Staycation

Above is a photo I snapped on a vacation with my Dad in the Amalfi Coast, one of the most heavenly places on earth.  

This lovely photo is of my husband and I recreating an America's Next Top Model finale runway show in Barcelona (for those of you who watched my husband is obviously CariDee and I am Melrose).

Here we are at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa on our honeymoon. 

And here is my husband posing with some statue in Buenos Aires (he cannot walk by a statue, figure, sign etc without posing with it). 

I am the kind of person who books my flights so that I can arrive as early as possible and return at the last moment. I want to pack in every minute of adventure. I love to travel. In all my post-college years I don't think I've ever just stayed in New York or now Los Angeles for an extended period time without working. Basically I've never had a staycation but now I had one sort of forced upon me. Our lovely nanny is visiting family in El Salvador so for the next week I am just enjoying LA and Hank. It's actually been great so far. 

 

The photo above is basically what my staycation looks like. Yes it isn't quite as glamorous as the previous journeys although you will notice the palm tree over the Trader Joes. 

Basically our days consist of bike rides, visits to the park, lunches just the two of us (well today my brother came along) and lots of errands. Basically it's heaven. It reminds me of my maternity leave and how amazing it was. 

Until......Hank started screaming while we were waiting to check out at Barnes and Noble and I am pretty sure a couple with a newborn whispered to their child, "don't you ever do that." Or today when I entered Hank's room post-nap to find the biggest poop explosion I have ever laid eyes on (and I thought I had seen some doozies before). I actually took pictures but decided my son will definitely need therapy some day if I posted that. While I was hosing him down (literally this was way beyond wipes) I was reminded of how hard being a stay at home parent is. Not because of meltdowns and poops, everyone experiences those. It's just hard to be present and engaged and mellow and remain full of awe and appreciation of the marvelous creatures that you are blessed to spend time with at all times. I am in awe of stay at home moms. I think an occasional break is good for me as much as I would love to be spending all of my time with Hank.