Who was on time for church this morning?

This girl! It's amazing how fast you can get out of the house when you don't have to yell at anybody about getting dressed, brushing teeth, etc. Of course, I felt a little lonely when I actually got there but it was a quiet morning for sure.

The kid caught a flight to Maryland yesterday. She's hanging out in Ocean City with my dad and his girlfriend. She'll be gone for 23 days total. We'll be there with her for a week in the middle so I'm hoping she won't get too homesick. When we leave the beach, we're handing her off to my sister, who has all sorts of plans for her niece - including a trip to the American Girl store.  Both of my sisters got the kid AG gift cards for her birthday and now she gets to use them to buy a doll. 

After she boarded the plane yesterday, her dad and I didn't know what to do with ourselves. We went to dinner at a funky place that has multiple vegan dishes (I'm in my third week of trying this thing on for size). Then we went to Trader Joe's and picked up some goodies.  Then we had a two-hour drive home, which we completed in relative silence.  When we got home, we watched an episode of Breaking Bad (we're currently up to the third season). 

We compared notes on what the kid would have done had she been with us. For example, we stopped at a gas station so that I could pick up some juice because I was thirsty. I was in and out in about 90 seconds. "If the kid had been with me," I said, "that would have taken half an hour. First she would have demanded that I buy her some ice cream. Then, just as we'd be headed for the door she would have said, 'Wait, I have to poop.'"

We're enjoying a little break from parenting, but we do miss our tiny boss. She and I chatted via video several times today. I can see that she is having a great time and that she is getting spoiled rotten. It will probably take weeks to reprogram her when she gets home.



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