Great Expectations

Daniel and I have been married for a little over two years and have not seen a vacation since our honeymoon. I am also the busy, working, sleep deprived mom of a teething 14 month old. I was offered the chance at my first girls weekend getaway and quickly said yes and made the arrangements for Daniel to get off work to watch the baby. That original plan was cancelled. Providently I was asked to go to a gorgeous beach house with my family on the very same weekend for basically free. Thank you Lord! Daniel already had the time off and it sounded like a great way to end the summer and was in our budget. As the date approached for our fantastic weekend, I was picturing long romantic walks on the beach and lazy lounging days with my feet in the sand a book in my hand, and a last chance at a bit of color to get me through the winter months. Hurricane Irene had different plans. 



Again, the plans were changed, but not canceled and we were able to re-route our getaway to the mountains of Charlottesville, again for only the price of gas and food. You may be thinking at this point in the story how lucky I am, that I should get out and play the lottery, however this story takes a turn quite quickly.


I am a planning, list making person, and already the upheaval in my plans was making me feel a bit clammy. I put my control issues on the back burner for the hope of a well needed getaway. We finally got the word on Thursday we could go to the mountains on Friday. The news continued to speak of a storm of epic proportions. I got little to no sleep the night before and we wanted to get on the road early so as to avoid the "evacuation" traffic. A clingy little girl helped me to pack in fits and starts. My wonderful husband loaded the car as I sat in near tears on the edge of our bed stating, "I don't even know if I packed underwear". Believe me folks I am DEPENDENT on lists and preparation!
He brought the bag back up and called out to a despondent wife the articles of clothing included in our bag. We finally got on the road at around 8 I think. Simone took a mini nap and then decided to make her displeasure with being confined in a car seat known (for the majority of the trip). We got the news on the way my mom/babysitter was not going to be able to make it due to the storm. We got lost trying to find the place were meant to arrive and spoke to some locals who had accents so think it was unclear if they were still speaking English. We finally made our way to a house that was opened in preparation for us and waited for our hosts to arrive several house later.
Day 1 of our vacation was not as dreamy as I anticipated but I was hopeful for the remaining portion. We did have a wonderful dinner that night while baby was sleeping. My hopes were dashed mere hours later when I had finally laid my head down to rest. I found myself with a screaming, inconsolable, teething terror, who continually recited her three word vocabulary to me from 12 am until 3 am. Finally she joined me in my twin bed to fall asleep precariously close the edge and tested my sleeping reflexes over and over as she violently turned from side to side. Needless to say the 5:30 am wake up of Day 2 of our vacation was not well greeted by me. I requested (probably not as kindly as I could) that my husband wake up with her.
I slept till 7 and had some breakfast. We tried to get a morning nap in much to no avail and decided to venture off without the nap. (Let me just say here there are many first time mom mistakes in this portion of the story)We made our way in the drizzly rain to Montpelier, James Madison's former residence. It was gorgeous but I quickly discovered quiet museums and toddlers don't mix (1st time mom mistake #2). We took a tour around the property and learned about the slaves that really ran the household. This was very interesting but a bit soggy. We then entered into the inside tour of the estate. My aunt kindly offered to watch the baby outside. We made it through the greeting room and dining room before we all decided it was better to go back home and get the little princess a nap. I saw the disappointment on my history loving husbands face.
We got back to the house with the storm pressing in and beautifully ominous skies. Simone went down for a nap easily and we explored a little of the property but the rain started to fall so we settled for watching t.v. (not my idea of an exciting vacation). We did have another lovely dinner that night and some good conversation. We decided to push the two twin beds together in effort to catch a little bit better sleep. I slept in the crack most of the night and little miss was still quite fitful. We awoke to news of flooding and our hosts needing to get back to the office. We quickly packed up and cleaned up to head back home. We  tried to plan it just right but again we headed out without a morning nap. (mistake #3 and strike your out). We tried to stop for lunch and let her stretch her legs only to find most towns had no electricity and therefore nothing was open. (Insert spousal bickering here.)
*Side note - My husband really should be sainted for putting up with me sometimes.
We finally did make it home and just crashed, all of our belongings piled in the middle of our living room. We learned quite a few valuable lessons on this very merry unvacation.
We are going to try for another mini weekend vacation coming up sans baby. I will try to keep my expectations a bit more reasonable this time.