DC Metro Moms

I Didn't Miss My Kids When I Went to Vegas

Who would turn down a trip to Las Vegas? Especially when it's tax deductible?

 A couple of weeks ago, I attend my annual Passion Parties Convention. Of my 8+ plus years in the business, I've only missed it once. I even planned my pregnancy around it. Last year I was 6 weeks pregnant. This year, the baby was 3 months old when I left for Las Vegas.

Not only is a ton of fun, but convention re-energizes my business. We have a lot of great seminars and amazing speakers, including the fabulous old-enough-to-be-my-grandmother sexpert Sue Johanson and the very inspiring Chris Gardner, who wrote about his life in The Pursuit of Happyness.

I was gone for five days and didn't miss my kids a bit.

A Second Trip of a Lifetime

It's hard to get my head around the fact that after planning for almost a year, my family and I are just weeks away from our second trip of a lifetime.  The first, of course, was when we traveled to China in 2001 to bring home our daughter.  Now, in just a matter of weeks, we'll be returning for the first time in nine years so we can visit PunditGirl's birth country with her (thank you airline miles!)

It feels like yesterday and it feels like it's been a lifetime since we stepped off the plane at National Airport, our lives changed by a baby who spent the first year of her life in an orphanage with about 100 other children and about eight caregivers. We've talked for many years, as our PunditBaby grew into a PunditGirl, about the amazing things we saw and experienced in January of 2001 when we brought our daughter home from Hunan Province. 

Now we're busy finishing up our final preparations -- getting our visas, buying a snazzy new polka-dot suitcase for her, and thinking about how much rice (her favorite food in the whole world) she'll be able to eat while we're there.

And I've promised myself, I am buying that Mao watch this time! 

Terra Cotta Warriors Worth the Wait!

I think we were one of the first families to purchase tickets many months ago for the Terra Cotta Warrior exhibit at National Geographic that opened last week.  I know we have a special reason to jump on anything with Chinese culture since our fourth-grader was adopted from China and we do whatever we can to stay connected with her birth culture.

My only hesitance was the fact that she, as most nine-year-olds, is not a fan of the museum outing!  Lucky for us this tied in very nicely with planning our first trip back to China with her next year, which will include a stop in Xi'an -- the home of the Terra Cotta Warriors.

I'm happy to say, she was mesmerized. (Unlike Washington Post art reviewer Blake Gopnik).

Thoughts on Summer

I suppose I should have written this in, oh... let's say June, but I didn't really have the time... or the perspective.

Considering that today is the first day of my vacation (we are heading south tomorrow), I wanted to share a few things about summer.  At least, MY summer.  Not summer in general, I mean how summer works for me.

I love summer.

I love the warmth.

I love the color.

I love soccergirl's activities (I live vicariously through them).

I am overjoyed by the fact that my child can go to Scout camp, day camp, lots of swimming, doing fun things that she enjoys.  I also love the fact that she gets to do so many things that Mrs GF and I couldn't do as children (me because we were poor, Mrs GF because her mother is a loon).  One of the best things about summer is that my youngest and I get to spend lots of time together, because of my great work schedule.

Anyway, I love summer... even when it is hotter than h*** like it sometimes gets here, in northern Virginia.

Where the hell is National Harbor?

I was fairly certain National Harbor was somewhere near DC, but then something happened and I wasn't so confident.  I had planned a Pre-BlogHer gathering at a brand new gallery, arranged for a fabulous sponsor for the soiree, even arranged for a fancy schmancy caterer. I'd gone crazy in the wine store.  Everything was in place for a fabulous evening of getting to know other bloggers from DC, VA and MD.  The day of the event,  I had everything packed in my car and ready to roll. I plugged the information into my GPS and then I felt my stomach lurch. 

 Staring back at me were the words "Oxon Hill, MD."  Not being from DC, I read "Maryland" and instantly began to hyperventilate as my mind began to race, "Uh oh. Did I plan a DC, VA and MD event in Baltimore by accident. Who does that? Who plans an event accidentally in the wrong locale over an hour away?"  Thankfully, not I.

Seeing The World Through My Sons Eyes

I used to think it was cheesy when people said watching the world through your child's eyes was the best thing about being a parent.  Now I get it.  We just got back from 3 days in Disney World and a week on the Disney Cruise and it was seriously the best vacation ever.

Almost every night on the ship there is a Broadway style show and Michael adored them.  And I loved watching him watch them.   He made me believe just for a moment that Faith and Trust and Pixie Dust really can make you fly. One night they had an on-board Pirate Party and Mickey Mouse repelled down the ship to save it from being taken over from Pirates and fireworks over took the night sky and in that moment we were all just kids again.  Dancing away to old 80s music and cheering because we were safe from the evil pirates who were trying to capture the Disney Magic.

Bye to Traveler Chic and Hello to Everything But the Kitchen Sink

Back in the days before we were married, my husband and I endured a 2 year long distance relationship that was characterized by frequent flights for weekend visits.  I epitomized the chic savvy traveler with my 1 roller bag that always fit neatly in the overhead bin and purse that slid under the seat in front of me.  Not anymore. 

Fast forward 10 years and add two kids and I no longer resemble that picture to the left.  These days traveling almost includes everything but the kitchen sink. 

On a recent trip that spanned 6 time zones where we each racked up 10,000 frequent flier miles during 6 flights I finally realized we are “that” family.  You know “that” family…The one whose overstuffed bags teeter precariously on the luggage cart ready to topple in an instant and are always dangerously close the 50 lbs per piece weight limit.  “That” family is the one that business and first class travelers look upon in disdain as they struggle to repack their overweight bags, cramming things into carry on and car seat bags, while surrounded in a sea of underwear and personal items.

I Went To Sleep Away Camp, With Wine

My husband and I spent the past weekend at a resort that offered a "Food and Wine Camp."  It was our anniversary present to each other.  We are major "foodies" and I am an amateur wine sommelier so this was right up our ally. We drank wine and learned about wine and food pairings and spent the weekend with a wine sommelier and a 4 star chef. I gained 10 pounds, easily.

The weekend was all about "wonderfully crafted herb and wine pairings, experiential hands-on cooking classes and expertly prepared and paired Chef's Table Dinners."  But for me, it was about so much more than that.

I have spent the past weeks incredibly ill, bed ridden actually.  It's been a long haul, and I was eventually diagnosed with Lyme's disease. We went back and forth about even going, but eventually decided we could probably never find another weekend where my parents could watch my son the whole weekend  when they were offering the camp and decided just to do it.  if I needed to skip out on one of the activities and sleep, I would.

Vacation Without the Kids

We're leaving for vacation on Friday, just the two of us. The islands are calling my name, and I plan to indulge in some beach time, sipping tropical drinks as I dip my toes in the sand and salt water. It's been a long time since we had a vacation without children. We went to my sister's wedding last September and had a nice weekend away, our first time ever apart from our children, and before that our last vacation together was six years ago when I was pregnant with our oldest son. We used to wake up late, go for a hike or an easy climb, ride bikes in the afternoon, eat our meals whenever we felt like it, and stay up late. Now when we go on vacation, it's usually to visit the grandparents because going anywhere else and managing three curious little boys in a small hotel room is not relaxing.

Packing for vacation has changed dramatically since our children joined the family. Before children, my husband and I could pack light with our own personal clothes and gear, but once kids came into the picture we had to deal with a much larger packing list. When the kids were babies, the list was enormous, almost a logistical nightmare.

Packing list without children:

shirts
shorts
hiking shoes
sandals

Laundry never takes a vacation

After 4 years of constant rushing to raise the children, cook the meals, do the laundry, clean the house, do the work, and all the other things that have to be done in a normal day, our family finally took a vacation.  We went to the beautiful Outer Banks, a very popular destination in the suburban Washington crowd, and rented a house with some friends.  All went wonderfully until the third day, when I realized something that had never been quite so clear to me before:

Laundry never takes a vacation.