The Amazing Liz and Ed... Again!

The weekend before the 4th of July Liz invited Josie up for a last minute stay.  She didn't really not invite Benjamin but because he has only stayed one time (and woke up for the day at 3 AM) no one really thought he would be ready to go back. Josie, of course, was thrilled at the chance to spend the weekend up with her favorites in Snohomish but surprisingly, Benjamin caught word of it and threw a fit.  He wanted to go, too. I didn't really think he was ready but Josie (who has been given our extra cell phone that we normally gave to our nannies) started texting Liz with things like, "it's totally up to you but Benjamin really, really, really wants to come.  Can he?"  And Liz, being the amazing aunt that she is said "of course he can come.  I really, really want him to come too."  She just didn't think he wanted to.  Neither did I.  But the kids excitedly packed their bags and got up by 6 AM in anticipation of the trip up to visit Liz and Ed for the weekend.  We packed up the car and headed out around 9:30.  

When we were about 5 minutes away from our meeting place I look back into the backseat and see Benjamin just starting to throw up.  Not a little bit of throw up, mind you.  He was covered from head to toe in puke.  I don't carry wipes anymore because he is potty trained and all I had were a couple of water bottles and an old fabric shopping bag!  I called Liz en route to say that maybe we might want to reschedule which was met with screams of disappointment from the backseat.  Liz, who again, is just amazing said just keep coming and we will work it out.  When we arrive at the meeting spot I tell Benjamin that he is going to have to come home.  It just isn't going to work this time.  He demands that he still wants to go and that HE IS NOT SICK!!!  Liz again, amazingly says, let's just try it.  Maybe he is just car sick.  Well, he might just be car sick but he also might have the stomach flu and Josie just might get it later that day and then she has two sick kids on her hands.  OK, I just might have REALLY needed a break from the kids because I agreed to try it.  Oh, and also there was a stirred up wasp nest in Liz and Ed's backyard and the night before their property was in a lock down because some guys who ran a meth lab were on the loose on their property.  They weren't in lock down but they hadn't caught the guys yet.  Yeah, I really did need a break because given all that I still said, OK, they will be fine, I'm sure.  And... they were!  On top of taking the kids with one still smelling of his recent vomit Liz and Ed love those kids unconditionally.  I knew they would be well taken care of even if Benjamin got sick again or if Josie got it.  Amazingly,

 Benjamin didn't get sick again and in fact was able to stay for 2 nights and slept for a good 8-10 hours each night without waking up or screaming.  Josie did a super job as a big sister and always keeps him calm and having fun while up there. By looking at the photo below you would never know he lost his entire breakfast on the ride up.  They both had a ball!! In fact the only time he cried was when he saw me the day I picked them up.  He burst into tears and wanted to go back to with Liz.  Normally, that would hurt my feelings but given his separation issues over the past 3 years, it was nice to know that he has made such enormous progress THANK YOU, Liz and Ed.

And Marty and I had a fabulous stay-cation at home.  Wow!  Below are a couple photos of Marination - a cool place right on the water and along our walk where we stopped for breakfast on Sunday morning.

Really it was amazing to have 2 days to ourselves.  He has gone away and I have gone away but that last time we got away without kids was back when Josie was just about 9 months old and we headed out to Alderbrook Resort and Josie's other amazing aunt, Kim took care of her for two nights.  We definitely need to do that at least once a year.  We ended up going on two monster walks from our house and all around Alki and back up.  They were probably two 7-8 mile walks each day and then on Sunday afternoon we put the kayak in and paddled from West Seattle over to Seattle and under the great wheel.  We ended the night with some yummy gyros at Kokoras.  Fun, Fun, Fun weekend for all.