3rd Honeymoon

When Evan and I were married, we had absolutely no money. I was finishing up my gig as a full-time grad student, and we were living pretty much hand-to-mouth. We had enough sense not to blow our wedding gift money on an elaborate honeymoon (instead, we blew it on the hefty tuition at BU and NBSS ;) ), and took a pretty modest five day trip to Martha's Vineyard. We had a great time, and I have nothing but great memories of that trip. But, we did feel as though we had missed out on the big honeymoon experience. So, about a year later, once I had a job and we had some money to burn, we took our '2nd honeymoon' trip to Spain. Now that trip was amazing and we still talk about 'when we go back to Spain...'. Anyway, that was in '99. We've really only taken two splurge vacations since then. I think we're due for another!

Our tenth anniversary is coming up next June, and I'd like to plan something -- a third honeymoon of sorts. Probably nothing too elaborate, given our time and finance restrictions, but something special nonetheless. While I'd really like for us to jet away and stay at a Hawaii bed and breakfast, I'll probably have to settle for a lush, tropical paradise a little bit closer. I'm thinking about the Bahamas. Pluses are that it is a short plane trip and there's supposed to be good snorkeling. I need to start looking into it soon, so that I can figure out when and how.

Mothers...do you ever feel...?

...like you completely signed away your right to any down time the moment you gave birth to your first child? Like the notion of using the toilet ALONE is just for other people? Maybe it is because I am so tired today, but I'm just feeling...spent.

I'm tired of having company in the bathroom with me. I'm tired of locating and refilling sippy cups endlessly. I'm tired of having to scarf down my dinner in five minutes. I'm tired of not being able to come home from work and just take FIVE measly minutes to unwind before the kids attack me.

I need a vacation. With, or without, Evan ;-) . Nothing too elaborate...just a long weekend at a luxury hotel or quiet Bed and Breakfast, maybe by the beach somewhere. Where someone else can fix my meals (ok, so being as Evan does all the cooking in our house, that one is just thrown in for dramatic effect), fetch my toys, and attend to my needs. Or, better yet, just leave me be!

Hey, a girl can dream, right?

A Weekend Away

We took a trip down to visit Evan's sister, brother-in-law and our newest niece, Kayleigh over the weekend. In spite of the FREEZING temperatures, we had a good time hanging out, cooking, eating, and visiting the Children's Museum.

On the way back, we stopped at the spectacular Longwood Gardens. What a gorgeous place! The kids loved walking around the conservatory, and Eden was adorable stooping down to sniff the flowers.

Sadie had a blast looking at the room full of "spoinky plants" (cactuses, to the rest of us)



and finding the bananas growing way up high in the trees. We will definitely be returning there, in the spring or summer when we can enjoy the outside attractions.