I’m one of those mom’s who can’t leave their children for fear that something terrible will happen. Like they might wake up in the middle of the night crying (gasp) or what if they go hungry (have you seen our children eat)?

Or maybe I’ll miss some major event (Sebby is going to walk any day now, I’m sure of it…Note: he barely wobbles in a standing position…he ain’t walking any time soon…).

Not that I don’t leave them for the date night or to finally get back to my career and work a bit. It’s just the overnight thing. I want to be the last person to tuck them in at night. Give them a kiss. And the first to see them when they wake up. Is that so bad?

But I also know that I’m in desperate need of a few things for me:

1. A night of un-interrupted sleep.
2. A morning where I wake up when I want.
3. A night when I go to sleep when I want (most nights, it’s early because of #2)

….are you noticing a theme here…SLEEP!

4. Some alone time with a book by the pool without an “expiration date” or someone asking me to help them with 1 of about a million things.
5. And of course some serious QT with my hubby.

Next weekend we are finally going to get that time. We’ve just booked a night in Los Angeles for a work event and more importantly some adult time.

Justin’s Dad is coming down for a visit and he and his girlfriend are going to watch Stella and Sebby for us.

Of course I’ve got a laundry list of things to get organized to make sure things are easy for Grandad and Teresa while we are away.

But this trip it’s fun to actually get to plan what I’m going to wear. Where we are going to eat. What club we are going to hit. What book and magazines I’ll be bringing to the pool!

Not:
How many diapers should I bring;
Do we need both strollers?
What snacks, toys, books, etc. should I bring?
When should we plan to drive up so it coordinates with naps?
What will we do while we are there that children will like?
Call to book a crib for the hotel…
Yada, yada, yada…

Nope, none of that.

So easy!

The simplest “baby free” travel.

A word on my absence from writing…

Life has been pretty chaotic for us over the past 8-9 months. We moved 4 times…were homeless for a month (not bad “homeless” but just in between houses and spent time with family and friends), bought and furnished a condo in Vancouver, started a new business, moved to San Diego…the list goes on. But hopefully I’ll be back to writing more. We don’t have a lot of trips planned (staycation is in our vocabulary now…a bit tired of travel) but I have quite a few to catch up on.

Yes, life has been one big adventure since we sold and moved out of our house at the end of October.

In a time that I’ve had so much that I could have blogged about in regards to travel with a baby/children, I’ve had no time or to be honest…creative inspiration to write.

Since October 30th we have:

Moved out of our townhouse in Vancouver

Lived for a little less than a week at Justin’s Dad’s house while we were in “transition” before our trip back East

A night at my friend Katina’s house in Ashburn, VA

9 nights in State College, PA (at Justin’s alma mater, Penn State) so Justin could do some networking for a new business idea, met with our PSU intern and of course attended 2 football games and visited with friends. (Stella became “officially” potty trained here).

Back to Ashburn, VA for a night at Katina’s again to break up the drive/journey to my Dad’s and help her celebrate her B-Day and visit with some friends.

Then it was to my Dad’s in Salem, VA for American Thanksgiving a lot of quality time with my family (2 weeks). Stella transitioned to a “big girl bed” and Sebby started eating solids during these 2 weeks…

Back to Vancouver on Dec. 2 – 2 nights in a hotel before we moved into our new investment condo downtown…

We spent all of December in the new condo in downtown Vancouver getting it ready to rent out furnished. We loved living downtown but a 2 bedroom didn’t really suit a family of 4! But all the hardwork paid off and we already have an Olympic rental through March 4…

So here we are on our newest adventure, driving to San Diego where we are going to live for the next year or so.

We left Vancouver on December 31st to a tearful Grandad and Teresa and I have to say I was pretty sad myself.

We spent a quiet New Year’s Eve as a family in a hotel in Seattle (we saw the ball drop on the East Coast but were asleep before 10 pm…).

New Years Day was football all day with our friends Kate and Ash and then off to Oregon today…

We’ll be in San Diego by Jan. 5 when we move into our house on the beach. We are all getting really excited for some sun and stability…

I have a lot to say on travel (planes, trains and automobiles) but it’s late and my mommy duties call.

I will address all those questions about strollers, etc. just give me some time!

We are off to Sacramento tomorrow to have dinner with our friend Randy who is a Doctor there.

So life on the road with two is definitely more juggling and lugging.

But we continue to enjoy the thrill of the adventure!

Last week we moved into Justin’s Dad’s place after moving out of our home.  I cried like a baby when we said goodbye to our house.  It was our first “family home” and we were all sad to say goodbye.  Stella still can’t quite grasp the concept that it’s gone as last night she had an accident in her bed here at Grandad’s and said “Mommy, we need to go home.”  Ofcourse I’m all mommy guilting myself into worrying that “oh no, my children aren’t going to have a home for awhile.”  But as everyone has reminded me, it’s not the house that makes the home but the people who are in it.

It’s funny, now that we are homeless and the chaos of the move has died down I feel amazingly relaxed.  The most relaxed I’ve felt in awhile.  Home ownership is a wonderful thing but the freedom of just having the bare essentials and no worries and stresses of a home is somewhat liberating.

So I’m sure there are some of you wondering why the heck are we homeless?  What are you doing?  Where will you go?  What will you do?

Well, we sold our house because it really wasn’t going to work for us long term with 2 small children and we believe the market here in Vancouver can not handle much more of an increase in value.  Unlike the US, Vancouver real estate has stayed really strong.  So strong that we can’t really see ourselves investing in our next long term home here until prices stabilize.  We did very well on our home in Vancouver and have decided to sit on the sidelines of Vancouver real estate for awhile and possibly “play in the US real estate market” in San Diego.

A lot of people have asked what are your plans?  I have hesitated to even try to explain the next few months as it exahausts me just retelling our plans but here you go for all those who are curious…

On Wednesday we leave for a flight to Washington, DC where we will spend 2 nights visiting with some of my college friends.  Then we are off for 10 days in State College, PA, to Justin’s alma mater, Penn State.  As anyone who knows Justin knows he is a die hard Penn State fan so our stay at PSU is going to allow him to go to 2 big games and also pursue a business idea around Penn State football.  I am so very excited for him and feel that all his hard work over the years starting and running businesses is really going to pay off and he is going to be doing something he loves.  So stay tuned.  My husband is surely going to rock it out at PSU!

Then we will be heading back thru DC for another quick hello to some friends enroute to my Dad’s house in Salem.  I haven’t seen my brother and his wife and my 4 nephews in a year.  I can’t believe it.  It saddens me to think how much I’ve missed seeing them grow-up but excited to be able to spend 2 weeks with them.

We will be heading back to Vancouver on Dec. 1st to close on our investment condo here in Vancouver and spend 2-3 weeks furnishing it to rent it out.  Then we’ll be heading down the West coast to LA for Christmas and then on to San Diego for 4 months to 2 years…  We’ve rented a beach house in Encinitas (north of San Diego) for 4 months to give it a try down there and see if we like it.  We may buy a house there and stay a few years but ultimately plan to come back to Vancouver for the children to go to school here.

So that’s the plan in a nutshell…or rather a tortoise shell..far too big of plans to fit into a nutshell!

Now off to pack our bags.  Given all the airline restrictions and charges for everything we are trying to pack light…no easy task for a month long trip with 2 small children.  But I’ll be doing my best to pair down to the essentials.

We are taking our car seats again as it wasn’t that big of a deal on our trip to San Diego, though we will have to pay $25/car seat on the way back as United charges.  Flying out on Air Canada and they allow you 1 piece of luggage PLUS free check of a car seat or stroller per person.