A Weekend Getaway: Day 2

Day two of our weekend adventure dawned promisingly. After doping Helios up with some Benadryl and watching his sesame-affected Angelina Jolie-like lips drop down to a more natural thickness, we finally got some shut-eye and were ready to begin the day with a morning spent at the Farmers' Market and quality time with Grandma Joan, Grandpa Wil, and Aunt Elspeth.




After hiking hither and yon around the "downtown" area (downtown is in quotes because it's very difficult to call an area downtown when it has only 40,000 metropolitan-area residents), we took a pause at the riverside park where Helios took several turns on the vintage-but-restored carousel. Hesperos chilled during all this excitement by spending some quality time with Aunt Elspeth, who appeared to have been pumping iron just to prepare her for the experience of lifting him (Hesperos being approximately 20% of Aunt Elspeth's weight).



(In case anyone was wondering, yes, Aunt Elspeth is an adult and one even legally able to drink, at that. She just looks like she's an ungainly tall 10 years old.)

Following our city escapades, it was time to go out to Grandma Joan's and Grandpa Wil's farm where we lounged about for the rest of the day. Helios was taken on a lordly tour of the homestead in the red wagon chariot furnished (and pulled) by Grandma Joan. Afterward, he imagined Grandma's and Grandpa's in-kitchen grill into a race track (of course) and, while being held aloft by Aunt Elspeth, made his borrowed cars vroom, vroom, vroom all over the place. Meanwhile, Hesperos apparently felt that he was being neglected and not fed enough, causing him to hide underneath his cousin's worktable and munch on soggy dog food. He was so quiet doing it, we probably wouldn't have even noticed him chomping away until he eventually shouted his anger at hitting his head on the underside of the table.



The evening concluded a little on the early side, not too long after Mommy "whupped" Daddy and Grandma Joan at a game of Scrabble (okay, "malitude" wasn't a word but "organza" was!). It was time to head back to the hotel and hit the sack, because the agenda for the next morning was to scurry back home. Bye-bye, Grandma and Grandpa -- see you in a few months!

A Weekend Getaway: Day 1

What is summer without a road trip? Recently, Helios and Hesperos became warriors of the road on their first road trip together. This was a notable road trip for the boys for multiple reasons. For starters, it was the first road trip since Helios has accomplished potty training and nothing tests the endurance of a child's bladder like a 600-mile road trip, most of which is at night and no where by sanitary or hospitable toilets. This was also Hesperos' first road trip period and, even more special, the first time that Hesperos faced forward in his car seat so he could see the road ahead. Nothing quite says "grown up little boy" like having a front-facing car seat!

We left late on a Thursday evening (around 9:00 p.m.) after the boys bathed and were tucked snug in their carseats. Hesperos went out like a light whereas Helios stayed awake for enough miles to make sing-along songs miserable (by the way, if you're happy and you know it...don't risk ruining it by listening to that song).

Driving all night with Daddy doing most of the work put us in the land of Mommy's parents (Grandma Joan and Grandpa Wil) around 6 a.m. with time change. We all camped out at Aunt Elspeth's apartment until our hotel room became available a little later. Hesperos slept throughout it all (except for a brief exploration through the newspaper which, apparently, is very tasty stuff), but Helios was all into exploring the beaded curtains, goldfish, papasan chairs, and other amenities of a student's apartment afforded by Aunt Elspeth's abode.


Around noon, our hotel room became available and then the fun really began. It seems that unless you're the most battle-hardened business traveler, no matter your age, a new hotel room is always fun for the first 10 minutes at least. This hotel room was fun for at least a half hour, as the children ran/shuffled around it with only underpants on, while each wreaked their own form of havoc: Hesperos throwing food everywhere and Helios turning on all the water faucets.

After a little recovery time, we spent the afternoon at a residential water park. When Helios' underpants got wet, he looked down and, with an emphatic shake of the head, exclaimed, "my penis did NOT do that, Mommy, nooo!" We then changed clothes and made our way off to Grandma Joan's and Grandpa Wil's home where they were slavishly doted upon with, yet again, more toys. Examples...

"Oh, Helios, honey, do you want to take a ride on the rocking horse? Here, take a rocking elephant home with you."

"Oh, Hesperos, baby, you look like you need more toys. Here, have a box full of blocks."

"Oh, Helios, honey, do you like talking toys? Here, take a couple home for the long car ride ahead of you." (Gee, thanks, Mom.)

"Hmm, Hesperos looks like he might want to take a ride on this tractor. Go for it, kid!"

All of this, of course, is exclusive of the many attempts to give them unwatered juice full of sugar and any sort of tasty morsel their little hearts or salivatory glands could desire.

After our afternoon at Grandma Joan's and Grandpa Wil's home, we concluded with dinner (where we learned that Helios has a virulent sesame allergy) and then all passed out at the hotel room on a bed infested with Veggie Booty dust and dried strawberry remnants.