Love, life and Mommyhood: End of Summer Vacation and a Family Trip

Well, here we are, on the eve of my return to work. I have a pit in my stomache that I have never had before. Usually, before L came along, I would be bummed when vacation ended, but would also be planning a cute outfit to where on my return, and would be excited to see my coworkers. But not this time. This time all I can think is how much I love playing the role of stay at home mama. I love spending all day with L, I love being able to be a good little housewife that cleans that house and has decorating projects and (sometimes) cooks dinner. These things fall to the way side when I go back to work. Even though I am only there part time, four days a week, fitting in the gym and a playtime with L and work pretty much takes up my whole day. But, this is what we have to do right now, for our family, so I will suck it up and go back tomorrow. But that doesn't mean I am not holding out hope that sooner, rather then later, we will have the means for me to stay home with L, and any future kiddos.

On the bright side, we did take a wonderful trip up to Flagstaff on Friday. A very, very mini-vacation. As in, we left at 8 A.M. Friday morning and were back in Surprise by 2:00 P.M. on Saturday. But we packed a ton into it and I think we both needed the little break. A vacation that was really about us, not about visiting family or holidays, but just us getting away from it all.

As I said in my last posting, Flagstaff holds so many good memories for us. Memories of a time when the stress in our lives involved tests and intermural playoff games, and work was more of a party then a job. ( I worked at a bar) It's where our days and nights revolved around friends and fun. It was a simpler time in our lives, before marriage and babies and even though our lives are so very full now, it was fun to go back and reminise.

When we got into town our first stop was Biffs Bagels, by far the best bagel shop this side of the moon, and locally ownend. In fact every place we visited was a local place. It was one of the things that got on my nerves when we lived there, not having easy access to the inexpensive and predictable chains, and now it is the thing I despise about living in Phoenix, the absolute lack of locally owned businesses. But, I digress; we stopped at Biffs, got our bagels and walked over to a little bench where we could enjoy our breakfast and the wonderful weather at the same time. After being in Phoenix's 115 degree heat, we took every oppurtunity we could to sit outside in the cool high 80's that Flag offered.

After breakfast we drove around campus, checking out all the new buildings and visiting the places we had called home not so long ago. We took Landon to Mountain View, the Greek dorm that had housed all the Frats and Sororities, and where S and I both lived in our early dating years. We also hit the bookstore, where we bought L his first official NAU t-shirt, and S cracked L up by putting on one of the crazy school color wigs that were being sold to show school spirit at sporting events.

When we wrapped up our trip down memory lane on campus we decided to go grab a cold beer at yet another local joint, Beaver Street Brewery, and then walked around downtown, popping into all the various shops and bars. As we sat at Beaver Street, the afternoon monsoons rolled in, making the streets slick with rain and cooling the temperatures down, making it perfect to walk outside once the rain stopped. And I love downtown Flagstaff. It is so qauint and old fashioned and there are people everywhere, walking and running with dogs and babies. It just has the feeling of community.

For dinner we hit San Felipes, the bar that I worked at in college (most fun job ever) and several old friends stopped in to see us and to meet L. After some delicious Shrimp tacos, and a mango italiano margarita for me, we headed back to our hotel. We had one very tired baby, and S and I were pretty exhausted too. Surprisingly L slept pretty well (lately he hasn't been sleeping to good in strange places) but he was up at 4 A.M. and didn't want to go back to sleep, but my wonderful hubby got up and played with im so I got to get a little more sleep!

I was sad the next morning to be leaving, but we headed to yet another local joint for breakfast (can you tell we like food??). The hotel Weatherfod is in the center of downtown and is own of the oldest building in Flagstaff. It also houses Charlies, which has awsome food, awsome bloody marys, and a patio that is perfect for sitting and people watching on an early Saturday morning. Charlies serves all there breakfasts with fresh peaches and cream, and L was in heaven when he we gave him some. I think he would be perfectly happy if we fed him that everyday!

We headed out of Flag, still laughing and remembering all the memories that we had made there, and glad we had a chance to share it with L, even though he won't remember it. And we still had one more adventure before heading home. We hopped on the switchbacks and headed down to the creek in Sedona. The creeek was that place to go when we were on college, once the weather started to warm up. We would grab snacks and cold beer, tanning lotion and bikinis and hike down to the where red rocks had been perfectly worn away to flat stones right next to the water. The creek probably holds some of the best times I had in college, starting with the beatiful drive down. You just can't beat all the green trees and the breathtaking red rocks that cut through the sky. It's the kind of place that makes you feel a little closer to nature and heaven, all at the same time.

We didn't head to our old college spot ,because neither of us wanted to hike down a hill holding L, or to subject him to any drunked college antics that might be taking place. Instead we headed to Chavez Ranch, a lessers know and quiter spot, but still just as gorgeous. I was so happy with how much L just loved sitting in the water and splashing around, even though it is snow water in is cold! S and L both braved it and we in all the way, but I only made it up to my ankles. What can I say, I'm a wuss! It was the perfect end to a perfect trip, and finally, dirty and tired and sun-kissed, we headed home and back to reality.