may you live in interesting times

A few months ago we had some killer (in a good way) travel plans. The Clumber national specialty in April/May, my college reunion in June, and a whopper to the UK in July/August. Every last one of them has resulted in major deviations from the original plan. For the national, the original plan was for all of us to stay the whole week. CD, Oliver, and Bubba ended up going home early, missing most of the event.

For the reunion, CD's work travel is the primary problem. He's got trips immediately before and after. I'm already taking our favorite sitter for the weekend but I really wanted him there too. And he made it happen. Though it would be much easier for him to fly from Madison to San Francisco, he's throwing in a weekend in Williamstown, just for me.

And then there's the UK. One of us is going and it isn't me. The new plan is for all of us to fly to Boston, then for me to take the kids to Maine to see my family. CD will continue on to Dublin, throw in a couple of days with his family in Surrey, then we will all meet up again in Boston for the return. I keep reminding myself that this means I don't have to fly alone with children and I get to go to Maine. Unfortunately, because we all want to be on the same plane, I can't shop around for something cheap. As a result, Eleanor is not getting her own seat, though she is going to be the largest lap child ever. The flight is slightly less than two hours but I have a feeling it isn't going to be pretty. It's going to take a bit longer to get over not going to Dublin and London. We may go later in the year but I am learning not to plan much until passing my credit card number along to the airline.

Now today there is news that there will be a quick trip to Cupertino week after next. I have been doing this long enough that I should have seen it coming. Add in all the prep CD has to do for the conferences and such and it doesn't leave much time for the wife. Our fifth anniversary is Saturday and a date has been planned, dinner at the same place we went for our first anniversary. Great view and even better food. The glitch is in finding a sitter. I haven't exhausted ALL the options yet, but we are getting dangerously close. If not now, we may have to wait until sometime in July for a date.