This weekend, after nearly 3 years of rarely leaving my little lady for more than a couple of hours at a time, I spent a weekend away in Whistler with my best girlfriends from high school. While I was a teensy bit anxious about it all, the fact that she was staying home with her Papa made it much easier than if it was the both of us going away at the same time. That being said, my mama tendencies made sure the house was in order and the fridge and cupboards were well-stocked before leaving. I also knew I wanted to leave a little something special for Grae for each day I was away so that she knew I was thinking of her and would have something from her mama if she was missing me just a little bit. Each of the bags contained a little note and all of the items needed to do a fun activity of some sort – something I knew Miss G would love and would be helpful if there were any ‘lulls’ throughout the weekend.
Here’s a peek at what was inside…
The day before I was leaving for my trip, Gracen came to me and said with big eyes, “I have an idea!” She explained an elaborate ‘hockey station’ that would involve moving our living room carpet, sweeping underneath, making nets, and creating little hockey sticks. When I saw this set of miniature sticks and balls, I knew they’d be a total hit.
Knowing that Brad and Grae planned on visiting Science World, I left our membership card and a gift card that could be used for snacks during the visit in the Saturday bag. The visit would have been enough, but since one of our favourite exhibits involves launching parachutes, I included a couple of inexpensive parachute guys to experiment with afterwards.
On days when Brad gets up with Grae and lets me sleep in, the two of them sometimes enjoy some morning television together (a rarity in our house). I decided to go with a lazy Sunday theme and pack up the makings of a special movie morning – a couple of videos and some yummy treats (wild rice sticks and unsweetened dried mango for Miss G and popped chips for Brad).
Just in case, I also included a ‘bonus bag’ to be used if needed. Inside were a few thick cardboard pieces, a box of sugar cubes, some white glue, and instructions to use the items to build sugar cube structures of any sort.
After a lovely weekend filled with reminiscing, 11:30 breakfasts, and quiet afternoons reading at the beach, I returned home to a quiet house. It took all I had not to go into Gracen’s room and snuggle up with her as she napped, and when she did finally wake, after a whole lot of vibrating, leg kicking, hugging, and ‘I missed you’s’, the first thing she said was, “Mama, can we open my last bag together?! I’ve been waiting for you to come home to do it!” That right there told me that the activity bags had been a hit.
Together, we opened the final bag (the bonus one) and sat on a blanket underneath our plum tree building structures out of sugar cubes. It was the perfect finish to my first weekend away.
♥
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