Girls Weekend – Summer ‘11 - The Final Day

On Sunday, our last full day in Colorado, it was unanimous that we would head to a water park.  Water slides, inner tubes, the works.  It was going to be a super hot day, so it was going to be the perfect thing to do. And it was. 

The minute we arrived I knew it was going to be great for Emma.  She loves the water.  It was crowded, but it wasn’t NYC crowded, so we were able to find a nice spot with a couple of lounge chairs as our base. For some reason I was starving, and so was Emma, so as we were spraying on our sunscreen, we were also inhaling some left over pizza. As soon as Lola was sunscreened, she was off like a shot.  Emma took off after her.  I grabbed my sunglasses and followed them with my eyes for a while, until it seemed as if they were fine together.  Then Leslie and I looked at eachother and we followed them to the slides.

They were having a blast.  The slides reminded me of The Giant Slide in Mayfield Heights, Ohio where we used to go as kids.  Except this one was in water.  Sebastian would have loved this.

Emma spotted me and we went on another bigger, curvy slide together.  It was really fun, and we went on with our day trying out the different slides and running into Lola, Leslie, Jones and Michael along the way.  Everyone seemed content to do his or her own thing, and that was fine by me.  We took some food and slushy breaks, but mostly we were all in the water, except for Christina and Michael’s friend Shawn, who didn’t have kids to look after and could actually sit and bake in the sun like adults. 

During one of our breaks, my phone rang and it was Sebastian.  “Hi Honey!” I answered. No response.  The reception was really bad, so I had to walk to a spot to get a better signal.  He called me again and after a few tries I heard “Hi Mama.” The reception was still pretty bad, but at least I could hear him.  I love the sound of his voice. And that he still calls me Mama at thirteen. 

“How is your weekend with Daddy?” I asked.

“Good.” he is a man of few words.

“Well, we are at a water park today, as you can probably hear.”

“Yeah. I can hear.”

“I can’t wait to see you tomorrow.”

“Me too.”

“I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

About an hour later, we decided to go and eat at the famous Cherry Cricket, which is known to have the best burgers in Denver. It was a beautiful drive into the city and soon we got to this dive bar playing 80’s and early 90’s hits.  Ah, The Cherry Cricket Bar.  Another perfect choice.  The three kids headed straight to the pin ball games, and we got settled in with the menus.  We were all pretty hungry now and ready for some food.  And beer.  Leslie recommended my beer, “Mama’s Little Yellow Pils.” Excellent.  We had these jalepeno poppers with homemade jelly, which were curiously good, and my burger was amazing.  And that was not just the pils talking…

I looked over at Emma, and she had devoured her burger and was asking for some of mine.  Another win.   

After dinner we went outside and took some pictures of the kids as the boys went to get the cars.  All three kids were in perfect synch and there were lots of giggles.  Back at home our plan was to watch a movie and get the kids down early.  The movie of choice was “Never say Never” The Justin Bieber Movie.  I will admit, I was almost as anxious as Emma was to see it.  Leslie, Christina and I watched the entire movie with the kids, while Michael and Shawn found a nice quiet spot in the bedroom to watch the baseball game. 

That night I was hoping to get Emma to sleep right after the movie along with Lola and Jones, and head back into the living room for some grown up time before we left the next morning.  

As I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth, in comes Emma.  “Why aren’t you in bed?” I said with slight irritation.

“I’m scared.”

“Well, you need to give me some privacy, please. I’ll be right out to tuck you in.”

She didn’t budge. 

I finished brushing my teeth, washed my face and even flossed just to make my point, and then I got her back into bed.  I read her a chapter of Emily’s Runaway Imagination, scratched her back and said “Ok, I will just be a little while and then I will come right back.”

“No! I’m going with you!” she said.

“No you are not.  This is grown up time now.”

She started to get out of bed and follow me, so back down I went. 

I scratched her back some more and put my arm around her to wait until she fell asleep. 

The next thing I knew the sun was shining and I realized it was our day to leave.

I was sad to leave, but I was OK to head back to Brooklyn, too.  I missed Sebastian and Dave and quite honestly, I was ready for Emma to have some Daddy time.  Leslie drove us to the airport and I teared up saying goodbye.  I have known her forever, after all.  Emma was sad to leave, too.  She even gave Leslie a hug and mumbled a thank you. 

It was a great girls weekend. 

Not all women can say that they vacation with their ex's...

Not all women can say that they vacation with their ex's... But, I just got back from a week long work/vacation in Sag Harbor, NY with mine. I went with Albert (my ex) and the three kids, as he was performing with me. Jen (his wife) came a day later, and then Dave (my husband) came the final two days. We all stayed with Liz, a good friend of Albert's, who is an amazing puppeteer and an overall super fun person. Liz has a nice big house for us. This is our third year in a row making this trip.

I would love to say that it was an easy, breezy time, but honestly it's always a bit of a challenge for us all to get along at every waking moment. It was a lot of WORK. Everyone has so many needs. To eat, to sleep (and get enough of it), to go to the beach, to shower, to have down time, to drink, to entertain, to not entertain, to nap, to eat again, and to just "be." Albert and I also had to rehearse for the 5 performances and music video thrown into the mix.

Fortunately, Liz has a lot of land around her house, and a lot of animals. 1 dog, 1 cat and 4 chickens to be exact. I am not really an "animal lover", but Emma was in heaven as the nature girl that she is, and for the most part, was pretty easy to handle. Sebastian did OK, too, even though he has allergies to the animals, had summer homework to finish, and had to deal with so many parents under one roof telling him what to do and what is "expected" of a 12 year old. Cole is three years old and was a combination of deliciously adorable and, well...not so much.
Anyway, I thought I would share a few moments that really stand out for me on this trip:
1. After a particularly awful show, Sebastian said that he thought the show was "great!"
2. One evening Albert, Liz, Jen and I were outside having some cocktails and Jen told me she thought I was one of the most beautiful women she knows.
3. Emma hypnotizing a real chicken and cradling it like it were her own baby.
4. Emma secretly leaving a post it note on my guitar backstage that said "i love you."
5. Dave throwing Emma up in the sky while in the waves of the ocean and turning around to make sure that I was watching the sheer joy on her face.
6. Albert and his puppet "Raul" as he tried out all sorts of personalities (some not so appropriate for a kids show), and watching Sebastian rolling on the ground cracking up.
7. Sitting in the back of Liz's truck on the way to the beach with music blasting and everyone laughing as Albert broke the beach chair.
8. Cole holding the bottle opener all evening and asking everyone if they were ready for another beer?
9. Waking up in the middle of the night thinking that Cole or Emma was crying out and finding out it was only a chicken squawking outside.
10. Riding with Liz in her truck on the way to a show, laughing, and feeling like she is part of our family.

It was a great trip. Exhausting, but great. Anyway, here is the music video that came out of it. Dave is the master videographer. Enjoy!

Balance? Mom vs. Summer with her Daughter

Lately I have felt really out of sorts. I feel tired, I feel restless, and overall, in a bad mood. I know that this hot weather is not helping matters, but just a few days ago, I discovered the problem. I have lost my balance. I have zero balance this summer. Why? I have no child care for my soon to be six year old daughter.

I have tried to embrace the fact that Emma is not in any sort of camp and instead we enrolled her in "mommy camp", where she gets to share in the joys of schlepping around with me to work three mornings a week, along with my guitar, big heavy bag, shakers, and sometimes even a parachute, and we get to save a thousand dollars. Then there are my shows. She is dragged around too early in the morning, usually eating breakfast on the way, only to share me with lots and lots of little kids and their grown ups. Not exactly what she would call the best summer of her life. Or would she?

Emma loves to be with me. She is always concerned about where I am and what I am doing and what I am working on on the computer, and is it her turn to "work" on the computer yet? We are attached at the hip. We do everything together, from grocery shopping to laundry to getting pedicures to dressing her new American Girl Doll, we are a team. This is truly a wonderful time in our lives. I should embrace this time. I should rejoice in the beauty of our girlness. And I do. For the most part.

It's that other part that is driving me crazy. The part that can't breathe and needs to walk at a regular pace for five minutes please. The part of me that needs to go to Yoga once a week and to meditate in the mornings and the part of me that needs so badly to just sit in peace and quiet in the evenings and can't stop looking at the clock until Daddy gets home. Dave tries to help me out, but he is focused on his "backyard project" at the moment, and this is what consumes his after work hours...

Last week, I got a break. Albert offered to take Emma and Sebastian to see a movie. It was heaven. I had 2 hours to myself and I got an amazing amount of work done. Then, two nights later, they went and saw another movie. I went to my usual Wednesday night Yoga class without the usual guilt. It was great. The kids came home happy, and I came home refreshed. Tonight, though, really takes the cake. I actually feel as if I am on vacation. Sebastian has a friend over. They have been happily playing Wii for the past 2+ hours (ok, it IS summer vacation after all), and have "allowed" Emma to watch. I have not heard a peep out of her except for the laughs and cries of approval of great gaming, or the occasional cry for food or drink. It's been lovely. It's been heaven. This is the balance I have been looking for! I feel like myself again. If we could just implement this routine every night for the rest of the summer until school starts again...

Couple Time

One of the benefits of doing what I do is being able to have great experiences like the one I had last weekend in DC.

This weekend was planned way in advance, with Dave and I deciding that we would do this last part of the spring tour ourselves – without the kids. (Sort of funny for someone who does kids shows, but hey... we all need a break from parenthood sometimes).


The week leading up to it was long and we were tired, and even though we were tempted to throw the kids in the car at the last minute, we stuck to our plan and left them with Albert and Jen on Saturday morning. After one small frustrating detour around Brooklyn before getting on the right highway, we actually started to relax into the trip. As per our usual, we starting talking about the kids, but then slowly we started talking about our goals and what we really wanted to do with our lives. We are both trying to pursue careers that we believe in, and it's not always that easy for either of us to keep doing this. The best part is that both of us still truly believe in each other. Our lives are always on "over dive," and so sometimes we forget.


We arrived at our hotel in DC, promptly switched rooms to one with a working AC, and got ready to go out. Our evening was spent window shopping in fancy furniture stores, dining in a lovely Spanish fusion restaurant, and simply enjoying some quality couple time.


Our show the next day was held at the historic Sixth and I Synagogue for a family music series that they’re just beginning to develop. We were greeted by Meredith the curator of the event, who provided us with donuts, bagels and water bottles (such a bonus). Steve arrived a few minutes later, and soon it was time to play. I was opening for Alex and The Kaleidoscope Band, who’s music I was only vaguely familiar with, so I was curious to hear them play live. They were wonderful! Super-great beat and a nice eclectic sound. I had asked them to join us for our last two songs, “Goin on a Road Trip" and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," and it was really fun for me and Steve to rock out with them.


As I was scanning the crowd, I noticed a bunch of familiar faces and an entire row of kids wearing my Suzimusic t-shirts! They were dancing and having a great time. What a wonderful feeling that never, ever gets old to me.


I also saw Dave smiling at me, taking pictures and talking with some people in the audience. I was so happy he was there with me. After the show, I was able to spend time with my little fans giving out stickers and hugs, while Dave packed up my gear for me.


Heading back to Brooklyn after the show, we were anxious to get back to the kids, but also we felt way more connected and ready to keep supporting each other on this journey we are taking. After all, that is what it's all about.