Our mini vacation

Ok, so not so much "ours" as mine.

Chris had some meetings in Edmonton on Thursday and today. When he told me about them about a month ago, I sort of jokingly said that I should come. Mostly because there is something about staying in a hotel that I love. I don't get to do it very often and Chris does, so he thinks that I am silly.

Anyway, somehow my little joking comment turned into "Why not?". We made a call to Pat and Joanne and they were able to babysit, so it was a go!

I had been excited about it for a while, but a bit apprehensive, too. I hadn't yet left Levi overnight. Luca was 15 months before I left him overnight and it was tough. This time it wasn't nearly as tough. I don't know, maybe having 2 kids and really, truly needing some time to myself is what did it. Or maybe knowing that they were in completely capable and loving hands helped too. I think it was a combination of both.

Chris came home early from work on Wednesday and we were leaving Crossfield by 2:30 that afternoon. We marveled at how strange it was to be driving and having an uninterrupted conversation. And not having to point out to Luca every tractor, semi truck and farm animal that we drove past. We almost didn't know what to talk about. The comfortable silence was nice, too.

We arrived at the hotel just before supper time and checked in. Our room was very spacious and had been recently redecorated. I was really excited about the king size bed. It was a Sleep number bed, which I was excited to try out. (My number is 25, btw. I like it really soft). What I didn't know is that getting out of a soft sleep number bed is pretty much like getting out of a waterbed. Not so easy. Humorous though. So, after fiddling around with the bed settings we headed out for dinner.

We had chinese, which was ok. Not great, not bad, just ok. We then went to the movie, which is another big treat for us. My grandma had given us a gift certificate for the theatre for Christmas and we hadn't had a chance to use it yet. We saw "Knowing" with Nicholas Cage. I have a theory that all of his movies are weird and I usually don't like them, but the preview for the movie looked good, so we thought we'd give it a try. And it was good. Until about 20 minutes before the end. I won't ruin it in case any of you wanted to see it, but the ending killed the whole movie for me. I was really into the movie until the ending. It was just so....stupid. Oh well.

On Thursday Chris didn't have any meetings until after lunch so we slept in (until 8:30!!! Big deal when your kids usually wake up around 6:30!), had leisurely showers, watched some daytime tv and just hung out.

It was my Auntie Linda's 50th Birthday on Thursday so her and my cousin Amanda picked me up and the 3 of us went for lunch. It was a nice visit, and I don't get to see them often. We then went back to my Aunt's house where I shopped in her store and got myself a new Louis Vuitton purse and a Coach purse for a fantastic deal. After my grandma arrived, they dropped me off at Chapters.

This was what I had been really looking forward to and it was the hilight of my trip. If you know me, you know that I love to read. A bookstore is one of my all time favorite stores to just "be" in. I was thrilled to be able to browse for as long as I wanted without children. It was a glorious hour and a half (I could have spent longer but Chris called to say he was done his meetings). I came out of there with 7 new books and only $50 poorer. I got 4 books for myself and 3 for the boys. It was great.

Chris picked me up and we had appetizers at Kelsey's before going to another movie. This time we chose a comedy, "Duplicity" with Julia Roberts and Clive Owen. This one was much better than Knowing was. It was funny and a bit of romance with a twist. It was fairly good.

We awoke to room service delivering our breakfast. Mmmmmm. Another fun thing about hotels- room service. Its a treat that you don't often get, so I appreciated it. Especially not having to cook my own food!

This morning while Chris was in his meeting I had a long shower and got ready for my date with my friend Carri. We went to the mall where I did a bit of shopping for myself and had a nice visit. It was short, though as Chris was done a bit earlier than he thought he would be.

Chris picked me up and we went in search of a new camera. We were sold on a new Panasonic 10.1 megapixel, 18x optical zoom. Very similar to the Olympus that I led to an early death, but newer, so faster and with a few more options. As I type this, Chris is playing with all the gadgets on it.

We then headed to Tokyo Express and had one of our favorite "fast food" meals- teryaki chicken and rice bowls. Mmmmmm.

Then it was time to head home to see our little munchkins, with a quick stop in Wetaskiwin to get my vinyl lettering from Jessica that I had ordered at her party.

The boys weren't quite as excited to see us as we were to see them, I think. I guess spending a few days with grandparents beats mom and dad.

The getaway was a really nice break for me, and I am home rested and rejuvenated. I better be, Chris informed me this morning that he has to leave tomorrow morning for a week.......

I guess my little vacation couldn't have come at a better time.