This is the kind of night...

We're happily exhausted. We embraced the weekend with open arms ready to take what it was willing to give. A neighborhood BBQ and playdate on Friday night thoroughly exhausted Luke into Saturday morning. John woke early with Ellie letting me catch an extra hour of shut-eye and Luke popped up ready for the day around 7:30. We lazy-ed about in the morning, surprised my home-bound grandmother with lunch at noon, bought groceries and put the tired kids down for what ended up being almost 4 hours worth of napping. Happiness! Luke was of course ready to go somewhere the minute he woke up so off we went in the Bob Stroller, heading downtown we weren't sure where we'd end up eating dinner and soon found ourselves sitting on the point at Raul's. Luke was enthralled with the traffic. Buses and cop cars, big rigs and sports cars zipped past us as we noshed on homemade chips and spicy salsa.

Our shoulders relaxed, our kids are happy, and that sick tunnel that has traumatized for weeks is ending. We oohed at Ellie, wowed with Luke as he pointed at the moon and said "light on! Oh wow!" and we winked at each other. This is it. We're here.

Sunday morning saw us with another trip to the playground with another set of close friends. Four couples, 7 kids with 1 soon to join them in August. It was mayhem and laughter, time-outs and hugs, commiserating and sympathizing over pregnant bellies, surgeries, bedtimes, and even talk of the glories of vasectomies. Bah! The rain trickled and lunch was moved to a covered picnic table. Watermelon and strawberries, guacamole and chips, juice boxes and sandwiches were everywhere. We soon headed home, Luke and Ellie took another 3 hour long nap as we enjoyed the silence. We napped ourselves in the living room, covered in blankies on a windy day, falling asleep to a movie, it was bliss.

After dinner we decided to go for a family walk which took us along the bike trail to Freedom Park. Luke calls the playground the "wagon" and honestly we couldn't deny him a ride down the slide, or a push on the swing. He lights up at the sight of a "wagon". So through the wind with his nose running and eyes tearing up he ran. He ran and ran and slid and dug. The sandbox was his sanctuary and Ellie watched him so intently, so wanting to jump right in and dig alongside him.

Then it was late. 7pm and the tub and books awaited us. He fought us hard, no way was he leaving, but he did. And as we walked in the house, me holding Luke and John carrying Ellie I heard John say, "this is the kind of night where I wish I could call my dad..."

Ugh. You never know when it's gonna hit, but it hit and it felt like a ton of bricks. I told Luke we were gonna call heaven and he smiled as if he knew. And later, because I could, I called my mom.