonderful evening!

Katie and Kelly

Kelly, Chris, Janinne, James, me, Katie and Laura out at dinner

Our other college friend, Nell, made this adorable hat and blanket set for James.  

Although I really enjoyed my life of leisure ---delicious meals that can take as long as I want without anyone climbing on me or the table, doing whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, sleeping in till I woke up on my own, watching tv in the middle of the day, and just enjoying quiet conversations with my friends---I missed my two monkeys and couldn't wait to see them after two nights away.

I left Boston Friday afternoon and drove directly to Collingswood. I only stopped once because the car was running low on gas.  When I walked in the door, Katie ran to me with a huge smile on her face and was clearly happy to see me. Drew didn't seem to care, but he has always been very logical- he knew I was away for a short while and that I would come back to get him.   He wanted to know when it was his turn to go to Boston!  They had a great time with Grandmom and Poppy and I loved hearing about all of their adventures.  I had so much fun seeing all of my friends and their kids- thanks to mom and dad for watching Drew and Katie for me!