Monday, June 25, 2007

A kid-free weekend: Let me count the ways

2: hours we traveled out of our way (but at least the forest/lake scenery was prettier than the endless farms that we should have been passing, had we not missed our turn)

1: sign I saw that caused me to regret not bringing my camera (a gas station called, I SWEAR, the “Kum&Go”). Oh good, a guy named Dave did take a picture.

1: unnecessary showers I took just because I could

8: times my son threw up while we were gone

3½: hours my dad spent on the floor keeping the vomitous boy company

180: extra minutes of television Jo watched while Grandma and Grandpa were cleaning up vomit

200: sit-ups my mother claimed to do while keeping vigil over napping, sick child

2: family historical sites we passed (Eau Galle, and my grandmother’s hometown – I have her class ring from the local high school, class of ’26)

40+: years that my grandmother’s former boss, an insurance executive who lived in the city which we visited, sent her a box of candy at Christmas

7: tapas dishes we tried, + 1 to-die-for order of blackberry-goat cheese empanadas with vanilla-thyme ice cream

2: things from home I missed (my Tempur-Pedic pillow and my electric toothbrush)

2: kids (+1 dog) from home I didn’t really miss, except I felt bad about the barfing

2: presents I bought for myself (pants, book)

4: presents I bought for the kids (fire-truck flashlight, kiddie gardening set, sunflower seeds, nasturtium seeds)

6: sections of the previous Sunday’s New York Times I brought with me

6: sections of the previous Sunday’s New York Times I actually read

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P.S. Thank you all for the nice comments about our backyard. Of course you're all invited for a cold drink (beer, wine, mojito, milk, take your pick) anytime you're in Mayberry!

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Also, I should say that Opie is fine. The throwing-up lasted a few hours, and then (apparently) he ate like a horse for the rest of the day.

17 comments:

Julie Marsh said...

Those empanadas sound incredible. As does a child-free weekend.

Oh, but poor Opie. And poor grandparents. Hope nobody else catches the bug.

Movin Mom said...

Oooohhh how nice! I knew you were leaving .....and then I forgot!

I always feel like I take much better care of myself when we are away from the kids....why is that?

The empanadas do sound delish!
Was Opie sick....or was it something he ate.....ORRRRRR did he just miss you that much?

Magpie said...

Sounds like fun. Poor kid, though. I took the Sunday Times with me when we left on Saturday, and brought all of it home again on Sunday.

Patois42 said...

My youngest is a stress puker, so if we're ever gone, he's puking at someone's house. Most recently, however, he's made it into the toilet.

And, change of subject from puking, those empanadas do sound muy bueno!

Julie Pippert said...

Oooh kid=free.

Sounds ike you had such a good time...wahoo!

mamatulip said...

A child-free weekend...sounds heavenly. And you even managed to skip out on puke. Nice. ;)

Per your last post -- your backyard looks very, very nice and is that the back of your house? I love the colour!

Jennifer said...

I'm very well acquainted with the Kum & Go, they're all over my hometown in Missouri! Who on Earth thought this was a good idea for a name???

I'm insanely jealous of your childfree weekend. I haven't been alone since 2005.

Hope Opie is all better.

Lisa said...

Oh yeay for child-free weekends! Sounds like an awesome one.

Unknown said...

Wow, your parents deserve some mega karma points! And YAY that you got away and ALSO didn't have to deal with puke! BONUS!

Jennifer (ponderosa) said...

My parents once watched the kids while my husband and I were barfing. Then we felt better & the kids got it, so my parents went home. Where they started barfing.

I LOVE grandparents!!!!

Hoooooooray for the child-free weekend. I think I envy the shower most of all : )

Anonymous said...

Ahhhhh. Sounds amazing. MMMMMM. Empanadas. The grandparents definately deserve an A+.

Bon said...

your mother does situps?

i want me some empanadas now. tell your mom to please do a few situps on my behalf so i can earn 'em.

glad Opie's okay, and you had a great time.

Damselfly said...

Kid-free weekend. Wow. Do you think Opie threw up because he missed you? ;)

Do you like your pillow? Because I was thinking about getting one of those.

Anonymous said...

Damselfly: I luuuuuuurrrvve the pillow. It has worked miracles. I was having a lot of shoulder/neck pain--totally gone.

Lady M said...

I love that you got to read all the sections of the paper that you brought - small miracles!

Glad Opie is feeling better.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a wonderful time!

When we lived in Omaha, there were a few Kum and Gos - I never understood the name on that one. lol

Christy said...

I would die for a kid-free weekend right about now, and I only have 1 kid to be free of1 Glad you had a good time.