How?

How does one say goodbye to this monkey for 5 days? I'm headed out to a conference in ID for my new position this week and I'm not sure how to do this! I've been away from Ethan for a few nights, once... when he and Brian flew to Colorado. I've never been away from Lucas... But I know they'll be well taken care of, and spoiled rotten if they're lucky! And I have to focus on the conference and on the gift it is of a relaxing week without much responsibility. See there? Better already...
Before I could go, we had a busy busy Saturday.
First stop was my certification test.... boring, but necessary. Luckily my 5th graders were super smart this year, so the reviewing I did with them at the end of the year served as my review too...
While I tested for 3 HOURS, Brian took the boys to some parks - lots of parks. And Ethan uttered the words "You gots to be kid me!" approximately 100 times. They played baseball, watched softball, and played on playgrounds. Lucas' pants reached a whole new level of khaki. They also played tennis, as Ethan told me:
" I told daddy there were tennis courfs. He said there were no tennis courfs. But then I said Daddy over there are tennis courfs. And he said - yep, there's tennis courfs. And I said - told you daddy, there's tennis courfs. So we played tennis."
Next stop was the Rainforest Cafe. We love that place - meaning Brian and I. We thought the boys were old enough now to enjoy it too. Guess not. Ethan spent most of the meal like this.
Lucas like this - one ear buried, the other ear covered by Brian, and Brian's head covering his eyes. His own little cave.

Yes mother, I could hear your "I told you so" the whole meal... but it was funny. Who would have known that giant robotic gorillas would be scary?! And of course, after being completely freaked out by the sounds, we go down to the playplace and what do they play with? The jungle sounds buttons.

They couldn't be much cuter. Well, maybe if Ethan let me help him pick out his clothes. Nah, I like the mix of patterns - creative!

Take care of 'em Uma, Upa, and Daddy!!! I'll be sleeping in past 5:45 and eating my meals without having to share ANY bites! But save me some hugs - I'm going to want lots when I get back!