Smiling Mom

Three of four cou­sins CJ, BC, and eClaire

Four Gene­ra­tions Great-Grandma B, Non­nie, Smi­ling Mom, BC, and eClaire

Uncle JD with BC, Cou­sin CJ, and eClaire

Tonight Grandpa and BC are ‘cam­ping’. They pulled out slee­ping pads, and lots of blan­kets and will be slee­ping on the deck under the stars. They made smo­res and are now on a nature hike with their flash­lights. How cool is that?!

OK, Last year, to the day I was in San Diego with my two dar­ling chil­dren. At the time they were 3 months old and 21 1/2 months old. This was our second trip in one month. The first was when eClaire was just about 2 months old, the second when she was 3 months old.

We flew.

Alone.

No Hubby, just one stres­sed out mommy and two kids under two.

I swore I’d never do it again.

Until Yes­ter­day.

I subsc­ribe to Ding, Southwest’s super cheep fairs. Each day a ‘ding’ comes up on my com­pu­ter with the latest deals. Yes­ter­day Ding flashed up and said that there were $25 one way tic­kets from my city to San Diego. Um, ya. I had to jump on that deal! My sis­ter in law from San Diego is having her second baby some­time in May, plus the kids miss Non­nie and Grandpa! We had to go.

So after purcha­sing 2 tic­kets, one for eClaire and me and one for BC, and paying a mere $142, we’re boo­ked for a flight to San Diego late in May. I’m so excited!!

So if you are flying in Cali­for­nia, late May on a South­west flight, you might want to bring your ear plugs!! I can’t gua­ran­tee my kids will have had a nap prior to get­ting on the plane!

On another note:

OK, seriously. What can I do with this? Will I have to start sewing eClaire into her clothes at night?? (An idea, btw, given to me by a genius mom friend!)

Yes­ter­day I had to go to work in place of my team part­ner who saved me when my fell ill with the won­der­ful Rota­vi­rus back in February. When Grandpa found out I had to work he offe­red to watch the kids all day. Being the good teacher that I am, I left him les­son plans for the 8 1/2 hours I’d be gone. Being a prin­ci­pal, appre­cia­ted them greatly! Since I mis­pla­ced my cell phone Thurs­day night, I asked Grandpa to email me if he had any ques­tions or pro­blems. Off I went to work and Grandpa’s day started.

Everything went smoothly in the mor­ning, Grandpa made his infa­mous pan­ca­kes for the kids, which the love! He also chan­ged a poopy dia­per. The first one ever, I think. And got my kids ready for the day.

My mas­ters of decep­tion, I mean kids, never cried once throughout the day. I wish that hap­pe­ned for me! Around 10:00 BC hop­ped onto his trike, eClaire hop­ped in her stro­ller and off they went to our local park. From the park, the follo­wing dia­lo­gue occu­rred, via Grandpa’s Blackberry.

Grandpa:

“Because of eClaire, I’m a chick mag­net at the park with all the soc­cer moms. This is cool. Dad”

Me:

“Very cool!! Hubby should go to the park with the kids more often!”

Grandpa:

“OK, so BC deci­des to join a preschool class. He wal­ked up to the teacher, took her hand, and said, “Let’s go see the trac­tor.”. She said, “Are you the new boy in the class?”. He said, “Yes!” And they were off to see the tractor.”

At 1:10, ten minu­tes after nap time:

Me:

“So, did you make it? Are they asleep? ”

Grandpa:

“Sound out. Not a peep. I have yet to hear eClaire cry. What’s so hard about this?”

Me:

“Funny, that’s what Hubby says!”

Well, it tur­ned out to be a fan­tas­tic day, all were happy. Grandpa took the kids to get their first bowl of ice cream at our local Cold Stone Crea­mery. Deli­cious!

We had a won­der­ful time with him. Today BC and I were tal­king and he said, “Mommy, when I go down to San Diego, I’m going to go to Non­nie and Grandpa’s house.”

“Yes,” I said, “This summer.”

“Also, when I go cam­ping. I’ll go to their house.”

“That’s right, BC. When we go cam­ping, we’ll also go to their house.”

I think it is so spe­cial that my kids have a grandpa. I didn’t grew up with one, and had no idea what exactly I was mis­sing. There is a bond there. An unex­plai­na­ble, uncon­di­tio­nal love that the kids and I treasure.

Thanks for the quick trip Dad. It was very memorable!

Grandpa loves taking pic­tu­res and has taken up pho­to­graphy as a hobby. Here are some of his shots from this trip.