Weekend at Home

Andi and I made the call last Thursday to stay in the Twin Cities this past weekend. We rarely miss time at the cabin if we're available, but the forecast threatened a foot of snowfall on Thursday night / Friday morning and with snowmobile trails closed for the season, there's not much to do at the lake this time of year when temperatures aren't nice enough to be outdoors.

We did get 9 1/2 inches of heavy, wet snow as predicted and the roads were pretty rotten to drive on Friday morning. But, by 2:00pm, the sun was shining and the snow melting. I suspect it's similar to living in Colorado, where it snows but temperatures make it manageable to live. Unlike you, Minnesota. Ahem.

Anyway, we totally could have gone to the cabin after all but by then, we'd made plans for dinner with friends Saturday night. Andi and I decided to make the best of a weekend at home.

Though, it turns out weekends at home are hard for us. It's sounds strange, but Andi and I are like passing ships during the week. He leaves for work before I even wake up for the day (lately, it seems like 5:00am - 7:00am is the only time my children actually sleep so I am passed out from exhaustion). In the evenings, Andi returns home from work and we tag-team the kids' bedtime routine until collapsing into bed ourselves. Since I stay home, I do almost everything to manage the kids and household so weekends at home feel like another weekday to me. Like when we went to the Science Museum of Minnesota on Saturday morning and I shouted at Tory to "freeze" by the car as we were unloading Aden and the stroller. Clearly Andi is very capable of removing his daughter from her car seat and ensuring she doesn't run full-speed into parking lot traffic. I guess I'm so used to doing everything on my own when we're running around town during the week, I have a hard time relinquishing some of the responsibility when Andi's along. Having all of us home together throws our whole system out of whack.

We had a nice morning at the Science Museum. Tory was a little young for all the exhibits but two year olds can enjoy themselves just about anywhere. I laughed when Andi weighed Tory on a giant scale comparing people to the weight of fish in the Mississippi River. The dial barely moved when she stepped on and Andi said, "You weigh as much as a carp!" Ha. So random.

We brought lunch over to Andi's grandma's house since we were on her side of the Cities and then went to dinner at our friends Lindsey and Dan's house Saturday night. We had a blast over there. The little girls played dress-up and watched Cinderella and never squabbled once over toys. The babies had fun jumping in their respective gadgets and the adults drank wine over stories and take-out. It was really nice to see some of our "in town" friends on the weekend.

Aden (4 months) and Taylor (10 months)

Tory and her best friend Ashley

The weather warmed up enough to go for a walk outside on Sunday (!!!) which was quite the shift from Friday's snow storm. That's springtime in Minnesota. We stayed up far too late on Saturday night (11:00 pm) for people who are up with kids half the night. Andi, Tory and I were all tired and cranky Sunday morning (again with the being at home on a weekend thing messing with our mojo) so we brewed some coffee, packed up the kids and drove over to our friends Krista and Josh's house to take a stroll around Lake Minnetonka. Tory and her other BFF Hannah splashed through puddles and we all got some much-needed fresh air.

Sunday evening, Andi's mom and sister volunteered to babysit for a few hours, so Andi went to dinner with friends and I had to stop myself from squealing my tires out of the drive-way for some alone time. I love my husband and my kids, but staying home for a weekend really flips life upside down for us. It was a good weekend, but a busy one and very similar to my everyday. I'm exhausted starting my week today and miss the quiet retreat and slower pace of life our lake cabin provides us every weekend. It's a gift; it truly is, and I think Andi and I take our magical place for granted sometimes. I'm already counting the minutes until our return on Friday.