IN LOCO PARENTIS

Friday. Said goodbye to the Kate and James when Natalie took them to school. Finished packing. Natalie and Robert drove us to the airport. Said a difficult goodbye to Robert. Enjoyed a kid-free flight to Chicago, a kid-free meal at the airport, a kid-free flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico, a nice meal in San Juan. IChatted with the kids from the hotel and was so happy to see and hear them. I can tell I’m going to enjoy lots of carefree time and miss tending to kids at the same time.

Saturday. Arrival at Tortola and day at the port. Ben and Julie to Road Town. Grocery shopping with group and dinner (rice & beans by Ben) on board. Rice pudding snack.

Sunday. Sail to Norman Island (Julie drove). Snorkel. Dive. Back to Tortola for pasta dinner on board. IChatted with the kids. Love the technology that allows me to watch them jump on my bed thousands of miles from where I am. I’m so glad we are lucky enough to have my parents and Susan watch them and that they are willing to stay at our house so our kids can maintain some consistency while we’re away.
Monday. Pancake breakfast. Sandwiches for lunch. Sail to Sand Island. Snorkel. Ben and Ian dove at the sunken ship. Sail to and port overnight at Spanish Town on Virgin Gorda. Dinner at Mine Shaft Cafe. Phase 10 on board.
Tuesday. Cereal on board. Souvenir shopping. Sail to The Baths. Snorkel. Hiking in the caves. Swimming. Lunch at The Top of The Baths. Sale to The Bitter End and overnight at Leverick’s.

Wednesday. Ian woke up early to set sail to St. Croix (USVI). Lounged and read all morning long. A bit seasick, but lying down and reading was great. Arrived to beautiful weather and regular cell phone rates and email access. It will be great to call the kids when they get home from school. Cereal for breakfast and PB&J for lunch did the job and saved the wallet. Hopefully we’ll find a find for dinner and lots of other fun entertainment on St. Croix. Walked through an old fort (Fort Christianavaern) in the afternoon and took several cool photos. Took a short dip in a pool to cool down. A bit of window-shopping. Talked to the kids. So great to hear their voices and tell them I love them and miss them. Dinner at Rum Runners. Ben had delicious jerk pork and I had a beef tips pasta dish. Best part was the “twisted pecan pie” we shared for dessert – cream cheese layers between pecan caramel layers with toasted coconut on top. Yum!

Thursday. Snorkeled in the morning at Buck Island, which Ian thinks might be the only snorkeling national park. Long sail back to Tortola. Blew one engine and need repair. Stuck overnight at the Tortola marina. Repair took to long for a sail in the daylight to be possible. A bit frustrating, but nothing we could do about it. Also, can’t get in touch with the kiddos via iChat tonight. Disappointing.

Friday. Sailed to in island where Ben and Ian snorkeled and the rest of us relaxed on the beach and ate onion rings at the Soggy Bottom bar. Took a bit of sand from the beach to take home to show the kids. Took a turn getting dragged behind the boat, just for fun. Sailed through two torrential rainstorms, which was an awesome sight. Docked for the night at a marina on Tortola near the airport. Ate dinner at Pussers, which is, on my opinion, a terrible name for a restaurant. The food was okay, but not great. Went back to the boat and get most things packed. Played Phase 10 with the group until we were all too tired to play or talk anymore.

Sailing has been a wonderful, new vacation for us. It was great to spend so much time with Ben and other fun adults, especially Ian and Laurel. Carefree and plan-free on a sailboat in warm weather and warm water we relaxing and fun. It was so nice to sit on the front of the boat as it was sailing and have the wind blow in your face and the occasional splash of water on your feet and face. Nice to put on a swimming suit each morning and cover it with a sundress or light shirt and shorts, easy to put on and off with intermittent dips in the water or quick to dry if it all got wet. No make up or bra for a week. Simple meals on the boat, nicer meals in local restaurants, some better than others. Good company and light conversation throughout. Fished a book I started in June, read another and started a third. Slept as long as I wanted. Napped a lot. I got a little seasick the last two days and was ready to be off the boat this morning. I miss the kids. I’m glad to be heading to NYC for a few days, but also can’t wait to hold and talk with my kids. Haven’t iChatted in a few days and can hardly stand the distance. I’m hopeful that with cell phone access tonight, we’ll be able to walk my mom through getting the connection to the Internet back up at home. I need to see those kids tonight and have them see me.

Saturday. Breakfast and group pictures at the boat. Taxi to the airport and off to NYC. Uncle Tom is picking us up and we’ll spend tonight at his and Clarke’s new place in Connecticut. It’s rare to get picked up when you arrive at an airport in NYC, so I was prepared to get there and either taxi or subway it to the train station and then take the train to CT. I love Uncle Tom. I’m so relaxed knowing that he’ll be waiting and we’ll have a comfortable direct ride to a lovely evening with him and Clarke.

Sunday. Took the train to NYC and got off in Harlem. Felt so familiar. Felt like home. Dropped our bags off at Skidmore’s building next to the church and then enjoyed saying hello to many friends at church. Many people we know were still there, but the vast majority of the ward has moved in since we left. We went to lunch with Patrick and his girlfriend, Jill. She’s pretty cool. Patrick and Ben talked politics and both the topics and opinions were predictable. Funny. Crashed a dinner party at Blanchard’s. Ella has grown up so much and is adorable. We met Liam and Jonathan. So fun to see them and their new place on Roosevelt Island. Eyers, John Prete and Christina and Manahi were there. We had such a great time joining in on the conversation and watching the kids. In many ways, it felt like we’d never left and were among some of our closest friends. Of course, our kids weren’t there and we missed them. Then we went to Butlers for a few minutes and saw their amazing apartment/house and talked for a little while. They had friends over for dinner that were leaving as we arrived. Ben commented that all of our friends had gotten together with other friends for dinner. That’s how it was in NYC. We hardly ever do that in NYC. In fact, when we do, it’s with friends from NYC that are visiting Utah. We miss hanging out with friends. We went back to our hotel and crashed while watching the Yankees beat the Angels and advance to the World Series for the year. We talked with a kids a little on the phone. They are doing well. Their primary program was today and we missed it, which broke my heart. Many, many years of watching other peoples cute kids and anticipating the day when my own would be up there participating only to have their first performance take place when I’m not there. Sad. Mom said they did great. Well James did great. Kate pulled a Kate and decided not to participate, but then changed her mind half way through – on her terms. Mom sat with her and he took a small toy. Can’t wait to spend time with my kids on Wednesday.

Monday. Went to breakfast with Ammon Addams. He’s such a great guy. His mental illness (bi-polar) has been acting up in recent months and he said his medications bring him down. He looked skinny and lonely. Although it was great to talk to him, he seemed sad. I hope our brief meeting cheered him up some and did him some good. Ben was off to a second breakfast with Bishop Jensen and I am sitting in my conference.

Skipped one presentation at the seminar that was inapplicable to what I do and went to B&M. Saw Queenie, Gerry, Charlie, and Rob Lewis. Others that I had hoped to see were either not there or were on the phone. Queenie had pictures of my kids and two years’ of Christmas cards taped to her desk. So sweet. I need to send her an updated picture. I hadn’t planned on seeing Gerry, but everyone else was on the phone or away at the moment, so I stopped in. Same Gerry. Charlie was great. Ran into Rob on the elevator out, but then stayed to talk for 5 minutes or so. He and Charlie are great. I had really hoped to see Glenn and he was supposed to be there, but then had to leave for a bit. I left a note on his desk to come to lunch with Jacob, Daniel and me tomorrow. I hope he can come. Then I met Alyssa England for lunch at Cosi. Got my usual Tuscan Pesto Chicken and loved it. Had a nice time talking with Alyssa, but the time was too short. Now I’m falling asleep listening to a presentation on Open Source Code Software. Riveting.

Stopped by to see Dan and Diane Bartholomew and their new baby Lydia. Dan wasn’t home from work yet, so we missed him, but enjoyed a quick visit with Diane. Afterwards we grabbed an early dessert at Pinkberry. Oh, how I wish they would come to SLC. Yum. Then we met up with James and Joanne Sample for dinner at Saigon Grill. Dinner was good, but catching up with Samples was great. I hope well be able to continue to stay in touch through the years. Dynamic and wonderful couple. Took a cab back to the hotel and crashed. Shins and fronts of ankles are very sore from all the walking. Clearly not New Yorkers anymore. Sad.

Tuesday. We’re sitting at Starbucks waiting to meet up with Edson and figure out how to fit in visits with all the other people we want to try and see before we fall asleep tonight. Quick, but nice visit with Edson and then off to my conference. Dan was ill, so couldn’t make lunch as planned. I went back to B&M and got a chance to talk to Glenn and Anne before grabbing a quick sandwich with Jacob. Glenn had a lot of news. Engaged to Lisan, who is taking a year off after negotiating a severance package rather than taking an across the board pay cut. She’s writing a novel. They have no date for a wedding. It was good to talk to Anne. She’s clearly had some health/mental issues in the time since I was there, but seems to be doing okay and was very positive. Jacob seemed to be doing great. He and Laurie bought the apartment next to their current apartment and will be combining them. They had another daughter a bit before Robert was born.

I left the conference an hour early. It was one of the more interesting and relevant presentations, but I just couldn’t take anymore. New York was calling me. I bought some new make-up at Henri Bendel’s – so happy to have someone with some fashion wherewithal to recommend new products. Then I met Ben at the Disney Store to grab a quick present for the kids and we even bought a couple of Christmas presents to put in the closet for the next two months. After that, we raced up to Christina and Manahi’s for take out from Pio Pio. Mindi and Colby met us there. Pio Pio was everything I remembered and wanted it to be. Chicken, rice, beans, sweet plantains, all eaten with delicious spicy green sauce. There were six small containers of the heavenly green sauce. I ate four of them. Can’t wait to go back again. From there we swung quickly by the Belnaps for a visit. Such a kind and fun family. Lorinda is so down to earth and a model mother. Brent so interested in what we are doing and how we are. Finally, and only 5 minutes late, we grabbed dessert with Ram and Mary and had a wonderful time catching up on all that they are doing. Once again, we cabbed it to the hotel and crashed, leaving the packing for 5:00 a.m. when our alarm would tell us to get ready to go to the airport.

Wednesday. Now I’m typing on the plane. Flight from LaGuardia to Chicago was delayed because a windshield wiper wasn’t working. Not good when it’s raining. Luckily there was a substitute aircraft. Luckier still, the flight to Salt Lake City waited for us in Chicago. I would have managed, but the thought of even an additional few hours before getting home to my kids was truly disheartening. The is speaking over my head now announcing 35 minutes to landing, only 20 minutes late. So glad they waited for us. I can’t wait to hug and kiss my kids. This vacation has been fabulous, in part because of the carefree nature of being without kids –I read four books, took naps, slept in, left on time, ate in peace, etc. – but now I’m ready to be with my babies. And, a final shout-out to my mom and Susan. Thanks for tag-teaming to keep Kate and James and Robert in their groove. For coming to our house to watch them. For rocking Robert to sleep. For waking up with each of them at various times throughout the nights, especially at the beginning when Robert was sick. For keeping them fed, and entertained. For adjusting your schedule to ours. Dad, for getting the van fixed, and gassed. And, for all the things we don’t know you did to help our kids have as much fun at home as we had away. Thanks!!!