Tuesday, while Michael got in a full day of work, I got busy cooking treats, packing bags, preparing an endless supply of child entertainment, cleaning the house, and doing about 7,456 loads of laundry. (By the time we left, there was ONE piece of dirty laundry in the whole house: the kitchen washcloth. This was a major accomplishment for me.) When M got home, the car was packed and ready to go, chickens ready for babysitters, the house was prepared, and we still managed to take two hours to get out the door but we did it!
We drove about 5 hours that night, through a rather astonishing set of lightning storms, and ended up crashing at a hotel in a little West Virginia town. We each slept with one of the kids, which we decided to never do again. The next morning we ate a leisurely breakfast and we were on our way! We checked into a lovely little townhouse suite that Michael found for us at an excellent price. We had a small kitchen, a full size bed, and a pull out couch for the kids. Perfect!
The kids loved sleeping together. We did end up stacking chairs and pillows around the outside edge of the bed because at least one child ended up off the bed at least once a night. Amazingly Jed doesn't even wake up when he falls off the bed onto a couch cushion (How is that possible!?) We found him on the floor in the morning more than once. Zoe rolled here there and hither and thither and often we'd see her roll over and cuddle up to Jed... he would shove her away in his sleep... she would snuggle over and hug him again... he would shove her away... and in the morning they almost always woke up in a tangled, cozy heap.
Zoe, our first morning in DC.
There she is! Morning, Sunshine!
Hands down, the very very best part about our trip was having Michael all to ourselves for a whole delicious week. Between his new job, his photography side business, his calling as Stake YM President, a substantial home teaching route, and a very challenging class in Cognitive Engineering, the end of this semester we felt like we hardly ever got to see him, and the poor man was stressed out of his mind.
Daddy was right, a vacation was exactly what our tired little family needed. Every day Jed would ask in wonder, "Is this Daddy's day off AGAIN?!!" Zoe and Jed clung to him, voraciously devouring any attention available, soaking it up like sponges. Zoe cried every time he left the room all week long. She never wants him to leave. She loves her Daddy.
The Dowdles will recognize this hair style as distinctly our own. She takes after her namesake all right!
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