mom 2.0 summit whiplash

this last weekend, chach and i had the privilege of attending an amazing conference, mom 2.0 summit, held at the ritz carlton in laguna niguel, ca. not only was the weekend a chance for us to visit and spend some quality time together, but it was also the perfect opportunity for us to connect with other talented bloggers and some of our favorite brands. top that all off with a location that is nothing short of spectacular and the weekend was close to perfection. 

the view from the hotel. seriously.

we had the best time. we slept uninterrupted. we ate delicious food. the ritz carlton delivered us white chocolate and a plate of cookies at night. we had turn down service each night and fresh towels every morning. we laughed often, conversations flowed freely and we had perpetual smiles on our faces. 

so gorgeous. 

proof that blogging has its perks...

all too soon, the weekend was over and we were heading home. after a weekend away, it feels like we should be able to ease back into our normal lives...slowly...to keep from pampered whiplash. a slow re-acclimation to reality wasn't on our agenda. our first stop was chach's house. we had shortly gone to sleep on our first night back to reality when chach's poor three year old woke up sobbing. after looking at his sweet feet that night, we found that, while at a birthday party that day, he had run on a deck barefoot and had nothing less than 40 splinters covering his little piggies. it was a long hour of tweezing those bits of wood out of his tiny feet. 

nellie's midnight tweezing session...poor baby!

after my (nellie's) flight was cancelled and i was redirected to get home to my babies, chach returned to her two boys only to be woken in the wee hours of the morning by projectile vomiting. both boys threw up for the day and chach got to play zone defense...this is the result.

i wish i could compare this with one of our weekend shots...one of these things is not like the other. she managed to take care of her sweet boys and is in charge of teacher appreciation week for their preschool. have i mentioned she's a rock star? don't let the picture fool you. 

meanwhile, on the other coast, i was happily hugging my babies and trying to recover from my rerouted red-eye flight. after a day recovering, life came jumping back into full swing.

first on the agenda: ducklings...two of them...for a kindergarten class project. nothing says, "welcome home" like cleaning up baby animal poopies. still, they were pretty adorable and my kids loved them so it wasn't so bad. i told chach they were actually pretty fun. her response? "one person's 'fun' is another persons 'nightmare'. love her.

sweet things...

my amazing husband was worn out after a weekend with the kids. he is also a super hero and decided to surprise me by steam cleaning all of our carpets. so, on the night we were going to sit and watch a movie together, this is what happened...

our version of "alone time"

cap it all off with chaperoning a field trip today with several classes of first graders and we are back to parenting...with bells on. 

at least we can look back at our pictures of last weekend and bask in the glow of the weekend that was...and laugh at the pictures of what our reality sometimes is. one without the other wouldn't nearly be so sweet. until next year, mom 2.0. thanks for the memories.