A brief getaway

Grandma and Grandpa graciously agreed to come out and watch the kids for a couple of nights while Michael and I took a last weekend away before the baby comes. It was great to see them and they were awesome as always. 

The boys went out a couple of times with them on bike rides, although we discovered that Benjy is now too big for his bike seat. We are working on him learning the balance bike but he isn't super interested at this point.

They ferried the kids around to various activities, like to Henry's soccer game (his first season, which he really enjoyed) and to Robbie's golf lesson.

They went to a couple of parks, too.

And enjoyed outside time.

What a trooper Grandpa is, getting on the trampoline!

And thanks to their visit, I was able to attend Henry's special early birthday celebration at preschool. We brought in doughnuts to celebrate with his class buddies. Note the COVID arrangement of tables--each of the 15 children get their own 6-foot table to eat at (!).

On Sunday the kids played a tough game of Go Fish with Grandma and Grandpa.

And we came home on Saturday night from our getaway to find them playing Hiss with Clara, one of her favorites.

Meanwhile, Michael and I drove up to western Pennsylvania to Nemacolin, a ginormous resort in the middle of nowhere, basically. We read some of the book Atomic Habits in the car on our way, which got us thinking about our identity and who we wanted to be and how we envisioned spending our retirement years. This season of life is a full and often stressful time, albeit filled with many, many sweet moments, and we see the potential for drifting apart--me to the kids and him to work--which we are diligently working on avoiding. 

Despite the fact that the "cigar bar" at the hotel was suffering from a ventilation malfunction (and therefore we were suffering in our room a few floors up), it was a nice stay. I think we both decided that the resort experience is just not our favorite. I hate all the stressful tipping and the expectations. (We made a helpful list of key ingredients for a successful getaway for the future.) But our room was lovely and we enjoyed finishing up watching Crash Landing on You, our first experience with a "K-drama" that we really liked. Okay, loved.

A major highlight of the whole weekend was the brief drive over to see Fallingwater, one of Frank Lloyd Wright's designed houses. The tour was fascinating and the house inspiring.

Check out this waterfall that the house is designed over. 

The view from the porch.

I loved how the house was built into the land. For example, the rock that Michael is standing on is part of the existing rock, and Wright just had them build the foundation around it. So many other cool and thoughtful features. It inspired Michael to listen to a biography about Wright afterwards--too bad he was not the best family guy, but an architectural genius to be sure.

We stopped by the Youghiogheny River in Ohiopyle state park (what great names) and enjoyed the scenery as well as some delicious lunch before heading back to Virginia. I am thankful to be married to this great man and so grateful we could have his parents come out, too.