Staycation

We had time off work for the past week and a half. I went to my niece’s wedding for the first few days while Aaron stayed home with the babies. Then we had the following week together at home. This was my first time away from Aaron and the babies since we got married. Aaron cried for a few days before I left. And although I LOVED being alone in a hotel room for a couple days, I was aching to be back home too. But I still think about how no one was touching me for a couple days when my kids and Aaron are all crawling all over me.

The wedding was beautiful. I sometimes look at my grown up nieces and feel like this isn’t the real world. How can those sweet, chubby babies be married and starting their own families? How is it that they are such good friends to me now when just a few years ago I was probably washing their mouths out with soap and telling them to put their underwear back on and yelling “don’t eat your toe lint”. And now they’re starting careers, getting married, having babies, and loving on my own babies. It really hurts horribly. 

We went for bike rides. The girls are SO CUTE bundled into the bike trailer. We love sea shanties so we ride down the road with “MY MOTHER TOLD ME” blaring from the JBL speaker. Usually one (or all) of us are singing along in bad Irish accents because why not. It’s a very homeschool vibe. 

Luna particularly loves My Mother Told Me sung by Nati Dreddd. She asked for the “princess pirate” song all day. And Daphne prefers My Mother Told Me-Viking Anthem preformed by L.B. One. And if you know them, then you understand how perfect those are for their personalities. Luna twirls delicately and Daphne head bangs aggressively. Aaron said, as we listened to that song for the 100th time,”I think this is our theme song for the week.”

We bought so much food from Costco beforehand so I wouldn’t have to cook very much. So much food. Enough for weeks. But I was terrified of cooking on vacation, haha. No regrets.

I took naps every day and went to bed when I felt like it. Normally I’m not able to nap because of the girls and go to bed super early. So being able to nap and then stay up past the girl’s 8pm bedtime was HEAVEN. I tidied up the house, lit my oil lamps, and watched murder tv without anyone touching me. Seriously amazing.

We went to parks and used the swings which turned Daphne into the HAPPIEST baby in the world. She laughed and growled non stop.

We took the girls to ride the tiny carousel at Figpickles toy store. This was Luna’s first time to go to Figpickles and it was so magical. She was so happy over every single thing and picked out a small doll to take home and nothing else. I asked her about a few other toys and princess dresses, but “No, Mama. I really like this one pink doll”.  And at Honeypeeps candy store she wanted one lollipop with a little stuffed unicorn hugging it. I asked her if she wanted anything else, holding out a little cellophane bag for her to fill, but “No thanks! I just love this purple unicorn lollipop!! It’s my very favorite!”

We went to the driving range and hit balls for awhile. It was so dang windy and cold we could hardly stand it. But Luna barely noticed and ran excitedly all over the place. She fell asleep for her nap in about 20 seconds when we got back home.

We went for walks in our pjs, and roasted marshmallows in the firepit. I bought cosmic flames  and we LOVED them. Magic fire.

By the fire one night I asked Luna what she wanted to be when she grows up. Without a second of hesitation she said,”I would like to cut chicken with scissors.” 

Me: “Wait, what?? You answered so quickly.”

Luna: “A chicken leg especially. I would be a princess mother then”.

Aaron:”That’s achievable.”

Me:”You’ve just been thinking about cutting up chicken all this time?”

Luna:”Yes. A chicken leg mostly, my dear.” 

She used to vomit all solid foods and ate only purées until about 10 months ago or so. I still cut up all of her food in tiny bites and I use scissors because I’m terrible with knives. I had no idea this had made such an impression on her.

Farragut is my favorite place to go so we went out there for disc golf and a picnic by the water. Disc golf was great, but they still had all the roads to the water closed off which was a bummer for me. Luna as usual was happy with everything at all times. “This is a berry fuuuuun ABENTURE!! Let’s throw rocks! What a FUN game!!”

After Luna was born, I saw this online,”You have 18 summers. 18 Christmases. 18 Years sounds like a long time, but 18 summers doesn’t. That’s what you get with your kids if you’re lucky.” I think about that all the time. Almost daily. We have 14 summers left with Luna and 17 with Daphne. Sometimes I wish I hadn’t read that because it gives me an almost frantic heartbreaking feeling. But mostly I’m thankful to value this time (even when I sigh in relief at bedtime). Aaron watched a video in which a dad made a comment that after about 5-6 years you are no longer your child’s number one, the very best friend, their whole entire world. After that they start making other little friends and growing up. Which as far as we can see is actually true (We cry a lot at our house, haha). 

So this family staycation week was for all of us, but mostly for the girls. It was for Aaron and I to feel relaxed and have fun. For me to feel not rushed because rushing is my biggest nemesis and in my top 10 most hated things. But mostly I planned it for the girls. Every activity was “what would their faces look like if we did this”. I wanted this week to be their best memories. I wanted to see their little faces light up with joy. And we really knocked it out of the park. Little kids are so easy to make happy. They are at peace right beside us. And a piece of candy is all it takes to put them over the top. 

Luna found this “treasure” on one of our walks. She played with it for 3 days straight. She held it up to the light and tenderly said,”I love how the light makes it change colors”. She tapped it gently with her fingernail and said,”Wow it makes good sounds too”.

This is all it takes to make them happy. This is all it takes.