Weekend Away

Matt and I left Elyse overnight, actually 2 nights, for the first time this weekend and it was wonderful! We were both excited but a little nervous about leaving her. My mom came and stayed at our house with her so we knew she would be more than okay, but this was still a first for us.

We left Friday afternoon for a wedding in Sarasota that evening. The wedding was amazing! Intimate, touching ceremony, gorgeous reception venue, great food, music, friends and fun. We had such a wonderful time. This is one of the first weddings we've gone to as parents and imagining Elyse as a grown woman one day, leaving and cleaving, was emotional for both of us. The father of the bride toast drew tears. We can only strive for and hope that we do enough things right in raising her up the way that she should go that when it's her turn we are proud and excited over the man she chooses to share her life with and over the woman she has become. I missed Elyse a lot right then.
Matt with some of his coworkers and friends.


One of the outdoor centerpieces at the wedding.


We stayed through to the end of the wedding and went to bed pretty late. Thick shades drawn in our hotel room we slept in until almost 10am! I couldn't believe I was able to sleep so late but I enjoyed every moment of it. We strolled through downtown Sarasota and lingered through a sit down breakfast. There was lunch and beach time with the new couple on Saturday afternoon and as I lounged under a little cabana I had to laugh at myself for being nervous to leave Elyse. We were enjoying ourselves so much that we toyed with the idea of having flowers sent to my mom that day! It's the small things. It was the uninterrupted breakfast with no concern to nap times of finger foods being flung on the floor. It was resting on the beach with the soothing ocean breeze and calming sounds of the waves meeting the sand not wondering if I applied baby sunscreen thick enough, packed enough snacks, or remembered snuggie. We walked onto the beach with one simple bag and two towels in tow versus the normal entourage of "stuff" that fills up our entire car and takes multiple trips to load, unload, load, and unload again. I forgot how simple and fast things used to be, but yes, we missed her like crazy.

This little shell was so pretty, colorful and completely intact. I wanted to keep it and take it home but I had no idea what I would do with it so I decided to capture it in photos instead. I like that little shell even more now.


After the beach we drove to Madeira to visit with our friends Kristin and Rone'. They unexpectedly got an overnight baby sitter as well so Rone' treated us to a sunset cruise. After watching the sun dip beneath the gulf's horizon we parked the boat and ate a late, waterside dinner. I had never been on a boat at night and cruising down the channel seeing all the homes glowing from within was beautiful. We went back to their house for a game of darts before bed and I actually got one bulls eye!

As we arrived home on Sunday we were so excited to see Elyse's reaction when we first walked in. She crawled very quickly over to me and I picked her up. She touched my face as if making sure I was really there and then wanted back down. That was it. Sunday evening wound down with a movie and ice cream and now life resumes again. The dryer is humming, piles of folded laundry need to be put away, the grocery list needs to be made, dry cleaning is packed and ready to be dropped off, Elyse wouldn't eat lunch and hardly ate breakfast, she discovered the toilet paper today and I've kissed several boo boo's.......back to life, back to reality. I'm thankful for reality though, it really made me appreciate our weekend away.