My first solo trip

I took my first trip away from kids and husband last week. Needless to say, I had a great time. But it was one of those vacations when I needed a vacation after the vacation. Or at least just some more sleep.

I went back to the Bay Area for Melissa's wedding. Since we just dragged the kids across country, we did not feel it was necessary to drag them back for an event (wedding) that we usually would get a babysitter for anyway. And besides, the 5 hour cross country flight was partly what we were trying to avoid by moving back east. And since I was IN the wedding and there has been so much transition and change for the kids, Tom was gracious to take the kids all weekend (at my parents with MKkm visiting) while I went to party.

And party I did. It wasn't one of those personal retreat kind of vacations where I holed up in a hotel for 3 days, ate bon bons and watched movies (although Karl kept saying that I should have). Since we just left behind 15 years of friends in the Bay Area, I felt it only appropriate to see as many of them as I could, especially the ones that seemed saddest for us to go.

So although they have 3 kids and a live in nanny, I asked to stay with Eric & Chia-Chi so that I would have more hang out time with them. Karl also said I was crazy to stay with friends that had kids, not to mention three of them, but when they aren't my own, I really don't mind them so much, even when they bound into my room 8:30 in the morning to greet me. It was actually quite a pleasant greeting. Better than the ones my own kids give me every morning ("Mommmeeee, I'm hongreeee...").

My trip went as follows:

Thurs PM - DC
- Slept at 1AM but had to wake up for flight at 4AM
- Got woken up by Eli at 3:30AM

Fri AM - Flight to SF
- Giddy to be alone in the airport, bought an Oprah mag and breakfast
- Ate, slept, read and watched movie to my delight on plane
- Why do the 2 men next to me not need to get up for the first 4 hours of the flight?
- Arrive in SF at 10AM PDT, get rental car

Fri PM - SF
- In-N-Out take out lunch, "check in" at Eric & CC's
- Shopped for shoes for rehearsal
- Rehearsal in PV
- Rehearsal dinner in RC, lots of catch up time with Heejin, met Brett and others
- Absconded with Melissa and Heejin for post dinner girl time at Cafe Barrone
- Home at 12:30

Saturday
- Sleep in (besides 8:30 wake up call by Han kids)
- MITCCF brunch at Shih's
- Drop by Drew & Hoa's (old neighbors)
- Shop Victoria's Secret ;-) at Vallco
- ALCF 5:30 service, say hello to David, Hannah & Alyssa
- Late dinner with Chia-Chi

Sunday
- 7AM (oy) in Foster City for makeup/hair
- Wedding and reception all day
- 11-11:30PM in shower washing out pounds of hairspray

Monday
- Slept in until 10:30AM -- I didn't think I could do it!
- Lunch at park with Yew Chung friends until almost 3!
- Drop by Pora's
- Pack up and "check out"
- Dinner with Chi @ "Dilly's"
- Off to the aiport

Mon PM-Tue AM - Flight to DC
- Sat next to girl who kept shaking her leg listening to her iPod, did not sleep well

And with that was the end of my glorious weekend off. Tom did great with the kids. They were a challenge, hyper whenever Kelsey and Morgan were still around. And Eli had a bout of diarrhea which hit the day that they were all at the museum and during dinner with Thomas & Alice. Poor guy -- Tom, I mean, not Eli. But he was a trooper, never complained, did hint at a weekend off himself, helped clean our room/bathroom at my parents, and even did laundry while I was gone. Wow!

The weekend did me a ton of good mommywise. When I left, things were pretty bad. I was quite temperamental, not wanting to deal with a lot of the temper tantrums or the hyperness that just comes with the boys these days. But coming back, my fuse is longer and I'm more willing to discuss and explain, rather than just snap and yell at the boys. I did call back every day and try to talk or Skype with them, but most of those muffled conversations with the boys, me trying to get info out of them about their daily activities were rather fruitless except that they helped us connect each day.

Did I miss the kids? Honestly, I missed them the most when I came back home and got to hug them again. I did miss them when I saw Ed's (the groom) 2 nephews, hair cleanly cut, dressed up the way I would have dressed them, one fell asleep like an angel at the rehearsal dinner and the other was really well-behaved -- which was when I came out of fantasyland and realized that if my kids were at a grown up "boring" rehearsal dinner, they would not be half as well-behaved and then I didn't miss them at all.

I forgot to mention that at the wedding, of course there was dancing and just one best man to two of us maid/matrons of honor. I was glad to be able to claim "married" and not have to dance with anyone else, just snap pictures or mingle with old friends. So it was nice to see Tom again, having held up the fort, and to have arms to come home to.