I work really hard at limiting my work-related-travel. When we got the boys I vowed to myself to only commit to three away-events/speaking-engagements/work-travels per semester. So, I’ll agree to do three in the fall, three in the spring, and three in the summer. I force myself to say “no” to any other invitations/offers/requests that require me to travel away from home. This weekend I was away for two nights and three days on a “work trip” (when either Braydon or I go away for work-related-travel, we call it a “work trip” for K & O). I had to go to a conference, and as much as I hate leaving the boys overnight (all three of them!), it definitely has at least two major benefits (in addition to the obvious career benefits for me). ONE: I get a break (granted, going on a “work trip” is not really a real break, but it is a break from the cooking-cleaning-and-childcare part of my life). TWO: The boys (all three of them!), get a break from me — which does wonders for their male bonding. When I returned home yesterday the three of them were like three peas in a pod and the intensity of their without-mama-bond was clear as day. As hard as it is for me to go away (even just for very brief trips), it is always sooooo good for everyone involved when I do go away. “Work trips” are a good thing. This morning I downloaded the photos from the camera and I was curious to see what was on there… to see what Braydon had captured of their boys weekend. Here are some of Braydon’s photos…
We’ve had a virtually snow-less winter. And then Friday we got hit with our biggest storm yet. Very weird since just two days earlier we had 75 degree weather and were eating supper on the porch (click here to see Wednesday’s post). Now the porch is covered with snow.
When I called Braydon from my conference on Saturday night he told me that he and the boys had “pizza, grapes, and bananas” for supper. He reported that he had bought a medium pepperoni pizza thinking that would be enough for the three of them (a medium from our local pizzeria is really big), but that he “should have bought a large!” He said the boys ate 1/3 of the pizza each and that if there had been more they would have eaten it. When I saw this photo from the camera I laughed out loud because Braydon had not mentioned to me that the three of them ate the pizza sitting on the family room floor in their pajamas watching videos! 
I can just imagine the scene a few years into the future when I’m on work trips and the three of them are taking advantage of the situation — eating three medium pizzas and watching all the sci-fi videos that I can’t stand to watch with them!!!
Braydon had told me that the marching band obsession had continued on through the weekend (will it ever end???!!! this has been going on now since this past fall!!!), and that at one point the boys were playing their trumpets on the stairs pretending to be the marching band playing in the football stand. On the camera I found this photo which obviously captured that moment.
The other latest obsession (and really, I do mean obsession) is “African Drumming.” What the boys mean when they say “African Drumming” is specifically, drumming with a djembe drum (click here if unfamiliar) The boys are completely obsessed with this ever since we took them to the ANNUAL CELEBRATION OF AFRICAN CULTURES at the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology last month (click here to read that post). Braydon has been researching djembe drums and has been considering buying the boys djembe drums. All it took was me going away for a weekend for the purchase to be made. !!!! He took the boys to an instrument store and bought each of them a djembe. The first thing K & O wanted to do when I got home was to show me their “African Drumming.” (and they have been “showing” me their “African Drumming” on and off since then!!!). The drums are too heavy for the boys to be able to hold them in the traditional way between their legs, so Braydon has taught them to lie the drums on the floor so that the bass reverberates loudly enough to satisfy them all (K, O, and Braydon). They also play the djembes upright on the floor. The boys slap the djembes like they have been playing them forever. It is really something to see it. Which I’m sure anyone who visits will see. And hear.
So, as you can see, the “work trip” was successful on all fronts. This morning Braydon got up early to get ready for work. Kyle woke up and found his way to me still sleeping, crawled into bed with me, and cuddled with me in the morning sun for about twenty minutes before we started our day. Lying there he looked at me and said, “Mama home from work trip?” I said, “Yes, my baby, I’m home. No more work trips for a long time.” He said, “O.k. Mama. You did good job on your work trip. Good job Mommy!” Later this morning before I brought them to daycare the boys were pretending that they were going on a work trip. They rode around on their wooden train set pretending it was “the white car” and waving and saying, “Bye Bye Mommy! We’re going on a work trip!” I’d say, “Bye Bye my babies!” and then they’d pretend to park “in the parking lot.” They’d get off the trains, and then hold hands with each other. As they’d walk off they’d call out over their shoulders to me “Don’t worry Mommy! We’re holding hands in the parking lot! We’re at the work trip!!” Then, in between re-doing this same scenario over and over and over they’d run over to their djembe drums, announce that they were doing “African Drumming” and instruct me to “Clap and say ‘yay!'” And I’d clap and say “YAY!”