A fabulous weekend of vomiting and burgers!

My plane arrived early on Saturday morning. It's a pretty big airport, so by the time I got my self to baggage, it had already stopped rotating and my bag was simply waiting for me. STE pulled up and I believe she said something to the effect of "You really are big!" Apparently the pictures just don't do the tummy justice. P & L had come to the airport and was and L immediately greeted me with a smile, while P hid from me behind his blankie.

When we made the plans for me to come up we knew the kids had been sick and their was a possibility that everyone could be sick. I'm not a big germ-y gal, so I wasn't too worried, plus Brian and Ciera had both had bad colds at my house. However, this poor family ended up with more than a cold. S had been very sick prior to my arrival and poor P just wasn't feeling too hot.

So we made plans to go for lunch at Lunchbox Laboratory-the best burger place ever!! I ordered the burger of my dreams since September (beef with Pepper Jack cheese, grilled onions and garlic pepper mayo) and was thrilled to see it brought out to the table. Before anyone even got a bite P began vomiting at the table. Poor little guy! We immediately decided to get the food to go and get P settled at home. Would a 20 minute delay ruin the burger? Absolutely not! It was exactly as I remembered it and I enjoyed every bite of the 1/2 lb of beef! Sadly, P continued to be sick several times that afternoon.

One of the nice things about visiting families with young children is nap time. There's very few places where you can visit and it not be rude to disappear for a 2 hour nap, but the home of 2 nappers it is totally acceptable. I arrived back home more rested than ever!

Fortunately for me, in the hurry to pack up and get out of the restaurant, S left his credit card behind. So in the interest of not making it a trip just to retrieve the credit card, I ordered another burger for dinner-to go. The place was strangely empty at 6:30 so we were able to watch him make the burger and learn all of his secrets. What I noticed the most was that it was a seasoned burger, not just a patty of meat. They were even kind enough to give me a container of the garlic pepper mayo to bring home with me (we're going to try it out tonight). And if that wasn't enough he made us a special 'pregnancy treat', a grilled sandwich with the best pepperoni and a spinach/artichoke/cream cheese sauce. Now I never would've even thought to try this sauce, but it was DELICIOUS!!

Saturday night while watching The Philadelphia Story the babies finally had a good streak of movement. However, STE's hands were a little occupied soothing a very sad and sick P. It just wasn't the time to feel anything. Earlier in the day she did get to feel when the 'upper portion' got really hard as baby readjusted himself and at the beginning of the movie she was able to feel a 'body part' poke through the upper abdomen. Sadly, the baby wiggling just wasn't meant to be felt this weekend. I of course was disappointed, but STE seemed OK and assured me that it would happen eventually before the birth.

On Sunday P stopped vomiting but was still not quite up to par. Both kids did a lot of snuggling with bursts of active play with daddy. Where would one go for lunch on a Sunday? Why, Lunchbox Laboratory of course! So we stopped in for another to go order. I had decided that the cream cheese sauce was so good, surely it would be good on beef as well. They had it paired up with a 'bacon relish' that terrified me a bit, but they assured me the burger was not the same without it. So I took a leap of faith and ordered "The Mafia". The burger was to DIE for!! Since I already had garlic pepper sauce to bring home with me, this was the new burger to obsess over. For dinner that night we had a delicious raspberry, pecan turkey roast with mashed potatoes and broccoli. Have I mentioned what a great job STE does at providing wonderfully balanced meals? I never have any worries about eating well while I am there. She even introduced me to Cream of Rice for breakfast that morning. Turns out it was pretty good with some brown sugar!

Monday morning P seemed to be doing a little better and L seemed to be doing a bit worse. STE made delicious french toast (which I don't normally care for) and I even ate some of P's since it was so good (and he wasn't eating it anyhow). We stopped by Lunchbox Laboratory one last time before I flew home. I again ordered The Mafia. They also have delicious shakes. Since the babies seem to really like peppermint right now, I was able to get a chocolate peppermint shake that was unbelievable! When we got home and sat down for lunch, L got sick. Poor thing, all she wanted to do after vomiting was to eat her lunch, but that just didn't seem like a great idea. After one more glorious afternoon nap it was time to pack up and head to the airport. On the way we stopped and picked up some delicious whole wheat bread that I'd been craving for months. I hadn't found anything close enough to it at home, so I brought 2 loaves home with me. When you toast it just a little and spread butter on it, the bread tastes just like it did when my mom used to make bread.

My flight was delayed, but the airport sells food and I had a good book. I didn't end up getting home until midnight. I had such a great time visiting. It's just so nice to see the kids grow and to see them being a family, just doing regular basic things. Perhaps when the kids are bigger we'll do 'tourist' things, but I figure I'm not going up to see the town. I'm there to see them and the regular things that families do. I never leave sad, always happy that they are so great and that my kids are no longer 2! Kids are a lot of work, but so worth it!

I got to see STE's mother for a little bit while I was there and STE's sister gave birth to her 4th baby on Sunday. Welcome to the world Miss Adele!