Grandma turned 80 last July, but life was busy, especially with Grandpa Arnie's knee replacement in the fall. Add their annual winter in Florida and her 80th year was almost over with no trip planned! This spring the ladies found the perfect trip opportunity - an 8 night stay aboard the Celebrity Equinox touring the Mediterranean. The bonus was that my cousin Kristin and I were invited to go to make it a three generation trip!
The night Mom asked me about this, I literally did not sleep a wink. I was so nervous about leaving my kids that I didn't think I could possibly go. Livi was only going to be 10 1/2 months and still nursing and Nolan was so sensitive and routine based...I really worried that they would be miserable if I left for that length of time. After mulling it over for many days and talking it over with my friends and family, I finally came to the decision that this trip was too important to miss. I had the chance to make once in a lifetime memories with some of the most important women in my life. Even if my kids missed me, I knew they would be in good hands and I needed to go and have this experience.
I carefully planned a childcare schedule - one that would provide stability and fun for my kiddos. They would stay home with Eric every other day and then rotate between Grandma Patti's house and Katie Lindner's house for the remaining days. My Dad was scheduled to visit one of the weekends, there was a family graduation party, as well as a trip to Paul Bunyan's restaurant in Minocqua. I left notes for my kids to open each day that I was gone, telling them what I was up to each day. I worked hard at getting Livi to accept a bottle. Nolan and I studied the map and I taught him about each of the countries we would be traveling to. They had so much fun planned and they seemed very relaxed about my impending departure. It was time for me to get excited!
The next several blogs will be a chronicle of our adventure to Europe...Bon voyage!
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