Weekend Adventure

The Hubs and I decided to do our first weekend getaway with Punkies this past weekend. He is involved in a golf club that plays once a month, each time at a different course, around the LA area. This past weekend was at a course in Temecula, an up and coming wine region, near San Diego. Of course, with Punkies in tow, we did not partake in any wine tasting, other than enjoying our own bottle out of styrofoam cups, in our hotel room, after the little one went to bed, but I digress. The trip actually went really well! We left our house around four o'clock on Friday afternoon, which of course landed us right in the middle of rush hour traffic, but we were in good spirits and had armed ourselves with every toy and noise maker imaginable to keep the babe happy. She actually held up pretty well for a couple of hours but finally had a meltdown around 6:30, forcing us to pull off for an earlier than anticipated dinner of pizza . . . and beer. The pizza was because we were starving, and heck, it was vacation! The beer was because it took a good 25 minutes of Punkies screaming at the top of her little lungs before we found our destined dining spot, and by that point our nerves were fried. Luckily the second we removed the straps of the torture device in which the little nugget was being restrained, her carseat, she was all smiles.
The last time I ate pizza that fast, I'm pretty sure it was about 3AM and I may or may not have been heading home after a night of jovial (and innocent) Saturday night celebration with friends. I say it may or may not have been, because I honestly don't remember. Nights like those seem like a lifetime ago. Point being, the Hubs and I seriously slammed our pizza, passing Punkies back and forth between bites, trying to chew while making silly faces and sounds, all in an effort to distract her from the fact that it was her bedtime and mommy and daddy weren't even close to actually getting her to bed. As we sat back with our bulging bellies, waiting for the check, I realized we hadn't spoken to each other since deciding whether to go with vege or pepperoni and mushrooms. To be fair, that was only really 15 minutes prior, but shocking nonetheless. BUT, Punkies had made it through without a breakdown, so success was ours.
We got to the hotel around 9, quickly changed Punkies in to her jammies, I nursed her while Hubs flipped the channels in search of a good movie, and I was out to join him within no time. We'd made the excellent decision to stay at a Residence Inn, giving us the ability to put the little one to bed in one room and still be able to stay up, watch some tv and hang out in the other. It worked out perfectly! We were both totally exhausted but determined to enjoy some alone time and unwind, so we opened a bottle of wine and watched a little tube. We don't require much as far as date nights go these days, and this one was all we needed. Vacation was off to a great start!
The next morning Hubs got up early and headed off to his day of golf, while Punkies and I prepared for a day of adventure, with open hearts and minds, ready to let our hair down and be footloose and fancy free! We started our day with an exciting nap. Once that was out of the way, we went on a LONG walk through the surrounding area in search of pool diapers, so Punkies and mommy could catch some rays. Plenty of rays were caught, but they resulted in an awesome farmer's tan on mommy from all of the walking before we even got to the pool. In retrospect, this may be for the better. I'm looking a whole lot better in a tank top and yoga pants these days than in a bikini . . .so maybe it's best that I spent the majority of our day fully covered.
After finally finding a Rite Aid, purchasing the diapers and heading back to the hotel to begin our day of relaxation and lounging by the pool, I realized that we had twenty minutes before Punkies would need her next nap, and we hadn't even changed into our suits yet. Thus is life these days, and I'm excepting of it, but I'll be damned if I'm not going to get that adorable, pudgy, pale body into the pool for a dip . . . and I imagine Natalie would like to get in too. So we changed super fast, blew up the fun little baby raft that I'd purchased just for this weekend, and hightailed it down to the pool. Luckily we were the only ones there, so I had no problem exposing my post baby-hasn't-seen-the-sun-in-months bod for just the couple of seconds that it took me to enter the pool. (Nothing gets you over the initial shock of chilly pool water like wanting to hide your body in it before passers-by catch a glimpse.)
Though short, Punkies first pool experience was sweet. She spent most of it being rather confused by the water and kept looking at me for confirmation that what we were doing was safe and normal. I did get a couple of smiles out of her when I swung her back and forth and made funny noises, but to be honest I'd probably have gotten those by doing the same thing out of the water. Either way, it was a great time for mommy and the fact that Punkies didn't really have much of a reaction made daddy feel a little better about missing it. We look forward to doing it again soon, together, when she's a bit older and readier to enjoy it.
The rest of the day went smoothly and was actually quite relaxing. Pooltime lasted for all of maybe 10 minutes before she'd had enough and was ready for another nap. Luckily all the action had worn her out, so I got to lounge on the couch for an hour and a half, without having to think about all of the things I should be doing . . . laundry, vacuuming, eating, using the restroom, etc. It was a peaceful mother daughter day, and we had dinner with daddy to look forward to that evening!
The Hubs got back around 6 and Punkies and I were dressed to the nines in our Saturday night best for a hot date at The Olive Garden . . . which is where our luck with Punkies's great mood finally ran out. Our hot date turned into a game of shushing, bouncing, singing, tickling, picking up and jiggling toys, you get the point. She was at the end of her rope and did NOT appreciate us taking her out AT her bedtime for the second night in a row. The poor thing was absolutely miserable. The Hubs and I took turns walking her around the restaurant while the other scarfed down food before switching off. We came to three conclusions that night. The first is that Punkies is a real trooper, but every baby has it's limits, and we'd pushed her's too far. The second was that The Olive Garden is not as good as we remembered it to be, in fact it was absolutely disgusting, so we didn't mind having to leave half of our meals on our plates as we rushed the moaning baby out to the car. And the third is that when you're at The Olive Garden, you are NOT actually family; our families have never given us judgmental looks like the other diners gave that night. Hey, we gave it a try.
All in all is was a wonderful weekend, even relaxing at times! Sometimes it's nice to just get away for a day or two, and we hadn't done an overnight trip in a long time. In the end it gave us the confidence to know it can be done, and it's a lot more about our mindset, patience and planning than about Punkies. She's little enough to roll with the punches, and I figure we outta take advantage of that as long as we can. It may not have been the sexiest weekend, but there's nothing more romantic than teaming up with your best friend for an adventure and giggling at yourselves and your follies over a styrofoam cup of wine at the end of the day.