The Craziness that is The Eby Family: Easter Weekend Getaway

So Chris's parents spent the winter in Florida and because of my coaching schedule we were unable to go visit. Since they hadn't seen the kids since January and Chris and I were in need of a serious break, we thought we would leave the kids with them and enjoy a couple of days of quiet over the Easter weekend.

Jake had Friday off from school so I drove the kids down to Cleveland on Friday morning and planned to spend the afternoon with Ginger (Chris's mom) until Chris came down later in the afternoon. We got to Cleveland around lunchtime. The boys were super excited, but Rylan was very tired, hungy, and clingy. Rylan really doesn't like long car rides so she only napped for about 45 minutes and then was crying on and off for the last hour of the ride despite Brenden's attempts to keep her smiling. I also expected Rylan to be clingy since she was in a new place - she hadn't been in Cleveland since she was 3 months old, so I'm guessing she didn't remember:-) After some lunch and being held by Grandma a few times she started to settle in, but it was clear that a good afternoon nap was really what she needed. Chris arrived around 2pm and I put Rylan down for a nap around 2:30pm and Pete (Chris's dad) arrived shortly after that.

Once we got a chance to make sure everyone was settled and say hello, Chris and I quickly said Good bye! I think Chris and I have gone out a few times since Rylan has been born, but that's about it. With our crazy schedules and the cost of babysitters, we tend to stay in a lot. So this would be the first time in at least 8 months that we had left the kids overnight and had some much needed time to ourselves. We had debated about taking a trip somewhere, but when we talked about what we would do on a trip - lay around in bed and sleep - we decided that just spending a couple of nights in a hotel in Cleveland would be enough and MUCH cheaper.

Chris booked us at the Hyatt in downtown Cleveland at the Arcade. It was a nice hotel and in a great location. We told the front desk that we were celebrating our anniversary - technically true, we met around midnight of Easter 8 years ago...at a bar :-) Anyway, the front desk clerk brought us a bottle of champagne on the house for us to celebrate! We enjoyed the champagne our first night and went out for a modest dinner. On Saturday, we enjoyed breakfast at the hotel, had a nap, walked around downtown Cleveland and had lunch, had some more champagne in the room, and then ate at the Chocolate Martini Bar in the Arcade - highly recommend the Chocolate Martini Bar, amazing desserts and drinks, they had entrees on the menu but I opted for multiple desserts instead. We had Easter Brunch at the hotel Sunday morning before we headed back to Chris's parents house.

For Easter, Ginger got the kids Easter baskets and filled them with yummy treats and I had her put legos and a book in each of the boys baskets as well. We spent the day very low key. The boys were eager to tell us about their adventures with Grandman and show us all of their new toys and candy. Rylan was very happy to see me, but also very comfortable being held by others or playing with her brothers - so nice to leave her and come back and not have her holding on to me with her death grip:-) Meredith, Todd, and Dylan came over in the afternoon as well. It was a very nice day of catching up and relaxing. Now that I'm a mom, I find holiday's so much more enjoyable when we do nothing ;-)

Chris had to stay in Cleveland for meetings so I drove the kids back by myself Sunday night so the boys could go to school Monday. The drive home went well, but Rylan didn't want to go back to sleep until after 11pm when we got home. I guess her staying up late is better than her screaming for most of the drive home. It was a wonderful weekend and I'm so appreciative that Ginger and Pete were willing to watch the kids so Chris and I could enjoy some quiet time!

Rylan being silly