Very, Very Quiet

Every summer, the kids spend some time at their paternal grandparents' house.  This year, my mother-in-law decided not only to take all three of them at once...she is taking my nephews at the same time as well.  For a week!!  Five children between the ages of 6 and 12, four of them boys.  Wow.  After Thing One's soccer tournament last weekend, we dropped him and his siblings off at 'Camp Grandmom' and came home to a *very* quiet house.

They are having the time of their lives, or so Thing One's texts and the photos my MIL is sending would suggest.  A history day in the city.  A beach day.  A day at an outdoor waterpark/amusement park.  A day at a state park with breakfast at a diner and a movie thrown in as well.  And today, they will be packing up and driving down to my SIL's house, which has a lovely pool.  They will be staying there for the weekend and we will pick them up on Sunday, on our way back from our own little vacation.

It's been a productive week for me, especially since Himself was out of town for work Mon-Wed.   No cooking and very little laundry, with the added bonus that in the absence of the kids, what I cleaned actually stayed clean for more than five minutes!  Bonus.  Got a lot of stuff done around the house (including planning for a bathroom remodel and some front landscaping changes), took several martial arts classes, did some geocaching, went for walks. A nice recharging break for me after the craziness that is the end of the school year.  Last night I took the dog to a new sitter's (speaking of quiet, right now there is not a single small dependent noisemaking creature in the house!) and later today we will pack up and head out.

Always good to have some time with only my husband...doesn't happen often in the craziness that is our lives.  We found a lovely B&B that overlooks a historical battlefield and plan to have a fun weekend!  I spent the entirety of last evening checking out all the geocaches in the area on the online map (of course) and Himself has already noted the locations of all the local microbreweries.  Last year this time we went to the Berkshires in western Massachusetts for our weekend away and he came back with a trunk full of craft beer!   We plan to spend most of Saturday checking out the battlefield, Himself is bringing his running gear so he can get out in a new area...should be good.  Of course, it would be helpful if I were packing right now and not blogging.  :)