The great weather continued through the week but only the kiddos and Clint got to enjoy because I was off to Newark, NJ Tues-Thurs. I headed out late Tuesday morning (after Maci selected Brutus the buckeye as her show and tell selection b/c it is Aunt Molly's school!).
Per my usual self, I was organized, ready to go and on time (at least always on time for flights). I was even meeting my friend/colleague Megan for lunch before we flew out. All was going according to plan until I got to the TSA pre-check line and realized AH NO ID! My ID was with Clint from our date night Saturday night, I decided not to take a purse and so he carried my ID in case UGH! Ok don't panic, "Sir, can I get through with other ID?" "Sure, do you have credit cards etc that match the name" "Alright, No problem!" Well the only problem was I got a FULL pat down (felt like I should have tipped the lady), all my bags were ransacked and it took 20 mins longer than it should have. I finally saw Megan and felt like I had tales similar to that of a prisoner. We had our lunch and then got ready to board. Once on this HOT HOT plane, we sat and started to notice they stopped boarding, then our phones started to alert us of a delay. Fortunately the pilot came on pretty quickly to say they are grounded for air traffic control reasons and we will have to deplane for about 1 hour. Ugh, alright back off. This is when I started to think, "how bad is the return through Newark going to be without my ID?!" I fortunately reached Clint who has super powers because he must have flown to the airport, handed my ID to a TSA guy I made friends with who then handed it to me (avoiding going back and forth through security). I waved bye to Clint and ran back to my gate in time to re-board OOFDAH! The flight was non-eventful and we had some nice chit chat while waiting for the hotel bus to take us to the armpit of America (can't take credit - Megan coined that term). I mean seriously, have any of you spent any time in Newark?! It is Nasty! From the airport to the downtown area that looks like something from crime TV. It isn't like I haven't been to rough parts of Cincinnati, Chicago, LA etc but this is CRUSTY and you stay right in the middle of it. By the time we get to the hotel, it is say 730p EST. So we drop our bags and are ready to grab dinner. The front desk woman makes it seem odd that we would even ask about a taxi because the place we are considering is a few blocks away. OK, off we go. Umm, that should have never occurred. We got there safely (2 young female outliers) but on the way home it was shady. I didn't know if it was better when we were near large crowds or when it was eerily quiet. We made it home in one piece but that was the beginning of our safety confessions. In between sirens outside our window, we got some sleep and headed to Prudential for the seminar the next day. The HQ was beautiful and they should think about turning a few floors into a hotel because it was way cleaner and safer :) We had a day of work chatting and then an evening at a cooking school which was fun stuff because well I don't cook ;-) However, it seems many there didn't and we had more fun talking and drinking wine. Megan had the great idea to have us cut the bread - I was good at cutting bread! We had another stay in the roach motel and then were heading home. We got on an earlier flight and had wanted to get our nails done earlier in the day but go figure the airport nail place had horrid reviews and we wanted to keep all our fingers and toes HA. Instead, we ate some breakfast in the hotel lobby, did a little work and chatted up the facilitator before she drove back to Connecticut. The drive to the airport was another safety confession. The man had a blue tooth device in his ear but held his cell phone up to his ear with one hand and drove the bus with the other. The potholes in NJ could swallow a bus and so this ride was interesting to say the least. He also never hung up the phone when getting the bags out - a real winner! We ate at a Champs in the airport with maybe the slowest service for an airport restaurant and with East cost clientele there was a lot of yelling and frustration. We may have said at least 20x, get me out of this God forsaken state Icky! At least we had each other as travel companions and had some good laughs about it along the way.
We made it home to a GORGEOUS MN day around 445p. I swung home, grabbed the family and we headed to dinner together. It was so great to see them and sleep in my own bed with no sirens outside!
Friday - Full day back in the office but felt good to be in a rhythm and get some things done! I headed to the kids daycare around 4p for muffins with mom and Maci reminded me a few times that I was late. She got over it quickly though when she knew (1) she got to go home and (2) she could give me her gifts :) We ordered our usual pizza and then took a walk around the hood. I fell asleep on the couch early (typical) and Maci/Clint played until bed time.
Maci Gifts
Connor Gift
Saturday - Beautiful day! It was almost 83 today. Clint had a 650a tee time with the guys, which he fully deserved after single daddy time. That meant Maci, Connor and I were on our own for dance. Maci is getting really good at her routine and can't wait for Grandma to see her!
Killing Time at Dance
Dancing Girl
We then headed home to meet up with daddy and do a few things around the house before Connor napped and Maci/I hit the nail salon :) I got a much needed pedi while Maci got her nails and toes painted. Afterward, we did a little shopping for mom (3 new tops!) and Maci got a scooter at the toy store. We wrapped up our girls trip with some Dairy Queen. I love spending time with that girl - she is becoming a little lady over night! Come night time, we went to the Muni for dinner (anywhere outside was packed) and then headed home in time for groceries to be delivered and a fire pit out back :) What a great day!
Where did my baby girl go?!
Goof Balls @ Dinner
Campfire Conversations
Sunday - Happy Mother's Day! I woke up around 8a to breakfast in bed 💙. I then slowly got around but took another late morning nap while Clint/Connor/Maci took a walk. Connor is now napping but hoping he gets up soon so we can head to Lake Calhoun for playground and a late lunch at Tin Fish. Maci is on the iPad but it is another GORGEOUS 80 day. We intend to order bite squad delivery later for dinner and Clint/I will do another fire pit to end the weekend while I prep my week ahead - why aren't the weekends longer?!
We hope you all had an awesome weekend and a spectacular week ahead!
Lots of Love,
C, K, M & C
