This past weekend I had the ultimate pleasure in spending the weekend with my boys as they played in their last hockey tournament of the season.  My traveling partner, Lisa, her two boys, my two boys and I loaded up the TRVLN ZU and pointed the car North to Philadelphia for a whirlwind weekend of hockey game after hockey game after hockey game.

The games were great and I love to watch all of the boys play together…pass, shoot, score is my favorite part of the game…but it was the downtime with the boys that sealed the deal on a weekend of fun.

Sunday morning dawned bright and early as we headed to our third and fourth games of the weekend.  The boys’ teams had two back to back games starting at 8:40 with the next one following at 10:05.  After those games were finished we had a couple hour break before they needed to be back at the rink for their fifth and six games, respectively.  We went back to the hotel for some much needed rest ~ I was exhausted as well…it takes a lot of energy to be in the stands and try to “will” the game to go the way I want it to.  There are times I feel like I am on my Wii Fit board working my legs and twisting my torso to get the players to the right zone to score or to get them out of the wrong zone to prevent a goal against them.  I stand on the top row, twisting and gyrating like a madwoman only to leave the game mentally and physically exhausted. So it was back to our rooms for a little down time before the second round of games for Sunday.

The boys showered, scrubbing away their stench and climbed into bed. Lucas asked if he could snuggle down beside me and I was happy to have him with me.  Zach took the other bed and stretched out underneath the covers.  

The TV was on, tuned to the History Channel.  With Lucas beside me, we watched a program about “Area 51” and Lucas proceeded to ask one question after another, even though we were supposed to be resting.  They were all good questions and I wished I could answer them but I don’t know enough about Area 51 to be able to answer Lucas’ questions without making something up…which I usually don’t mind doing but I was so exhausted I didn’t have the energy to make something up on the fly about a program on TV I know almost nothing about.

The conversation turned to other topics, even though we were supposed to be napping, because Lucas has enough energy for five of us.  He turned to me and asked me to say “spring break” for him.  The kids get the biggest kick out of it when I say “spring break”…I don’t know why but when I say spring break it comes out all wacky and sing-songy and the kids, especially Lucas, think it’s hysterical.  The conversation turned silly with the boys cracking me up until I couldn’t stop laughing ~ the they told me I have an evil laugh.  That stopped me.  Me?  An evil laugh??  Yep, they both said, an evil laugh.  But they said it was funny and they loved to hear it.  Hmmmmm, well, I guess it kind of fits.  A devilish laugh for a devilish mama.  I’m OK with that, as long as it’s coming from my boys in the midst of some time well spent…together.

I see time passing quickly in the next two years, as Zach is now heading into the back side of his sophomore year in high school.  I don’t know how many more of these precious weekends away we will have together.  But I want to make sure that I enjoy each and everyone of them with my kiddos.  I want them to know that my time with them is well spent…always.

Oh, for the love of my boys….