For the first time in I think ever, the hubby had this past weekend off. In the last four years, he has most always worked the Saturday and Sunday brunch shift at Sparrow first and now at Lawrence. In the last two months he’s had Saturday’s off, giving me parenting help on the longest two days of my week. Having both kids home all day, with the diverging needs of two different age groups to answer to, all alone, has been a real challenge. But this past weekend E was free as a bird (other than a deep commitment to watching as much football as possible) and so we decided to grab the babies and run away to one of our favourite places to visit, Waterbury, Vermont. The hubby loves getting to do special things with the kids and me- I suppose working all of those weekends makes him want to make every minute with the kids count. As a family, we love road trips and we loooooove staying in hotels. I have become an expert in packing quickly and for multiple people. And though travelling with young children is not exactly relaxing, I feel like we are getting the hang of it and less stressed by it all. As long as there is a pool and a flat screen, we are happy. Throw in beautiful Vermont landscapes and really good food, and we are in heaven. We told our son we’d be going to the country for the day and overnight and he jumped up and down screaming:” and we’ll stay at a hotel???? I love hotels, I love hotels, yay! hotel!” over and over again. He is his parent’s child. So with excited children in tow and with no set deadline to get anywhere (so much more relaxing!), we set off. This time the border guard noticed the expired passport (again, not mine) but let us through anyway. And I am so thankful that she did because we spent a really lovely 24 hours in Vermont.
We settled into our massive room at the best Best Western ever. The kids each had a pull out chair to sleep on (which they slept in for maybe 3 hours, max. Thank God for the king size bed in our room.)
Then we headed out to the playground, covered bridge (!) and forest right outside.
And then it was off to the pool.
After too many games of ” I’m going to jump into your arms”, we dried off, got ready and went into Waterbury for dinner. We had a reservation at Prohibition Pig, a great restaurant in town with a wonderful craft beer selection. Basically my hubby’s dream come true. The children had had either a short or a non-existent nap so we knew they were ticking time bombs. We were treated to a bottle of Prosseco on arrival, making the inevitable meltdowns less scary. Lovely food and superb service made it all go very smoothly. Even our tired children had fun and they ate, which in itself is a victory.
The next morning we had a great breakfast at Juniper’ Fare, a little diner on the edge of town. It is a really delicious spot and if you go for lunch, have their chicken soup. I had it last year and still dream about it. And then it was back in the car for the beautiful drive home. The mountains and the coloured leaves, the sleeping children in the back seat, holding hands with the hubby. It is so great when your kids get to the age when going away is extra fun. And it is especially great realizing that they, like their parents, love a getaway. A real family getaway. One of hopefully many many more to come.
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