For example, see if you can follow along: for spring break, (1) we took the kids skiing in Tahoe with some good friends over Good Friday and that Saturday. (2) We made it back in time to celebrate Easter and (3) for Lisa to get on a plane for Costa Rica for work. Meanwhile, (4) Oma and Opa took the kids for a couple days on the beach in Santa Cruz while (5) I went to Phoenix for my job. Then (6) my parents flew with the kids down to San Diego and I met them there. (7) Lisa flew back to California in time to head to Carmel to run the Big Sur Marathon. (8) She drove home and was able to pick us up from the airport just in time for us to (9) have pizza for our 12th anniversary dinner and (10) me to pack to head to Delaware for work.
Complicated? Try planning and executing that sequence!
Click below for a couple slideshows...
[spring break]
[more April fun]
In the end we made it work and packed a ton of memories into a very, very short period of time. Some of those include...
Skiing was so great. The sport is a deep part of my childhood and taking the kids on the chair lift for the first time is something that was special for them and a priceless treasure for me...to see how much fun they had and the progress they made in a handful of hours makes it all the more precious. E really took off and just wanted to do more & more. J, as I should've expected, is a miniature Lisa, even on the slopes: in that I was trying all the tips and tricks I could come up with, and all Lisa had to do was say, "let's play follow the leader, and you do everything I do," and BAM, that's what J did. In the space of 10 feet, she went from sorta-skiing to making S-turns and making it down the bunny hill without falling.
I was traveling for work when Oma and Opa took the kiddos to what seems like an amazing trip to the beach. They splurged and stayed a fantastic hotel on the beach, made some really awesome sandcastles, and ordered their first room service.
San Diego was another trip of a lifetime (though the kids were the first to point out that the Best Western paled compared to the Santa Cruz hotel). For us, day one was Sea World and it was super fun seeing the animals, experiencing the shows, and hitting the coasters. And although I did have to tell E that I could not ride the big roller coaster Manta an eighth time or I would pass out, I'm so excited that we both love coasters!
The Wild Animal park was truly the gem of the trip for me. Yes, we splurged...several times...to get some special tours and experiences. In the end, feeding and petting the kangaroos for serval hours, watching the kids feed a giraffe on our private jeep safari, roasting marshmallows while watching rhinos meander by, and camping with lions roaring outside the tent at 4am will be another treasure I could never forget with the kids and my parents.
And while we didn't go to the marathon for Lisa (to be fair, it was along highway 1 in Big Sur and they caught the shuttle to the start line at like 4am), we're so proud of her. Even marathons with easy courses and when you're single are HARD and so doing one as a working mom of two along BIG SUR -- which is hard to drive -- is just...[crazy] AWESOME. It meant a lot of sacrifice, hard work and guilt. The kids don't yet fully understand how kick-ass their mother is, but when they do, it's going to be potent inspiration...as it already is for me!
Beyond the insanity of that week, things have been more "normal crazy." Baseball has been in full swing (ba-dum-chi) and it's sooo cool to watch E go from barely hitting the pitch to nailing every single at-bat (thanks to all the practice with Opa). J loves gymnastics and she's starting to read herself simple books. We're excited that the lake by my folks house is open and we've already spent some time on it.
Re-reading the recap above, makes me realize that the hard work, logistical complexity, and general pooped-ness is a tiny price to pay for this amazing life.
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