Adult weekend

It's a new era here at Merrilly Yours. Carey and I successfully spent 30 hours away from our children this weekend. It was the first time we'd both been away, together, from the kids for a night since December 2006. It was also the kids' first bona fide sleepover with their cousins. We drove to Rye, N.Y., on Friday after work, spent the night, then left the kids with my sister on Saturday morning while we continued in a northeasterly direction. Spent a couple hours in Northhampton, Mass., home of Smith College. Lots of nose-pierced women wearing tie-dyed shirts and prancing about in the beautiful tulip garden above. Our destination was Old Tavern Farm in Greenfield, Mass., where my college roommate Kipp was throwing a party for all the people who couldn't attend his wedding in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, last summer. Carey got this great shot of Kipp and me, celebrating a volleyball victory.

The semi-newlyweds (and new parents, Yakira Altan Diaz Sutton was born March 5) treated their guests to pulled pork and chicken barbecue, a bluegrass band behind the barn, and dancing on a spring-loaded wooden ballroom floor inside the bed & breakfast. They're enjoying another 10 days in the U.S. before heading out on Kipp's next assignment, a gig with USAID in Kathmandu, Nepal.

We resisted the urge all day Saturday to call and check on the kids and had no trouble forgetting about them once the sun went down. I did give in and call on Sunday as we were leaving. Here's my conversation with Uncle Peter:

"Did the kids behave for you last night?"
"I believe they were all asleep by 730 and nobody woke up until 7."
"Well then, we'll do it again soon!"
"Ehhh."

Thanks, Sara and Peter, for a lovely getaway. We owe you one.