There and Back, #2

[SallyM]

what a great day today! I got up at 5 and was able to get ready/get the kids up and dressed be on the road by 5:30, which put us in saratoga by 8:30. awesome drive...the kids were great, and that early there was no traffic, and thankfully I missed every one of the staties that were along 87 in ny...wow, were they out today. we had breakfast with the horses, just like we used to when we lived there...its been 2 years, so the twins don't remember, or I don't think they do, but my eldest did and he's been begging to go. I didn't tell them what we were doing until we were underway...you would have thought I was a superhero. lol.

I did so good with the kids all on my own! H called to say good morning right when we were pulling in to the track. he was shocked...and possible a little jealous that he wasn't with us. or maybe I'm reading into things. but hey, this was definitely the old me...I love road trips (hell, any kind of trip), impromptu or thought out, doesn't matter. its something that has slipped away since having kids, for the most part. in fact, when the bomb first hit and I thought WE were working to salvage the marriage, the first thing I did (guys, you'll all love me for this) was plan my h's birthday present. (background first, when we first started dating, I didn't know what to get for his b-day in may. he didn't strike me as a "stuff" kind of guy, at least not at that time, so I planned a trip to camden yards...he had always wanted to go, never had. we had the BEST time...2 whole days, and we did more in those 2 days than most people would do in a week. he loved it). when the bomb hit, I decided one of the things I had lost was stuff like this. so I immediately planned a new trip for him. I had always wanted to take him to the old ballparks around the country, so I ended up picking wrigley...even got tix all set for the cubs/white sox game, how cool would that have been? air fare all set. even got his best friend, who lives 7 hours away from us, and his wife, to join us for the weekend. how pathetic is that? that my response to my husband's infidelity was to do something special for him? sick, wasn't it? long story short, it didn't end up happening. save those details for another time.

don't get me wrong, we do travel a little. we do lots of local day trips, we do yearly pilgrimages down to VA/MD to see my sisters, and H and I have done a couple of other trips here and there, and we did wdw last fall, but overall, not a ton. although now that the kids are older, its sooo much better than it was. and so I proved it to be today. and I did it with 3 kids ON MY OWN. woo-hooo!

we did the breakfast with the horses, then went by our old neighborhood, went to our favorite park and had a blast...rode the carousel, watched ducks, climbed trees, ran around, just had a great time. I even took them out to lunch at a real restaurant (had planned to do a picnic, but changed my mind). they were awesome. after a lovely day, we drove home. next time, will plan to stay a few days, but just wanted a quickie trip today.

so it was a great day in many ways...I had a blast, my kids did too, I didn't let H not being with me stop me/hold me back. all that is good. had plenty of mulling time in the car, which I will admit to doing a lot of...but also did plenty of singing/playing car games with the kids.

now I am home and exhausted, but happy and trying to block thoughts of H out of my mind. he didn't call the kids to say goodnight, and I am proud to say I didn't call him. if the kids had asked, I would have, but they didn't, so I didn't. they didn't even seem to think about it.

looking foward to catching up with everyone in the morning!