Weekend "Getaway"...

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On Saturday morning I made a last minute decision to meet my mom, grandparents and two year old niece Caeden, in Rhode Island. The forecast was gorgeous and for the first summer in 28 years, I hadn't been to the cottage this year. Not to mention that Brad was planning to work on the house that we are currently renovating...Figured that the effort of getting there was worth the help I'd have...grandma and a set of great grandparents...I'd be sitting on the beach reading a book right? (I never actually thought that I'd get to read on the beach...I occasionally visit La La Land, but I'm not stupid.)

It took me three hours to pack...At 12:30 I stuck my kids in the car. It would have taken way to long to make them lunch...so I handed Sam a Power Bar and prayed that he wouldn't get too much chocolate all over my new car. When we got to Providence it was 82 degrees and sunny...thirty minutes later at the cottage is was 70 and overcast...We went to the beach in sweatshirts...the kids went swimming...it was nice.

That night, I had the pleasure of sleeping in the same room as my two night time terrorists, I mean children. I actually slept in the same double bed with Sam (and Grace from about 2:30 a.m on...) I went to bed at about 10:30. From 10:30 till about 1:30 Sam tossed and turned, talked, yelled and sang....

"I can do it myself!"

"That's mine"

"Go Lightening the Queen!"

"I'm building a house!" (as he clawed at my back)

"Mommy, hold my hand."

and my favorite, He sang, "Old McDonald had a farm....and on his farm he had a helicopter!" and then started cracking up and said, "No, that's silly, there's no helicopters on farms!"

Sam finally settled down. I fell asleep...and then at 2:00 Grace woke up and screamed till 5:00. I could not make her stop. It was so awful that I actually wondered how much trouble I would get in if I brought her out to the car, strapped her into her car seat and left her there. At 6:15, Sam woke up and yelled, "It's morning! I want to go upstairs!". This of course woke Grace up and that was it for sleep, an hour maybe...I felt physically ill.

Sunday was perfect though. The beach was beautiful, hot and sunny like July. We played in the sand, went swimming and just had a great time together. As I sat on the beach watching my kids play with my mom and my grandparents, I was flooded by memories past summers. I could almost hear the voices and see the people that I have spent so many happy times with. I felt like the luckiest mom in the world. How often do four generations of a family get to frolic on the beach? It was absolutely worth the bad night...in fact, I'd do it again.