And We're Back

We went up to Vermont this weekend to celebrate my best friend's daughter's second birthday. J took a four day weekend and we headed up on Friday to stay with my sister, A, who lives outside of Burlington (she's also the Muffins' Godmother). Overall, I was a little concerned about how this weekend would work. The last time we went away, the kids weren't mobile yet and therefore were easier to contain. Plus, they've never slept in their pack and plays before (having both slept on a king sized bed surrounded by pillows galore for our previous weekend away last fall). I worried for no reason. We had a great, though exhausting, time.

A's been telling me for months how great it will be to visit her because her house "is so childproof" because she "is such a minimalist." While she does have less clutter than we do, her house is also larger (read: our stuff would be a lot more spread out in her place, too) and her children are all grown and mostly out of the house (youngest is 18). So...within less than 30 minutes of our arrival, her house was showing evidence of having been hit by two little hurricanes. She quickly discovered how not childproof her home really is. Favorite temptations of the weekend included the kitty cornered shelves of dishes in the dining area that did not have a door, the stairs, kitchen cabinets which contained worlds of wonder (especially for #1), the lamps, and the numerous doors which were loads of fun to open and close. Oh! And the tv, vcr and dvd players were all at perfect toddler height!

The party was Saturday and all went very well. It was rather warm and J and I were chasing babies nearly the entire time (#1 and #2 were the youngest and smallest children in attendance), but we had a good time and I really enjoyed seeing my friend's family again. KL and I met at college and became instant best friends. I love her mother and sisters as if they were my own. I was thrilled for her family to finally get to meet the Muffins (we couldn't attend last year's birthday party because our kids were barely 3 months old and we were just too sleep deprived to attempt a weekend away with newborns). Needless to say, J and I, as well as the kids, were exhausted after the party (the kids slept great that night!).

Back at her home, A cooked us amazing meals (chicken marsala Friday night with mashed potatoes that I declared to be better than Mom's and creamy homemade mac 'n cheese Saturday night that the kids fell in love with) and we had a lovely visit. We promised to visit again in the fall (I'm hoping to plan it for the weekend of this). I always love visiting Vermont and often think it would be nice to live there, if J could find comparable work. A would love it if we were closer, too.

We came home yesterday and had a belated birthday gig for C, which included ordering take-out Chinese and C and me catching the latest Harry Potter movie (the best one yet). J has today off as a recovery day. We'll be heading out later to meet Mom, my brother and his kids for an early dinner at my new favorite summer eatery.

Life is good.