Triathlon Complete!

Yes, this was what I trained for my entire life: The Big City Triathlon. Eating. Shopping. Sleeping. I conned a friend into joining me; I was correct in assuming she needed a break since her husband is half-way through his deployment. Someday I will take weekend trips away with Sean, but in the meantime we have no one to watch the kids so we do our get-aways with friends. He has his share of Vegas weekends with the boys, so don't feel too sorry for him. I'm not even counting all the trips he does to go get medical licenses in various backwoods states. Hello West Virginia! We thought you were just for driving through!

Anyway, a quick warning to those who might want to complain to me about the hassles of flying. Unless you have small children in tow, don't say anything. Nope, just shut it now. Having just done an "easy short direct flight" to Chicago with the whole family and now a longer trip by myself, I cannot believe the experiences have anything in common. Wow, yeah, that sucks when you are stuck on the runway for an hour waiting to take-off-- without children.... man, wow, you get to sit and read a book uninterrupted for an extra hour, yeah, poor you. Nothing, and I mean nothing, compares to trying to keep 3 children from having complete meltdowns in front of many many strangers (one of whom is armed I might add-- and who was right in front of me on the last family flight we took, props to him for not threatening to scare the kids straight). Also, the security process.... only having to put one pair of shoes back on and grab one bag and zero strollers was a breeze. I didn't have to bite my tongue about how stupid it is to take off Patrick's Robeez (essentially leather socks for babies). Yeah, it's all ridiculous and a pain, but way way easier when you're on your own.

Overall the trip was great and I didn't buy nearly as much as Sean feared I would. I was disappointed to find that the shopping in unnamed big city is not much different than Kansas City but there were a few good unique stores. Lots of great restaurants too and we resisted the old fallback of Cheesecake Factory until brunch on the last day. I really haven't eaten much since then and wonder if I'll ever be hungry again.

Sean insists that they had a great weekend here, lots of eating out and surprise toys to entertain the kids. He had the house clean and was folding laundry when I got home (where did he get that tip? ha). I haven't mentioned where I went because I didn't have time to see all my friends in that particular area, less than 48 hours and that included a lot of sleeping. I did get to see one friend from college though and her 3 perfectly behaved children. They are about the same age as my kids and the two older ones colored quietly for two and a half hours while we had a long lunch. My girls are getting better about stuff like that, but never could they have lasted so long and been so good. Last time we were together Megan and Emma were toddlers and baby #2's were on the way. I do hope the kids get to play together again some day, maybe a football game next year. I will post photos of them if I can figure out how to download from my old camera. Hmm.

It is good to be home and no one seems to have any long term psychological damage from mommy abandonment. Oh and Patrick slept through each night, yes, this is pretty much the first time he has done that in 13 months... I guess he knew his night servant was gone and didn't want to wake daddy. Poor guy is getting a back tooth also so that is rather impressive. Sean insists he didn't just sleep through the crying. He is off enjoying a well deserved break himself... at the video game store. Happy Columbus Day to him!