The wife and I had a vacation this last week.
We shipped the kids off to their grandparents for three days, and Erin took the week off from work.
We had grand ideas of sleeping in, going out for a leisurely breakfast, taking in a host of movies, having a jaunt or two about town, and just enjoying an all-around relaxing and rejuvenating time.
And it started off well. Monday night, we went out to dinner at the Highland Park Punch Pizza (where we had what was technically our third first date way back in 2003), and then we took in the very entertaining Toy Story 3.
And the next day, I woke up with a cold. Nothing serious, but enough to hamper my enjoyment of a quiet day. Erin was off with friends, so I spent most of my time, cooling it in front of the computer desperately trying to finish Dragon Age, so I was no longer distracted by it. I managed to enjoy a meal out at Doolittle’s in Eagan, one of our more reliably enjoyable places to eat out every couple of months.
But when Wednesday came, it brought with it a debilitating surge of illness that left me completely drained of energy.
I managed to participate in one of our planned outings, a nice breakfast out at the Edina Grill (most of our eagerly anticipated activities focused on going out to eat, I guess). But afterwards, I was so fatigued, that I was incapable of doing anything other than lie in bed, watch movies and read comics (love that iPad!).
Thursday, the day the kids returned from their exile, I felt like I may have been on my way to a speedy recovery, participating in the construction of a new sandbox by holding boards as they were drilled and lugging 16 50lb. bags of sand into and out of the Camry’s trunk.
But Friday announced its arrival by placing sandpaper in my lungs, and making it difficult for me to breathe. This didn’t stop our planned picnic trip to Como Zoo which was fun and hot and hot again, but, boy, I paid for my brazenness by continuing to suffer on Saturday (which is the day I’m writing this post).
All in all, I got the rest that I needed, or at least the time away from chasing childrens. And the truth is, I got to do nearly everything that was on my list of desired activities. I really only missed out on going to downtown St. Paul to get some saltwater taffy from Candyland and a beer ‘n burger from Great Waters.
I may have been ambitious enough to post some zoo trip pics on my Facebook page, but who knows?
JAVEN ACKERMAN 