Mom Vacations

In November, I got my own little high school reunion with this group of amazing women. These friends flew into Seattle from San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Kenya to stay with Alexe. Honestly, I haven't stayed close with any of them since I left Redding in 2004, but they let me join in on the girl weekend. It was like no time had passed, except that we all got our heads on a little straighter and were able to have more fun and more meaningful conversations. I am the only mom of the bunch, and the rest of them lead adventurous, successful careers. But despite our different directions in life, we still have plenty in common and extra love for each other.  I was so grateful to reconnect with them!

We went to Spinasse for fancy Italian dinner and planned how the five of us, with our different skill sets, will most definitely take over the world someday.

 Dancing at the club and dancing in the Lyft!

Super fancy dinner at Canlis, overlooking Lake Union. Still the best tea I've ever had. I've been on the search for juniper sage ever since! And I might go back just to hear the pianist again and feed him requests all night.

The next day, we left our kids with Steph and Teague while Matt and I jumped on a plane to Florida. He had a work conference there, and I came along for the hotel room and the beach. My mom flew into Seattle the next day to help with kids, so we got to stay away three whole nights. 

The first night, we went straight to a work dinner after arriving at our fancy Four Seasons hotel on the beach. (Thank you, Amazon. They don't offer many job perks, so I couldn't miss this one.) We tried stone crab for the first time, and charmed older men and women for the sake of business. 

The next morning, Matt went to his meetings in the boring conference rooms, and I slept in. I woke up when I felt like it, and ate the most delectable breakfast by myself, crossword puzzle in hand, listening to the ocean next to me. It was warm and sunny and perfect.

Then I hit the beach. It was the most perfect spot, and I never wanted to leave.

The next two days were spent reading You Are Here, which was mind-opening and beautiful to me. I paddle boarded for hours out past the waves, did yoga, exercised, went shopping, ordered room service late at night, and spent whatever time I could with Matt when he had breaks. It turned out that we got about 24 hours together, and it was one of our best days ever. 

We relaxed on the beach and let people bring us cold drinks and hot food. We dressed up, ate fancy dinner at the hotel, and talked about what our lives might be like if we hadn't got engaged a decade earlier. We were silly and comfortable and carefree for one whole day. The next morning, we played on the beach after breakfast and waded in the warm ocean to collect shells for our kids, before catching a flight home.

Big sigh....I need more mini trips like this.