Lobstah

I have been lucky enough to enjoy several girls' weekends away over the past few months, so this weekend, it was Ben's well-deserved turn. Instead of going away with some guys, he had some guys up here and the boys and I stayed away as much as we could. We spent Saturday down in Newburyport catching up with friends, and Sunday morning touring the Westbrook safety building (police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances all in one place = boy heaven). Although running around solo with the boys all weekend left me EXHAUSTED by last night, we had a ton of fun together.

Parenting a deux is undoubtedly easier, but solo parenting every once in awhile isn't a horrible thing. For one, it makes you realize that you aren't shouldering quite as much of the burden as you thought you were, giving you new appreciation for your partner's efforts. And once the boys are to bed, a little me time is a great thing. My mom and I always talk about this - how it's kind of nice to have an alone night every now and again. She remembers when we were young and my dad would travel for business. After she got us to bed, she would curl up in bed with a big bowl of popcorn, a glass of limeade, and a good book. My version is more like a bubble bath, a glass of wine, and Grey's Anatomy, but same idea.

In our house, the boys know that when Dad is away we have something "special" for dinner. It usually involves either seafood or tomatoes (or both), or some similar food that the three of us adore and Ben abhors. We use his absence as license to feast on these forbidden foods. Yesterday evening, the cloudless sky and 70 degree temps just screamed for an al fresco lobster feast. So we ran down to the local seafood shack, picked up lobster rolls, fried clams, and onion rings, and ate our hearts out.