Of course, mothers and fathers provide something unique to the parenting relationship, and this trip will allow me to showcase that which comes more naturally to me. Some of the things I'm looking forward to are:
- Making the hard call to, once again, go out to eat because we are tired of cheap spaghetti or peanut butter and jelly (and I can't make anything else).
- Wearing dirty clothes because no clean ones are left, which allows us to conserve water. NOT, as Alison might think, simply because laundry didn't get done.
- Pushing Eva to stay up later instead of going to bed on time. For her own growth, not because there's one more book to read, one more family member to cuddle, or one song to sing.
- Educating her on what life used to be like in the frontier days by not giving her a bath as regularly as Alison does.
- Allowing Eva greater freedom to pick out her dresses. For the sake of learning independence. Not because she may or may not be more qualified than me to mix and match her clothes.
Of course, there are a few things Eva and I want to accomplish. Our list includes, but is certainly not limited to:
- pick blueberries
- walk Koda (my brother-in-law's very large dog)
- Help Aunt Liz with her twin infant girls
- Get ice cream with Grandpa
- Bake cookies with Grandma
- Visit Great Grandma in with Nana and pick fruit
- Wearing pink sandles (that's one of Eva's goals, though I'm sure she'll want me to get
- Taking pictures of all of our experiences
- Skyping reguarly with Mommy and Gabe
So why not Alison and Gabe? Alison would not be able to fly back to Bahrain on account of her pregnancy (she can't fly after 7 months), and Gabe because we're each taking one. Alison will get her own mini-break: Gabe will go into a summer camp of sorts for two weeks in the mornings, so she'll have four hours by herself every day to read, relax, get a coffee or meet a friend without little hands grabbing her or other things.
