Our 20th Anniversary G-8 Respite Weekend

Thanks to some amazing friends/foster parents/coaches/and teammates, The Other Mother and I put together the G-8 Respite Summit this past weekend to squeeze in a weekend away to recharge our sorely depleted batteries and rekindle our relationship at the 20 year mark.  Yup. Twenty years together and I am still sooooo stinkin' in love. It is pitiful, really.

We stayed at a fabulous inn that was once a school run by nuns (coincidentally the same order of nuns that The Other Mother's much older cousin belongs to) All the rooms had chalkboards, tall windows, fireplaces couches, chairs, whirlpool tubs and four poster beds...breakfast brought to your door and served in a basket with the paper.  Bliss.  Absolute Bliss. 

We dined two nights in a row at a former train station-now restaurant that shares the last name of our adult bio-son.  We were the youngest folks there and dined to Big Band music, but our meals were so good we went back again.

I will not taint or spoil the memory of my fabulous weekend by recounting how we were two hours late for departure on Friday because James did not come home afterschool because he decided it would be "awkward" to go to the unfamiliar respite home we had to arrange at the last minute because both of our babysitters fell through and three other respite homes weren't viable options.   Of course james did not realize that I  had emergency CORI checks done on his coach's family so he could spend the weekend there.  Even when he found out, he still didn't want to speak to us. Nor will I steam and fume that after refusing to come home and delaying our departure and racheting up our stress level, (social worker on his way to our house 6 o'clock on a Friday and Coach annoyed in our kitchen cuz James is making him late too)  He then spent the weekend at Coaches enjoying the movie theater in the basement, dinner at a steakhouse, sleeping in a king size bed in his very own room and riding a golf cart around coaches yard, hanging at the fire-pit and going to the HS football game in additon to playing his own two games. Coaches son and James are good friends  and teammates..so I am glad they spent time together and glad he had a nice weekend -  but it still frosts my pumpkin that he walked all over us and walked away.  Argh!

I will however, gloat about the fantastic time Middle Little had at Miss Marla's (another foster family we know: one of the Mountain Top Moms).  Turns out Middle Little and Miss Marla's Husband share the same birthday!  Marla's daughter Cheyenne goes to head Start with Middle Little - so he had a built in best buddy to play with for the weekend. He asked if he could go back this week...too sweet! 

Older Little got to spend the weekend with his infant brother, 9 month old Not-So Little, aka Littlest Little (he is a tank!!!huge!)  They had a nice time together and he felt comfortable with his first foster family (where he stayed for a few days before coming to us in August.)

Bobby went to a teammate's house for the weekend - they had a soccer game this weekend.  Sat. nite they went with some other teammates to a famous haunted hayride at a nearby farm..where he had the bejesus scared out of him...Chainsaws, goblins, montsers, fog...etc.  At one point in the cornfield a ghoulish gal jumped up on the hayride and got in Bobby's face and shreiked in a creepy voice: "Hi Bobby--- where's your Moms, Bobby???? Tell them the babysitter says HI..mwahahahah"  He was so freaked out wondering who she was and how she knew his name and that we weren't home..... Turns out it was the brand new second babysitter that fell through last minute. In fairness to her, she cancelled because she got a part time job at the Haunted Hayride.... Anyhow - Bobby hadn't really met her before but she knew Bobby as she is a friend of our older foster children. 

Below are some pics of our room, one of the many humorous/romatic messages on the chalkboard in our room and a lovely quilted wallhanging of the inn hanging on a guest room door. We are already planning our next getaway.