The Plan-Work that day
-Leave home around suppertime
-Cross border into the states safely (still get questioned about student visa)
-Quick shopping at the Outlet Mall
-Check into Hotel
-Get a good night sleep
**Disclaimer**
Sorry no pictures this one but there will be in the others.
The Reality
It was a regular Thursday morning at the Diamond household except for the fact that I had piles of things everywhere. Okay I will fess up. There are always piles of things but this morning the piles actually had a purpose.
Piles of clothes by open suitcases, piles of paper containing vital information for my parents coming to look after the kids while we were gone, piles of clean laundry that I had yet to put away (I ran out of time the day before) and piles of groceries on the counter due to my late night shopping escapade which completely drained me of all energy to finish putting them away. Of course I was already so tired that I felt like a pile of …. I’ll let you finish that thought in your head, as this is a family site.
I was doing my regular running around like a chicken with my head cut off morning routine.
Packing lunches, fixing hair, signing school notes, making kids practice piano, making kids eat a balanced breakfast, making kids clean up their dishes after said balanced breakfast and of course squeezing in some personal time to make myself look “purdy” for the day. Was it any wonder why I needed this vacation?
Today was a working day for me so I had to get ready to go at the same time as the kids. I teach kindergarten part time and in my school district the kids go to school for a full day but on every other day. So I teach my own class for a full day on Tuesday and Thursday while my counterpart teaches on her class on Monday and Wednesday. We alternate Fridays. It actually works out that she works more Fridays than I do since we have quite a few holidays on Mondays like Easter off.
I took off for school about 20 minutes earlier than the kids. Dh takes them to school when I’m working. Two of my kids go to my school. My oldest goes to our sister school (we share the same principal and some of the staff). Our sister school offers a French immersion class starting in grade 5. So he started there this year. Eeoyre (DS10) was pleased to escape the reach of Mom. However, I sometimes supply teach at his school and even his particular class so I still have some tentacles he has to watch out for.
When it is one of my kindergarten student’s birthdays I bring out a birthday crown and make them the official caregiver of the birthday bear stuffed toy. If you press a button on the bear he plays the birthday song. Since I had told my students it was going to be my birthday tomorrow they all though I should wear the crown today. So I obliged them. They sang a lovely rendition of “Happy Birthday” to me. Over the course of the day I attempted to loose the crown. Each time I put it down somewhere one of my students would run up to me with it and tell me to put it back on. Eventually I just gave up and kept it on.
I had been counting down the number of days left to my colleagues and everyone was super excited for me. They sang an impromptu “Happy Birthday’ in the lunch room as well. After they had all complemented me on how lovely I looked in my crown of course.
After school, my parents came to pick up the youngest two kids. My parents had arrived in the afternoon. They live an hour away in Toronto. I jumped in the car with them and took them on a quick tour of the places they needed to visit this weekend. You know, piano teacher’s house, grocery store, drug store, school bus stop, Hospital Emergency Room. Then they dropped me back off at school. I had to wait for Eeoyre (DS10) to finish piano lessons nearby. I took this time to get ready for the next day of school, as I would be rushing in and tired from the weekend.
When I arrived home with Eeoyre I found supper in full swing. Nanny (my mom) had started it and was unpacking the kid’s lunches too. God bless her. This meant I could go and finish up my packing. I really just had our toiletries to sort out. It shouldn’t have taken much time.
Dh was home but on the phone downstairs in his office. He was all flustered because we still hadn’t rented out our apartment for May, which is a week away. The guy that is there now is late on rent and not sure whether he is going to move out or what. We own two apartments in a house not far from ours. We’ve only owned it for about 18 months and this landlord thing is new territory for us. Dh is very stressed about it. Not that I blame him but I was hoping to have a fun weekend getaway. I broke into the song “ On the Sunny side of the Street”. He was not amused.
Despite my cajoling he said he still had things to do and couldn’t take off for a bit. That worried me. Dh is so not known for his sense of time. “A bit” could be five hours. I frowned. I might have even sulked. Perhaps some of my kindergartener’s behavior had rubbed off on me.
“But it’s almost 5pm and we wanted to get across the border in a decent time remember?” I pleaded. Of course decent time was referring to a time when the outlet mall was still open for business. I hadn’t shared my definition with Dh. He thought decent time meant not to late to get a good night sleep.
“Yeah, I know. Look I’m sorry but I’ve got to get these things done.”
I must have looked forlorn because Dh stood up from his chair and hugged me.
“I promise to be as quick as I can. Off you go otherwise you will distract me and it’ll be even longer before we can leave”.
He gave me a chaste kiss on the top of my head but the sparkle in his eye spoke volumes.
Upstairs I went. I went through my five pages of instructions with my parents in full detail. They were ready for anything now. I had dinner with them and the kids. I took a plate downstairs to Dh.
“Are you almost finished?” I asked hopefully.
“Um… yeah… almost” he answered. I could tell he was lying.
Then I loaded all the luggage in the van and programmed the hotel address into the GPS. I was ready. It was almost 7pm and I had missed my opportunity to do any shopping at the Outlet Malls. There was still tomorrow morning. I knew Target opened at 8am and our plane left at 12:50. Surely I could quickly pop over to Target then?
I was getting a little fumed. Here I had planned and packed and agonized over every detail for this weekend and he wasn't here to start it with me.
So here I was all packed and ready to go just waiting for Dh. Was this to be a theme for the weekend? How much longer would he be? Would we even leave tonight or just forget it and head out early tomorrow morning?
Click here to find out
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=31825778&postcount=78
I cannot wait to hear all about it, glad it was a success! It's so different when you just go as adults, no kiddies, my BFF and I did that in 2005....had a blast!!!
Wow, you sure are organized 
I hope you ended up being able to hit Target the next morning before your flight! 
So nice to have had your Mom to help you. I hope you got some shopping done! Can't wait to hear about your trip!! Have a great day!!
