Weekend Away

Last weekend, Greg and I were able to go away. We left Friday just after noon and came back Sunday evening. We had some WONDERFUL, AMAZING friends who volunteered to care for our children in our absence. Our friends Sharon & JB and their girls had the kids Friday and part of Saturday. Then our friends Shonna and her daughter, Kayla, watched them Saturday afternoon until Sunday afternoon. And, since we weren't home by the time they needed to leave, Sharon & JB took over again for a couple hours.

We had a bit of a runaround before we ended up at a hotel on Friday. We wanted to stay in Half Moon Bay, but cost was prohibitive and availability was low. So we had booked a room in San Mateo (a little east of Half Moon Bay) and planned to drive over during the day. However, upon our arrival at the hotel, we discovered the location was less than ideal and a little undesirable. In addition, the hotel was booked at 100% capacity and the only available room was a smoking room. I walked into the room to see how bad the smell might be and I immediately started getting a headache. At that point, I knew that there was no way we could stay there. So we got online and found another hotel in Mountain View and booked it. It was a little strange because Mountain View is right by Palo Alto where we spent almost three months at the hospital at Stanford. But the location was much nicer and the room itself was nice too.

Friday night we actually went to the hospital for a few minutes to see Caden's primary nurse, Amy. She was working her last night shift before becoming a fully daytime nurse. It was so great to see her even if it was brief. I know, some people probably think we are crazy to go visit the hospital when we had time away from our kids. But we really do owe Amy our gratitude for saving Caden's life. She was his nurse the day he coded and if it wasn't for her quick response, he might not have survived. Thank you Amy, we can never repay you for that!

Saturday, we spent the majority of the day over at Half Moon Bay. We borrowed a friend's tandem bike and went on a nice ride along the coast. There is a really nice path along the coast and I think we rode around 8 or 9 miles. Nothing too strenous, but pleasant. I love being the backseat rider because I got to take pictures as we rode along. This is really the only way Greg and I enjoy a bike ride together. If we ride separate bikes, I can't keep up with him and he has a hard time going slow enough for me. So a tandem is a perfect solution! :) And after our ride we spent some time hanging out on the beach. All in all a very relaxing day. That night we were going to see a movie, but the times just didn't work out with our schedule so we ended up staying in our room and watching a movie.

Sunday we took our time checking out of the hotel and headed to some outlets to do a little shopping before driving home. It was a really nice weekend and we had a good time. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends who are willing to care for our children so we could get a little break. As always, there are mixed emotions on coming home. We really missed our boys! But we really enjoyed the time together and it ended all too soon. Maybe we'll get the chance to do it again sometime.

Let me also say that leaving Caden with anybody overnight was a HUGE thing for me. It was the first time I've been away from him overnight since we left the hospital at the beginning of March. If it wasn't for our friends, I don't know if I would have done it. I think they love our boys as much as we do and they have all taken care of Caden multiple times. They're comfortable with the g-tube and aren't scared of it. That being said, I trust them immensely and are so grateful for the sacrifices they made so we could have some much-needed time to reconnect. Having a child with medical issues takes a lot out of a person and a marriage. And it's not easy to find people you trust to watch your kids while you take the time for each other. I'm glad we did it though!

I hope you enjoy some pictures from our weekend (mostly during our bike ride):

Primary Nurse Amy

Us at LPCH in CVICU

Getting ready for our bike ride at Half Moon Bay

My photography skills at work from the back of the bike

More photos while riding

More pics from the bike (I'm a slacker riding partner!)

On the beach (did I mention it was FREEZING?!!!)

Uh oh! How'd that picture get in here? ;)

My incredible hubby!

Proof that we were at Half Moon Bay