Weekend at the Cape

One thing I'm learning about this MBA world is that these guys work hard and all, and boy do they get well rewarded for it. Zach's first week at his internship was a training week, with a couple days in the SF office and then all the summer interns from the various offices across the country met up in Cape Cod for the last few days of the week, and the option to stay through the weekend. Yes, that would be Cape Cod in Massachusetts, conveniently located a 4(ish)hr drive from here. Thanks to my in-laws watching the kids, I was able to drive down last Friday morning and meet up with Zach for the weekend, a last little get-away before really starting our summer apart. Basically, we got to have a swanky kid-free vacation weekend together and we didn't even have to pay for it. I know, you totally hate me now, and I so don't blame you for it.

I got to meet some of the other summer interns at his office, we spent time hanging out on the beach, slept in late, and just really enjoyed having each other all to ourselves without kids or school or anything else demanding our attention. It was really, really damn nice, especially with how little we saw each other much of the school year.

 

Obligatory beachy sand-drawing-and-feet photo.

 

These two pics are of the same spot on the same beach, one at low tide the other at close to high tide. I couldn't believe the difference. Also, when I walked onto the beach friday afternoon the first thought I had was what a great kid-friendly beach it was, bc the water was so shallow for so long (no big waves or nasty undertow that threatens to drag you out to sea and kill you?! Amazing!). The second thought was how it reminded me of Texas beaches. just without the tar or seaweeds everywhere or big trucks driving along the sand...

 

Goodnight, moon.

About to say good-bye at the Boston airport on Sunday afternoon. Really, we should've been pouting.

And now we're at the end of Week Two, and so far so good. I'm noticing a bit more of a reaction on the kids' part to all the change and Zach's absence, certainly in Quinn who's been on a much shorter fuse the past week and seems to be needing more comfort than normal (totally expected).  The time difference and Zach's schedule makes it a bit of a challenge to find times for him and the boys to talk, but we've been using FaceTime most mornings and that's been working well enough. The solo parenting aspect hasn't been all that bad, honestly (especially with all the support I've had from friends and my in-laws), but I definitely feel his absence.  But all in all, it's going pretty ok. 

one week

Week one is done and over with (or, well, basically. I leave tomorrow to meet Zach for the weekend for a retreat thing as part of his internship training). It's gone surprisingly well, honestly. The solo parenting part has been smooth enough, which I don't expect to last but have certainly enjoyed and appreciated. I do really miss Zach, and it's been kinda fascinating to see how that sadness finds seemingly unrelated ways to manifest itself. Which I suppose is a good thing to be aware of as the summer goes on.  My in-laws just got here and will be visiting for the next month, so right now I've got a pretty solid support network that's making my life and this current life situation a lot easier to manage.

A silver lining to Zach being gone-- evenings are entirely my own again. Which can feel a little lonely, but does mean I have time again for things like blogging. And photos. And blogging pretty photos from the past week or two...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

under the table and scheming

two days down, 77 more to go...

Yesterday my friend Jody and I were talking about toddlers, and how one tricky thing about toddler meltdowns is that often they'll be upset about something, like how you served them their snack on the wrong color plate, and you think the plate is the problem but it's not. The fuss over the plate is just the manifestation of their distress, but the real cause is that they might be hungry or too tired or who knows what else, and THAT is what needs to get addressed first and foremost.

Then this morning I found myself getting way too upset over what should have been a minor annoyance-- missing the hot air balloons at our second attempt to see them at a local festival-- and as I felt the tears coming on I realized this is not about the fucking balloons. No, the real cause was that it's fathers day, and my husband is across the country, and facebook was blowing up today with adorable photos of everyone else's husbands with their kids, and I just miss him. 

And it's only day two. Blargh. I'll get better at this, right?

Ok, we did get to see ONE hot air balloon.

It wasn't the best start to our day, but it did get better. Jody and baby Sam stopped by for a well-timed visit later in the morning, and the boys spent the afternoon playing mostly peacefully outside in the on-again-off-again drizzle. We made pizza for dinner, and bedtime was mostly drama-free. I even got to go for an evening run, and as it turns out there might just be something to that stuff people say about exercise helping your mood and releasing crappy feelings. Now, time to go shower then curl up with a book for a minute before hitting the sack. Tomorrow's another full day.

don't panic

Zach left for SF early this morning. I'll actually get to see him next weekend for a retreat thing they're flying him back here for, after flying him all the way to the west coast today, whatever I'm not complaining. It was still odd to say good-bye this morning, and to think that he won't be back here in our house, or see the kids in person, until September. We had our first FaceTime session with the kiddoes tonight at dinner, and let's just take a moment to say HURRAY for technology. It makes such a difference when having to deal with long distances. 

I printed out calendar pages for the summer, and they're pasted on our wall with the dates of Zach's departure, return, and family visits marked on them. The boys and I put the first sticker on today's date tonight, to mark one day down and way too many left to go. I have to say, it was really damn depressing when I pasted those 3 calendar month pages on the wall and saw just how loooong 11 weeks is when you stare it in the face like that. I'm feeling surprisingly optimistic about the months ahead, though. I've got my lists and ideas for things to do and ways to keep busy, and hopefully be able to avoid having too many tears or meltdowns (on mine and the boys' parts).

lately....

• My sister Jenny came out to visit us for 2 weeks. It was super awesome to have her around, it had been a whole year since the last time we saw her so a bit of sister/auntie time was long overdue. 
• I've started running. I know, I always said I hated running. But, I've been thinking for a while about giving it an honest shot (thanks, Jenny, for finally getting me out the door). I'm only 32 which is young, and so far I've managed to skate through with good health mostly thanks to good genes, but that's not gonna last forever and it's hard to argue with a form of exercise that requires little more than a pair of shoes and stepping out your front door.  Right now I'm going out 4-5 mornings/wk and doing a 2-4 mile loop, running up to half of the distance and walking the rest of the time. I've been at it for about 3 weeks now, and so far so good. I don't have any aspirations for running races or anything, for now I'm happy to get my butt out there and break a sweat a few days a week.
• Zach's done with his first year of business school! Like, DONE done (unlike last week when he was "done" with classes but still had a bunch of work for school projects). I feel like I should have all sorts of feelings about the fact that he's halfway done with school, that the hectic first year is behind us, etc... but I'm mostly focused on how he now has (a little less than) 2 weeks of fully FREE time at home with us, before taking off to SF for the summer. Today Zach and I went on a run together, dropped Q off with a sitter to go on an early afternoon date, then all went together to get D from school and have some family time at the playground. I'm planning on fitting lots more of all of that into the next couple weeks here. 

CM blog circle: beautiful ugly

This month's theme was "beautiful ugly." I had no idea what to do with this for a long time. Then all those dandelions bloomed everywhere, and I thought they were beautiful but remembered that they're weeds and lots of people find them an ugly nuisance, and as it turned out I got out to photograph them just a couple days before the mowers came and cut them all down. Yay timing.

Next up in the blog circle ~ Candid Joy Photography