Our kid-free week last week was so wonderful! The boys had a great time with my parents and were apparently on their very best behavior according to my parents. They got to do lots of fun things - pontoon rides, park visits, beach/water play, games with my parents, etc. We FaceTimed twice which did not go well as Taco was not happy during those chats.
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| Playing at a cool tractor park |
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| Playing Yahtzee after Taco was in bed! He rolled lots of yahtzees! |
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| Snuggles with papa! |
While the boys were away we had an impromptu grilled dinner + cards with friends one night and a double date with that same couple another night. I ran before work one morning and after work another night. Besides that we enjoyed a quiet, clean house! I did miss the boys by the end of the week. It was a little weird to be in the house without the boys.
I took Friday off and left for my parents’ that morning so I could beat the long weekend traffic. Upon my arrival my mom commented on the marked changes in Taco’s behavior… I guess he was punishing me for being away for a week. I had planned to stay at my parents until Sunday mid-day but I ended up coming back on Saturday night after dinner since sleep was challenging on Friday night and Taco was just soooo moody.
Sunday and Monday were all about adjusting back to our usual routines, especially bedtimes. Bedtimes had slipped for Paul recently so it’s going to be a bit of an adjustment to get back to his typical bedtime.
I did my 2nd to last training run for my 10 mile race on the 14th. I forgot to turn my Apple Watch back on after stopping at a stoplight so about 0.75 miles were not recorded. Womp womp. The weather was deliciously cool! I’m ready for the race to be here at this point!
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| The view at the halfway point. I am lucky to run in such a beautiful area! |
The boys got haircuts, too! We are ready for the start of school/fall!
Paul is excited to start school today but Taco has been saying he doesn’t want to go back to school…. So I am bracing myself for a rough week of re-entry. I am home this week and then travel the next 3 (Charlotte, Dallas, Chicago). Fall is going to be BUSY with 8 work trips and 1 fun trip to visit my sister with Paul. Fall is one of my fave seasons but I will need to be intentional about soaking up all the fun or it will pass me by!
How was your weekend? Do you have a busy fall?
14 comments:
Wow, that is a lot of travel you have coming up, Lisa!
Your week sounds absolutely wonderful and it was much needed! I think it's pretty common for kids to act out when their moms "come back," so I'm not surprised Taco was a bit wild when you went to pick them up. He reminds me a lot of my friend's daughter when she was that age - transitions were just so hard for her! Once she was in it, she was fine, but the transitions were brutal. She's 21 now and an adventurous, independent woman - I think her strong personality will serve her very well in life. But wow, she was a handful as a child.
It sounds like your running is going well!
Yay for kid free time! Kids are always great to grandparents and rough on parents - so just FYI that what goes around will come back around.
I have been wanting to do more travel/work from anywhere but was dragging my feet on planning. And then out of nowhere two travel opportunities dropped into my lap for September and I'm really looking forward to those.
That is so much travel. Eeks. I bet your fall is going to fly by, but I know you're very intentional about things like weekends and carving out fun stuff. Plus you have your race, so I bet it will still be memorable and fun even though it's busy.
I have to admit I did NOT miss my kids by the end of our solo week and would have paid about 1 million dollars to have one more week solo. But it was amazing and I really feel like it hinted at what we have in our future. Having kids grow in their independence is pretty swell. Parenting is still hard lots of the time, but this is much more my comfort zone in terms of being able to actually talk/reason with my kids like...mini adults in a way.
This is not exactly the same, but we left the dog at the sitter's house for an extra night and I vacuumed and cleaned without her around and it was truly lovely. LOL. You can be more productive when there aren't small creatures around, I guess!
That photo of snuggles with papa is so dang sweet. The behavior switch-up for you vs grandparents doesn't surprise me at all. I see the kids I sit for act totally different for their folks than they do for me. The slightly cooler weather is great for running. I don't run as far as you, but I do love it when it isn't a scorcher. Hanging with another couple without having to arrange a sitter must be really nice. Glad you enjoyed your kid-less week. Our weekend was more hectic than I would've liked, but I squeezed in a few hours at the pool each day and did some reading. September is really busy - every weekend is booked with a Notre Dame game or Creighton parent weekend, plus Coach teaches in St. Louis this weekend. All fun things, except for Coach's teaching - but I'm planning to take the little girls to ND to tailgate (not going into the game) and bringing one of my besties. The weather looks perfect, so it should be a nice change of scenery.
I can relate on the house being quiet and weird without the girls. It's too quiet and I miss them a lot. The best of both worlds is to have a day at home while they are at school to have free time but not too much. Hope your transition back to work/school goes smoothly.
I'm glad you had your home-alone week. And yes, re-entry is hard for anyone or anything. Good luck with Taco and school. You really have a lot on the calendar with all that travel and the run, too. I can tell already that it will be a very busy fall!
Hi friend! So nice they had time with your parents. I DREAM of the day when I can send both kids to Russia for the SUMMER ;)) My parents used to do that- just send me off to granma's village for a month - I turned out okay, mostly. It was mostly like camp, except it was free. Milking cows and roaming the woods.
School.... On Thursday my kids are back at school, and, honesty, I can't wait. Get them both out of my house!! L has been saying that 1st grade is difficult, and me: "difficult is good, you don't want it to be easy, ever." R has no opinion at 4 years old. With L, I've been verbalizing how excited I am for her, she is growing up, more responsibility, more learning, more new friendships, etc. Hoping she will internalize it ;)
Have a good re-entry!
Sophie here! That week sounds divine, Lisa. Look how tanned the boys are! What a great summer they’ve had! Taco was probably also tired after all the fun and he can just be himself with you- it’s hard to be on your best behaviour all the time. That travel schedule is intense! But it’s good you’ve also got fun things planned too.
Your week alone sounds so nice! I'm glad you got to experience that. But oof, the reentry with Taco sounds ROUGH. Kids are always so much more difficult with their parents - I guess it's a good thing? It means he feels comfortable with you, and knows he can push your boundaries and you'll still be there!
I hope getting the kids back on a schedule isn't too difficult! Oh! And we just played Yahtzee with my younger nephew - I was surprised at how easily he picked it up, but he's even a few years older than Paul. He could also add up all the numbers SO easily at the end. The grown-ups had to pull out their phones and he added it all up in his head. HA.
Sounds like the kids had a great time! It's so nice that they can form those memories with your parents. My boys have, as you know, always been really close with my parents too. Most recent summers they've actually tried to each go to my parents' house for a 1:1 trip- usually just a few days. Asher was actually just at my parents' for the long weekend! It's crazy that Taco acted so different when you were around. Thanks, kid! haha. I have heard of kids doing that sort of thing for sure. I can't really recall if mine did that. Maybe? Some memories are fuzzy from that stage. All your upcoming travel sounds... stressful. eek. Hang in there!
Oh Taco. I am sorry that he started acting up when you arrived; I am sure you were looking forward to having some good time with your parents too! I wonder why kids do that. L does that with me; she is so calm and sits quietly and plays games with me, or helps me with dinner and chores and then K gets home and she starts goofing off and running around and not helping out! WTH!? Or A is the happiest teenager around and then K gets home and A sulks and gets all moody and emo. So I guess it's probably not something that will end with the toddler stage. Sorry!
So glad you had such a wonderful week without the kids and that you're heading into your busy busy September refreshed and (hopefully) ready to go. I also hope that the re-entry to bedtimes and routines has gone well. It's hard for everyone - and kids, especially. Your travel is bonkers... hang in there, ok? I hope you get time to disconnect on weekends.
How wonderful you got a kid-free week! I am sure that it felt a little weird to not have the boys around but I hope you were able to enjoy the time nonetheless. You even fit two (!) couple dates in, wow. I probably would have just relaxed at home.
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