The Long Weekend

I took off last Thursday and Friday from work, creating another nice long weekend for myself. The main reason was so that Heather and I could go out and celebrate nine years of marriage. Our anniversary was Thursday, June 10th.

We spent the first half of the day celebrating with the children. That meant an exciting trip to the DuPage Children's Museum in Naperville. Now I had never been there, though Ian and Heather have visited it many times. In fact, before Emma came along, we had a season pass to the museum. Needless to say, Ian was very excited to get to go to the museum, and after seeing it for myself I understand why. The place is a blast. There are more fun things for kids to do there then I have ever seen housed under one roof in my life. The place may be a madhouse of little kids, but they're having so much fun that it doesn't bother me to be in there with them.

Ian and Emma had a great time playing in the water exhibits, working the over-sized tinker toys, and exploring the black light display. Zoe enjoyed a nap on my shoulder.

Hopefully when Zoe get a little older we can get a season pass again, allowing Heather to take the kids on a more regular basis. They really do have a lot of fun there. Hell, I'd like to go back on a regular basis myself.

To top off the trip to the museum we stopped at McDonald's for lunch. That alone is reason for Ian to celebrate. To couple it with a trip to the Children's Museum only capped a super-fun morning for the boy. I think Emma enjoys anything she is doing, as long as she's with Ian when she's doing it.

After some naps for the girls, my mother and sister came over to baby-sit the kids while Heather and I went out to celebrate on our own.

For our anniversary last year my father had given us a gift certificate to Meson Sabika, a Spanish restaurant in the tapas style in Naperville. Heather thought it fitting that we use my dad's gift from the 8th anniversary to celebrate the 9th.

We had reservations to sit outside, but for the first time in nine years of celebrating the day we were wed, the weather did not co-operate with us. We were forced to eat indoors. Not that it was a problem; Meson Sabika is inside a mansion originally built in 1847 and beautifully restored. After treating ourselves to some of their premium martinis (I got the cosmo blanco, Heather had a key lime martini), we ordered generously from the menu. We took great joy in eating tapas style - it's pretty much an open invitation to order a mess of different things and to fill up your table with food. We even ordered dessert - an item we usually pass on.

We both agreed that the food was exceptional. I think we both picked the Montaditos De Solomillo Y Tocino, beef tenderloin tips wrapped in bacon with pears and a red wine sauce, as our favorite item, though I really enjoyed the Salmón Al Horno. It was a filet of salmon baked and served over on a bed of creamed leeks and celery root. It is definitely a restaurant we would highly recommend to others and one we hope to visit again in the future.

Because the weather was so horrible when we were done with dinner, we didn't get to enjoy the usual evening walk we take on our anniversary. Hopefully the weather will hold for us next year when we celebrate a decade of marriage.

And that was just Thursday.

Friday I don't remember too much about, but I think it involved a lot of work around the house. Heather got some things done - including packing up her maternity clothes to be put away FOR THE LAST TIME. I was able to treat the foundation of our house with diazinon. A product apparently no longer made by Ortho - from whom I purchased the bottle of concentrate last year. It does a superb of job of keeping ants and other insects from entering our house. However, I don't have enough to treat the house again next spring. Looks like I'll have to try their Bug-b-Gon product, the obvious successor to their diazinon product.

Saturday we attended a really great engagement party for my sister and her future husband Patrick. Patrick's parents hosted the party and it was a lot of fun. The spread of food was most impressive. Best moment for me was having Ian walk through the crowded house with only his t-shirt on asking me where his underpants were.

(A little back-story here. A swimming pool had been set up, which Ian obviously took part in. When the party moved inside, I put Ian in the bathroom with all his clothes and instructed him to get dressed. Apparently he couldn't find his underpants - which were inside his shorts - and decided to look for me for help. Hence Ian in all his 4-year old glory walking through the dining room calling for his dad.)

Sunday was another party - this one closer to home. The daughter of one of our neighbors, who Ian also attended pre-school with, was celebrating her 5th birthday party. Again, good food and good company made for an enjoyable time out of the house. What made this party so nice was that when Zoe got sleepy, I just needed to walk across the street and lay her down in her own crib. No holding the baby for an hour while she napped made things very nice.

It was a busy four days, but I feel like we were able to balance things nicely. We got work done around the house, get out and socialize, and still found some time to rest too. That doesn't happen very often. Of course, I usually don't get four days at home very often.