First Work Trip in Ages

I had my first work trip in ages this past weekend. I'm trying to remember when I last traveled for work for a client visit and I can't remember... I think it was before I had Paul! Before I had kids, I had asked my manager if I could limit/avoid travel for work when I became a parent and that manager was on board with that. I have a different manager now, but he also respects that I prefer to not travel for work. I know many moms do this either because they have to or they enjoy it! I just don't so I am glad I can usually avoid it. But in this case, I absolutely could not avoid this trip. We just took over the management of a pool of assets for a university foundation and were told up front that we needed to attend the board meeting twice a year and that they valued having a diverse team working on their account (i.e. not a bunch of guys). So I got put on the account and knew I'd need to travel for these board meetings. 

Overall, it went well. I wish I had gotten my Evusheld injections (prophylactic antibody injection that I qualified for since I'm immune-compromised) further ahead of the trip but hopefully they provided some level of extra protection? I was told I'd be fully protected in 14 days, and I got my shots on Tuesday of this past week. I wore a mask in the airport and on the flight and was definitely in the minority. Interestingly, when Phil went grocery shopping on Sunday, he said about 2/3 of people were wearing masks. Anecdotally, I've heard about more people getting covid lately so it feels like we may be in the build-up to another wave? Le sigh. 

The presentation itself went well, though. We took over the portfolio at the start of a tough market. But they seemed to understand that there is no magic investment that will perform well when everything is down (stocks and bonds have both had rough starts to the year). 

Both of my flights were delayed - it seems like on-time flights are an anomaly these days! But the delays weren't too terrible. I got home around 7pm on Saturday. Phil kept Will up so I could do bedtime, and I did Paul's bedtime as well. It was good to get some time with both boys after not seeing them for almost 2 days. On Sunday morning I was getting ready to take Will to swimming lessons. When I put my shoes on, Will started to cry and kind of flopped forward dramatically onto the floor - it seemed like he thought I was leaving again and was upset, so even though he's not quite 18 months, he seemed to notice I was not around! But I think having to travel over a weekend is harder on everyone since that is normally when I get the most quality time with the boys. Being gone on week nights is less of a big deal. I'm glad I'll only have to do this weekend meeting once a year - the other meeting is on a Friday - and there is talk of us taking turns attending these meetings. 

I got lots of time with the boys on Sunday, though. As I mentioned above, I took Will to swimming lessons on Sunday morning. His instructor said he can register for the next level for the summer session since he's done so well. Phil headed to his mom's around lunchtime to help with some things so I got my chance to do some solo parenting. Luckily Will took a nice long 2.5 hour nap. Paul played on his iPad in his room during quiet time and I napped, too! After naptime, we went on a little adventure. I had gotten a voucher to go to the Crayola Experience at the Mall of America to pick out 32 crayons. Crayons are pretty cheap so it wasn't worth a lot monetarily, but Paul is so into coloring and crayons so I knew he'd enjoy filling a box of crayons. 

It's a bit of a hassle to get to the mall but it was worth the effort. This was Paul's first time in a mall - he thought it was very cool. It's one of the biggest malls in the US and has a big Nickelodeon-themed amusement park in the middle so it's not your typical mall. He's on the young side for the amusement park but I told him we'd come back some day when he's older. 

Will was a great little side kick and was happy to hang in the stroller and take everything in!

As soon as we got home, Paul broke out the crayons and got to work coloring. I'm so glad he's interested in coloring! It's nice to have an activity that will entertain him for a solid block of time! 

Phil got home shortly after we did. I made soup in the instant pot with the bone from our Easter ham. It's another cold week here so it's sadly still soup season - we eat soup year-round but it tastes especially good on a cold day!

Will continued to be a little more cuddly than usual but I soaked up his snuggly mood. 

How was your weekend? Is it nice where you are or still unseasonably cold? I ran this morning - it was about 32F with a mist, but felt like 22F with the wind. Where are you spring?