California, here I come

In just over a week I will find myself in San Francisco. I haven't thought about this trip much. I haven't planned any itineraries. All I know is Ryan has a conference, I am tagging along, sleeping in a hotel with him and another single dude (yeah, nice), and I will have no children for a whole five days. And I won't really worry about them. I don't seem to have a hard time enjoying myself when I'm away from them and I seldom even think about them. I probably should however, seeing that I'm leaving a pregnant woman with 4 little boys to take care of for most of the time (her little boy plus mine), and the rest of the time I am leaving them with a single 31 year-old bachelor. Hmm.

A few months ago because of facebook, I realized a guy that went to jr. high and high school lived only minutes from me here in Miami. We hung out with him and his girlfriend. He comes and gets haircuts. He comes over to hang out when the missionaries invite themselves over. He and his girlfriend also made the mistake of saying, "We would totally watch your kids for you if you ever need it!" I don't know how serious they were, but well, those are the kind of golden phrases I hang on to. So I took them up on that and asked if they could watch the babies for the weekend while we're in SF. They agreed. Then they broke up. James is coming alone. Bless his heart is about all I can think of to say. :) But he says he's the oldest of 7 and he can handle taking care of kids. We sure hope so. And he's said that he has also had numerous offers for help as of late. I tell him to take them up on it. I tell our single neighbor all the time that he should just go take the twins for a walk down on South Beach- he'd have no lack of attention. And when the girls come doting he just mentions how he's babysitting, and bam - suddenly he's single and super sweet.

Anyhow, over the last week there are two reasons that I realize I am most excited about this trip:
1. THE WEATHER!!! I am sure there are some of you out there wearing jeans. I am not. I actually even tried one evening last week and was brutally mocked by the weather for my attempt. It is this time of year that I start to die. It should be getting cool. I should have stopped sweating. I should be enjoying a change of wardrobe. But I'm not. Instead we have been in the 90s all of October, and yesterday my cousins even saw something that said it was 91 or 93 degrees or something but felt like 108. UGH. So on this trip I will wear jeans. I will wear a jacket. I will probably be a huge Miami wuss and complain about how cold it is. I will love every minute of it.

2. I will not have to lift any babies for a whole 5 days! This may not be something any of you think about, but my back is awful lately and I cringe even thinking about going anywhere with my kids. 100 lbs into the stroller. 100 lbs out of the stroller. 100 lbs into the car. 100 lbs out of the car. 100 lbs getting picked up for diaper changes, into the high chairs, into cribs... you get the idea. It's killing me. I don't think people understand the pang of jealousy I feel when I lift up their lightweight children and am in shock at how light they are. Mine are dense little bundles of dead weight. I've told Ryan that if we have kids again, I will be praying for skinny children.

So now I need to start thinking of things I want to do there to entertain myself while Ryan is in conferences. I have family there I'd like to see, and I'm just so excited because I haven't been to San Francisco since I was young. If anyone I know happens to be in that area in just over a week - let me know!