Back and Better Than Ever

(Not really. I just felt like saying that).

So I haven't updated this blog in almost a month, which is unheard of for me. Writing/blogging/"researching" in the name of blogging is cathartic for me. However, the kids and I have spent the last three weeks in Wisconsin with my parents, extended family and friends, and between the lack of space at my parents' house and sheer exhaustion, blogging just wasn't going to happen. Let's recap, shall we?

Early June-bid a tearful goodbye to Will, prayed a silent Hail Mary and hit the road with my packed-to-the-brim SUV, and two already tired children in the backseat. We hadn't even driven two blocks when I spotted Will, sprinting across our neighbor's backyard and up the main road, holding Alessandra's pink sandal. I had one in the suitcase, and I foolishly I assumed the other was in the car. God I love my husband. It takes a real man to run across an Army base waving a tiny baby shoe like the Olympic torch.

Later that night: Having made it all the way from Columbus, GA, through Tennessee and Kentucky, I finally called it quits somewhere in Indiana. Dragged my progeny in to a hotel, and most likely scared the wits out of an elderly, kindly hotel manager when I begged, "please tell me you have a pack 'n play at this hotel? Please please please please please?" Alessandra, for no reason whatsoever, let out a bloodcurdling shriek and Tony spilled a bottle of water all over the hotel lobby floor. The gentleman assured me that not only did he have a spare pack 'n play, but he would personally deliver it to our room. I must have looked rather frightening at that point.

Kids didn't sleep at all that night. Alessandra screamed the second I put her in the pack 'n play, and continued to do so until I was certain she was going to wake the dead. I put her in bed with me, and slept approximately 10 minutes out of every hour, convinced she was going to roll off the bed and die. (Have you figured out by now Will and I never did the co-sleeping thing with our babies?).

Well, we made it to Wisconsin the next day, and I immediately proceeded to hand my children over to my mom and brother, and fall asleep in the bathtub. I wish I was kidding.

I was ALL SET to attend my 10-year college reunion that weekend, and my mom and I had a fancy schmany schedule all set up. Me: drive to Appleton, and partake in reunion festivities. Mom: drive to Green Bay with the kids, crash with my aunt and uncle at their house, and drive up to the cabin the following day. Thursday night at 11pm (also known as "the night before we were scheduled to go up north"), I thought, "you know what, it might be helpful for me to know what to pack. Surely there's some kind of dress code for the weekend." I emailed my friend who was on the reunion committee, and asked him about the attire for this weekend. He messaged me back right away (thank you sweet baby Jesus for the invention of Facebook), and wrote, "Hi Marisa, I'm looking forward to seeing you too! I hope that was a typo, though...the reunion isn't this weekend. It's the weekend after." Yes, you read that correctly. I had the date of my reunion wrong, and after some very creative swearing (what can I say, I put my English major to good use), I frantically scrawled a note to my mom and put it next to the coffee pot so she would see it first thing in the morning.

I swore once I had kids my head wouldn't remain permanently lodged up my butt, and...you can see how well that's working out for me.

Fortunately, all's well that ends well, and it really wasn't too much of a hassle to switch our plans to the following weekend. I had a wonderful time at my reunion; spent quality time with college friends, walked around the (new! improved!) campus, and reminisced about my college years and the choices I made way back when. Some good, some very bad. Not going to lie...it was weird being back. I'm still glad I went, though.

Roommate Becca and I next to Main Hall.

Honor Code cocktails at the VR. Quite tasty.

A few of my Delta Gamma sisters and I.

Professora Vilches!! (My Italian professor from senior year).

The rest of our time in Wisconsin passed in a blur of exhaustion, thanks to teething, daily trips to the park, delicious dinners with family and friends, and quality "limoncello and Prosecco time with Mom."

On the Thomas the Train ride in Green Bay

Getting ready to go fishing up at my parents' cabin

Alessandra got her chunky thighs stuck in my old crib.

Fun times with the hose in my parents' back yard.

That being said, it's good to be home. We had a...let's call it "harrowing" drive back to Georgia. The kids and I left the morning of July 2, and I drove the 900 miles back to Fort Benning. I'm not even exaggerating when I tell you that Alessandra screamed for 850 of those miles. This goose was cooked by the time we pulled into the driveway on Thursday evening. Will was ecstatic to see his family again, and after a long weekend of rest and fourth of July festivities, I finally feel human enough to tackle the rest of the week. I have a whole list of blog topics I intend to post, to make up for lost time.

In totally random news, Will and I took the kids to one of the (fabulous) pools here at Fort Benning, and I'm happy to report that no one was traumatized. Quite the opposite; both kids had a wonderful time and didn't want to leave. I'm thrilled to be raising "pool children" and even more thrilled to have something to do during the long, beastly hot days in Georgia during the summer.

Here's to a few more months of heat, pool days, popsicles, bike rides and staying up late making smores. Summer, I think we're going to get along just fine this year.