The good not-so-good weekend

My sisters are pregnant and sick, so we've been watching the boys a lot while I've been here. We took Ronan to the American History museum on Thursday and it was so fun to watch Henry and Ronan run around and get excited about the trains, cars, and buses. I got to see Hannah and little Rhoda, too, which was just icing on the cake, even if we weren't able to talk too much with me chasing after little toddlers all morning.

Friday, I went with Jen to IKEA and the Manassas mall. I don't know if there's anywhere stranger to go than the mall you used to go all throughout high school. I worked at the American Eagle Outfitters in high school (and got fired for using my discount for a friend, so sue me for being a generous friend, really), and have too many weird memories of the place. Taking my kid there now was almost to meta for me to handle. But Henry loves wide open spaces, and we let Henry and Lincoln chase each other around in the H&M for awhile, and ride the train merry-go-round. He loved it for about 15 seconds then started to cry and scream NO NO ALL DONE. That's Henry. :)

Saturday, we got picked up by the in-laws to drive down to Charlottesville to visit family, but we got rear-ended and smushed between two big trucks. Besides some whiplash and sore muscles and overall malaise felt today, everyone was fine thankfully. I realized afterwards that if the big truck wasn't in front of us, we would've been thrown into the middle of a very busy intersection. So I'm thankful for big trucks today, that I truly believe saved us from severe injuries. Henry was pretty upset and scared, setting off my protective mama mode and I was ready to punch someone in the face. I was so upset he was in an accident at 2 years old, but thankfully he was strapped in super secure in his seat and was just shaken up like the rest of us. We went back to their house and luckily Marisa, Jeff and Iris were able to drive up from Charlottesville to visit us, and it turned out to be a really nice day spent with family. I was grateful we were able to get that family time, especially after such a rattling morning.

When I decided to stay in the US this month, I knew I'd be here about a week longer than I could probably stand, and that hit me today. I'm so ready to go home. Mark just landed in Tanzania this morning, so we're nearly to the end of this separation. If anyone ever asks me to spend 4 weeks away from my husband, willingly, please smack me in the face. I've been grumpy, moody, and sore all day and I'm sure I haven't been a pleasure to be around. I'm solid.