Adios and vaya con dios

I stole the title of this post from one of my favorite Zac Brown Band songs, "Toes." It means "Goodbye and go with God." The rest of the song is very fitting for what I'll be doing soon ... putting my toes in the water, ass in the sand, not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand LIFE IS GOOD TODAY. Riviera Maya, Mexico, here we come!

I've never been on a warm-weather vacation in the winter. Ever. I've been to warm-weather destinations in spring (Daytona Beach, Florida on one spring break and South Padre Island, Texas on another), and summer (Disney World when I was in high school), and fall (California and Vegas for two friends' bachelorette parties), but never in the dead of winter, when the lack of sunshine and single-digit temps slowly start sucking your soul dry and you so miss seeing COLOR (other than dirty shades of grey and white) and you have to keep track of piles of jackets and hats and gloves and scarves at every basketball game, every restaurant outing, every trip to the mall, every school activity. (It's a small miracle every time you successfully keep track of it all.) To say I'm looking forward to this trip would be an understatement. I am OVER THE MOON EXCITED. As research shows, the anticipation of a trip is nearly as much fun as the trip itself. I truly believe that. I've been doing my 5 a.m. workout five to six days a week since Thanksgiving, I got a mani/pedi this weekend, and I used a gift card to get a spray tan yesterday. (And boy did it work. I walked into a meeting and became the center of attention for a good five minutes. "How long did it take? Where did you go? Were you naked? How did they get it so even? When can you take a shower? Did you have to wear goggles? How long will it last?") 
Answers: About an hour, from check-in to check-out. Ivy Spa. NO!! I wore an old suit. The technician was a perfectionist. The next day. No, just closed my eyes tight. If properly cared for, anywhere from 7-10 days. 

Soon I'll get to see the sun! And the beach! And my feet! And—most importantly—I'll get to experience this vacation with Aaron (our 10-year wedding anniversary is in 2015, so this was a good excuse to celebrate early) and eight of my college girls ringing in our *cough, cough* 40th birthdays. There will be 11 of us total, nine girls, two lucky guys, traveling from Green Bay, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Idaho!!! (I haven't seen T in WAY TOO LONG!) 
We have a solid group of fun can't-wait-to-party-and-soak-up-the-sun girls (and two guys) going ... leaving behind devoted boyfriends, husbands, and 14 kiddos. 

The boys will be staying with my parents, who will be driving 30 miles twice a day to drop them off and pick them up from school. I don't take their generosity for granted. It is so, so, so appreciated. My parents already have their itinerary all figured out, including a trip to the MOA for unlimited rides. (They recruited Shawn & Trish to join them.)

Speaking of the boys, I love the ages they are now (4 and 7). We can play games together as a family—Crazy 8s is a popular one right now, right up there with Trouble and Hungry, Hungry Hippo—and we can talk to them and reason with them and treat them like the big boys they are.

When they're not getting on each other's nerves, they play great together (hockey in the kitchen, basketball in the living room, wrestling, every sport imaginable when we can play outside), they astound me with how much they're learning, learning, learning (pretty soon Adam will be better than me in math), they shower me with affection and attention and compliments, they make me laugh, they make me want to be a better person, better friend, better mom, they force me to slow the fuck down and see the world from their innocent point of view (when Jeremy asked Ben if he had any girl advice for him, Ben asked "What does advice mean?" when Jeremy said "Do you have any comments that could help me with girls?" Ben asked "What's a comment?" I finally said "What would you tell Jeremy if he wanted a girl to like him?" to which Ben answered "Kiss her." There you have it, solid dating advice from a four-year-old. Just kiss her, Jeremy.) *Either Ben misunderstood the question or will be realizing very quickly that you can't go around kissing girls to get them to like you. 

Maybe, more than anything else, they remind me that the only constant in life is change, so if ya wanna hold onto a happy moment, you better hold on tight because before we know it, that moment will be a memory. And before we know it, Adam will be in second grade and Ben will be in kindergarten, and time won't stop for anyone.

Adam is playing basketball for the first time, and for a kid who naturally loves sports (a mini Aaron), I didn't realize that he could SUPER love a sport so deeply. When he gets out on the court, he lights up. I imagine it's the same way I feel—energized, happy, in my element—when I'm in certain social situations, surrounded by my favorite people. I enjoyed watching him play t-ball and soccer (not so much karate), and saw him improve by leaps and bounds in swimming lessons, but basketball is different. They don't keep score (yet), they don't call fouls (yet) or run plays (yet), but you can tell already who the kids are who "get" it and who don't. I hate to sound like I'm bragging, because no one wants to hear THAT, but Adam "gets" it. After the last game, three different parents—from the other team—made a point of coming up to him and telling him good job. He's the smallest little white kid out there, but he can hustle, he plays great defense, and he understands the game. (Some of the kids need to be reminded to dribble the ball, or pass the ball, or WHOOPS! YOUR BASKET IS THE OTHER ONE!!) He's one of three kids on his team who can make a basket, and whenever that happens, we're ALL on Cloud Nine. 

Ben likes playing basketball in the preschool gym when I pick the kids up every night, he's just too young to play on a team. Right now he's totally over his Batman obsession and is completely enthralled with the Timberwolves and Ricky Rubio. He got a Rubio jersey for Christmas and he would wear that shirt every.single.day if we let him. He would sleep in it, bathe in it, sweat in it, eat in it, play in it, repeat. We make him wear a long-sleeved shirt over it (because, you know, WINTER), and without fail he will shed that long-sleeved shirt and wind up wearing a tank top by the end of the day. I believe he thinks he's a professional basketball player when he's wearing it.

Another Ben obsession is his Kindle. Adam is pretty good about regulating his play time, but Ben needs to be constantly reminded when he's played enough. For exactly that reason, I don't ever want a Wii. I know that not all video games are bad, some are educational, some encourage physical activity, yadda, yadda, yadda, but after a certain time the kids become little zombies who only talk when they're yelling at their screens. "What the heck?!" "That isn't fair!" "I PUSHED THAT BUTTON! THIS ISN'T WORKING!" (Adam at least can read the prompts on his screen. Ben just keeps swiping until he somehow gets to where he wants to go—or gets stuck and gets all whiny.) And once they start yelling at their Kindles, it's time to put them away and do something else. 

Another Adam and Ben "favorite" is air hockey. They will play whenever/wherever they can. Sometimes Ben tries to cheat, though, by moving the puck with his hands.
  
I recently brought Ben in for his preschool screening and he passed everything but  skipping. He flat-out refused to skip. "Would you like to skip with Mom?" the woman asked in an encouraging way. 
"No. I don't want to skip," Ben said bashfully. 
"You know how to skip, I've seen you skip," I said to him. "Just do it real quick." 
"No. I don't wanna," Ben said quietly. 
"He already passed. You don't need to push it unless you want a perfect score," the woman said. "Some parents want the perfect score; other seasoned parents don't care as much."
I must be a seasoned parent, because I definitely didn't care about the score (there are people who care what the points are? I always thought it was a pass/fail thing) and I didn't want to stress everyone out by forcing the kid to skip when I knew he could skip and he—for whatever reason—was clearly not feelin' it. (Why couldn't they have him dribble a ball instead?!) 
Anyhow, at his screening I ran into a former newspaper coworker who left the field of journalism to become a nurse. I actually went to Breezy Point with her and her husband back when I was dating JJ—another lifetime—and since that time she quit the paper, went to work in radio, returned to college for another four years, popped out four kids, changed jobs a few times, and moved twice. She wants to get together for coffee some time, but I feel like we're good now for another 12 years. 

This month I celebrated girls' Christmas with my "besties" and the kids at Meg's house (we used to exchange gifts with one another, now we have the kids draw names and exchange instead - so much fun to see them all together), celebrated my mom's birthday twice—at lunch at Washington Square in WBL and again at my sister Mary's house (when we played Suspend & went sledding), had a Haute Dish happy hour/dinner with Alex, Kelly, and J, went swimming at Nick & Ashley's apartment, took a Tabata class, went to three basketball  games (Adam) and our friend's son's outdoor hockey game (brrrr!), and tried not to lose too much sleep over getting everything done before I leave on vacation. (The LAST thing anyone should have to do when they're on vacation is worry about loose ends at work!)
Wait! Have I mentioned how excited I am?!?! ;) 
 

 "Home is wherever I'm with you ..."

New Year's Eve tradition - steak, ribs, mashed potatoes, games, WINE, BEER!

Ricky Rubio and Adam

 

Spending Adam's "suppoachlay" gift card from Auntie Trish & Uncle Shawny

 

The kids love these shopping carts but they're a bitch to maneuver.

 

I forgot to pack spare pants for Ben, so school put him in these baggy sweats. (He thought they were cool.)

Hopefully, the next time I write, I'll be able to recap my ADVENTURES IN MEXICO!

Adios!