The Best Mother's Day Weekend EVER

Mr. Darcy arrived home on Friday evening from his business trip and informed me that this weekend he wanted to pamper me for Mother's Day.  So Friday evening, we went to dinner at Outback where I was easily able to Paleo eat (when telling them no butter and spices of course on my food).  Afterwards we weren't the smartest of people and decided to let the girls stay up late and watch "Harry Potter" with us... except we fell asleep and the girls kept waking us with questions or shouting something out about the movie.

Saturday I got up with the girls because I was on the verge of waking when Angelfish came in looking for someone to feed her and play with her.  After eating a bit of breakfast, she and I decided to watch "Night at the Museum: The Smithsonian" so I hopped on the trainer and did my 20 miles during the movie.  Somehow that is easier when there aren't small people about.  Ladybug got up part way through.  Later, Mr. Darcy.  We had a grand plan to go to the beach, but we had to take Annie to the vet to follow up about her UTI.  Annie gave me her own little present by acting completely normal all day yesterday and today.  She is doing a million times better, and I'm thinking that perhaps she just needed to get a build up of the medicine in her system or something.

Her UTI looks like it is gone, so we just have to finish out the medicine for Annie and continue the other medicines until 2 weeks are up.  Then we headed home, where we had lunch - lots of veggies and fruit and some very lean pork for me.  And then we napped.  Except we all napped quite a long time and didn't get up until about 4:30 or 5 (depending on who you were in the family).  So we opted for the pool over the beach and then went out for Teppan - or as the girls refer to it "the restaurant where they cook in front of you on the table."  Afterwards, we were bad and had ice cream.  So that was meal one of the week outside of the strict Paleo Diet (I had 2 and they are all gone by the end of this weekend... but I will have no problem with sticking to it the rest of this week.)  Then we put the little ladies down to bed and watched "Sunshine Cleaning" which is a sad and yet somewhat hopeful movie all at once.

This morning, Mr. Darcy got up with the girls and they played until I got out of bed at 8 am.  I slept until 7:30 which is like most people sleeping until 11 am.  Then I layed there and enjoyed just being able to lay in bed.  Mr. Darcy made us all eggs and fruit for breakfast while I did Day 3 of the Pushup Challenge since I forgot to do them yesterday (and maxed out at 41 pushups... well, probably that should count as 40 because I made it down on 41 but couldn't quite push myself back up and collapsed), and then it was time for presents.  I was really curious about presents because the girls and Mr. Darcy had all commented that they did a project with items from JoAnn Fabrics... and it involved flowers and glitter but it was a "uprise" as Angelfish said it (aka surprise). 

I am now the proud owner of 2 picture frames that the girls decordated with glitter letters and glittery flower and butterfly stickers, and they contain some goofy pictures of the girls (I'll try to put some pictures on the blog of our activities either later today or tomorrow.)  Mr. Darcy and the girls also got me 3 stacking rings that are for Mother's with a big pearl and 2 small pearls, one for each of the little ladies.  I've been wanting it for a few years now, so it was a wonderful surprise!  I also got some super sweet cards.  The one from Mr. Darcy actually brought tears to my eyes.

Then to the BEACH!  We got our swim suits on, packed up the car with snacks and gear and out we went.  An hour later we arrived in New Smyrna Beach, where the only place we really could find for a lunch was a French Bakery that made subsandwiches on some truly amazing baguettes, and we had some goodies too (Key Lime Tart for me, an eclair for Mr. Darcy, and a snowball - chocolate cake with raspberry filling topped with a light chocolate frosting and coconuts - that was for the girls but that Mr. Darcy and I assisted with as well... and that would make non-Paleo diet meal #2).  We took it all to the beach and had a picnic once we found a spot.  You drive on the beach and park on it in New Smyrna.  Our 1st attempt at a spot was ill fated as the sand was too deep to handle the weight of our car and 3 very nice men pushed as Mr. Darcy backed up in order to get us out.  Our 2nd parking spot was on much tighter packed sand and was without incident.

The girls helped us work off our tasty treats by having me sprint with them into the water and then out of the water and back again.  We did that about 10 times... I wonder if that could count as speed work?  We played in the water jumping over the waves and built a sand castle.  Due to a lack of bathroom space, we also introduced the girls to the joys of peeing during an open water swim. : )  Of course, we had to explain to Ladybug that you don't take off your bathing suit to do it when she started to disrobe...  When we were ready to leave, we all changed in the back of the minivan (doors closed of course) and Mr. Darcy and I decided that if we were ever in a jam on a road trip we could easily all camp out in our van.  Then we drove a little through the boardwalk area and headed on home.

Poor Mr. Darcy was the only one awake until we got home - the little ladies and I all fell asleep.  Angelfish continued her nap when we got home, but Ladybug and I were now awake.  Ladybug asked me, "What Princess movie would you like to watch, Mommy?" (The stinker was trying to stack the deck.)  I told her, "I'd like to watch Ratatouille - it's my favorite."  She agreed that we could watch it, "even if it isn't a princess movie."  And now Mr. Darcy is grilling chicken and making dinner (he's even making extra grilled chicken for me for the next day or so).  I'm secretly hoping to spend the rest of the evening with them, and (after we put the girls down to bed) a bubble bath, a glass of wine and to talk Mr. Darcy into painting my toenails. 

But even without the bubble bath, wine and toenails, I've had the BEST Mother's Day EVER!

I hope everyone else had a great Mother's Day too - either as a Mom or as the one taking care of Mom today!