High Expectations

Jeff and I got away for a day and night.  He took a Friday off and we drove to Kansas City for the night.  About 3.5 hours away, Kansas City is a great city just North of us and now that they have a temple we have a legitimate excuse to go, "We're on a mission from God."  We hired a baby sitter for Spike, and had friends watch Mae and Max.  I was a bit apprehensive about leaving Max after only two days of school but he had a great time with his friend Jackson.  I will admit that I had high expectations for this trip.  We really needed to get away.  (So far this has been our longest stretch of 28 hours away!)  I suspect that my overly high expectations were what led to this trip being a let-down.  Things did not go great, they weren't disastrous, but it wasn't the trip I needed or wanted.  I'll spare you the long recap and give the points of interest

The hotel was not as nice as the money I shelled out for it.
Our room was surrounded by three families with kids.
It was hot and muggy.
We got lost and almost missed the temple.
Some ladies were laughing and talking during the entire session.
No good shopping.

But the Cheesecake Factory didn't disappoint and we also had fun going out last min, really late at night to eat at a bar.

I don't think we will try to get away again without some parent or relative offering to take the kids for free.  I think a big part of my stress was how much the stupid little trip cost me to not have fun.  But the most interesting thing about the trip was what happened when I got home. 

Having checked back in with everyone I learned that so many people had had a much worse weekend then me.  It really put things in perspective for me and made me appreciate that the trip wasn't a total loss.  I have actually been feeling a lot better these past two weeks so in effect I got what I needed out of the trip and I guess that is all that matters.