A week ago today Jason and I packed up and left the home front for a few days alone together - an early celebration of our 25th anniversary coming up in May. I believe we have now fulfilled one of the new year's predictions for 2024 we made with Benners, which was that we would leave the farm to the girls' care sometime this year. I don't know that I ever expected to get four whole nights!
They did amazing! Jason and I are already dreaming of the next time! While Terah and Alida would probably say that we can never do it again, every update seemed proof that they were not only surviving in our absence but thriving. They got to hang out with Luca, enjoy an outing to the American Shakespeare Center with Christen, had a picnic on the roof, enjoyed an evening with Grandma and Grandpa and another with Jonathan, Christen and Luca and they even kept Bear on Thursday and tantalized me with adorable pictures of their time together. In all fairness, Terah was eager to turn the dish and egg washing duties back over to us and Kali didn't seem to mind that her chores would now take a fraction of the time they had taken that week. But they didn't seem to suffer in the least! I don't have a single picture of Kali from the week, since she was the one taking the photos (other than the many flower pictures that came to us thanks to Terah!). 
So while our kids kept busy feeding themselves, cleaning up after themselves, tending to the animals outside and inside and to other little people, Jason and I savored every minute of our time away together! It was as close to perfect as anything can be - such a sweet time of connecting, music creating and playing, reading, hiking (soaking in so much beauty!), light and deep conversations, future planning alongside reflecting back, so much playfulness, and mostly feeling so grateful for each other and all the growth and healing that we are experiencing individually and together. It was just beautiful! It can already feel like a distant memory in some moments, but I know that time together will keep feeding us for some time to come. We knew that this getaway was like taking a deep breath before starting somewhat of a marathon. It's gonna be a full year here, but we feel more ready for it after taking some time apart together. And we also made some concrete plans for making sure we check in regularly about how we are doing amidst the many balls we will be trying to keep in the air together. We make a good team!
We came home to some excited children and to some chicks who had nearly doubled in size and definitely in strength and to a layer of dust over nearly everything - thanks chicks! Our younger two had clearly spent a lot of time with them as they were super comfy using both of them as roosts and lovely perching spots! So we savored a few days with birds escaping regularly from the confines of their swimming pool and served them their eviction notice yesterday! They moved out as the next round of chicks hatched and were delivered to our first broody hen of the year! We are firmly in chick-hatching season!!
We all spent the afternoon tying up various loose ends, cleaning the house as much as one can do with chicks flying about, and prepping for our third and final Ted Lasso weekend with Andrew and Alena (i.e. making caramel corn, chex mix and cookies for the snack table!). We only had a handful of episodes left, which we enjoyed thoroughly, which left us plenty of time for chick adoring, a glorious hike, many rounds of Higgy Piggy, and lots of ping pong. While we have come to the end of our show rewatch together, we are already dreaming and scheming for our next weekend together!
We parted ways Sunday late morning after a St. Patrick's Day brunch together (no green foods but plenty of green confetti, thanks to my mom, decorating the table - and Alena sporting a lovely headband!).
The afternoon was full of more fun times. It was Terah's day for time with me and Jason solo and we soaked it up (don't ask questions around Alida's birthday on what we did for much of the time!!!). Then I departed on another glorious hike while the chicks were moved to their outdoor lodging! And there are no pictures of the evening scurry to at least make the house a little less obviously a chicken coop (i.e. CLEANING!). The afternoon hike was a particularly special one - I had the privilege of doing a repeat hike with one of my doula-clients-turned-friend! We had walked to Hensley's Pong when she was eagerly anticipating this sweet baby's arrival (ok, trying to be patient and wishing to encourage her to come out!!). We did a repeat hike so I could take some photos of the pair 9 months later. Pretty sweet and special!! I love birth work and I love staying connected with the families that invite me into such an important season of their lives!
And now here we are! Jason just came in from chores and the girls are officially stirring (I hear voices and footsteps in the back). The morning quiet has come to an end...
Happy Anniversary and so glad you had that get-a-way time!
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