Guppy Guppy

Once in a blue moon, Kathy and I have a day where everything just falls perfectly into place, and the whole parent-of-twins thing seems so easy, and we think to ourselves "hey, we're getting good at this!" Last Friday was one of those fall-perfectly-into-place days. We were in Monterey for a little long weekend getaway, and the girls were totally and completely enamored at the change in scenery. Everything was magical and wondrous to them:

Would you look at this remote control! Look how colorful the buttons are on this thing! And they light up when you press them! This remote is the best thing ever! And have you seen this doorknob! It's not round, it's a lever thingy! This makes the door oh so much easier to open! And now we're walking into the elevator, and jeepers, this elevator thing is all glittery and hey, it's got windows! An elevator with windows - what will they think of next! And now we're going to eat breakfast - holy bejeezus! There must be, like, fifty pancakes just sitting there waiting to be taken and eaten! This place is fantastic!

And then we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. They stared at fishes and penguins, played on the rocking-sea-horses, splashed around in the little splashy-exhibits, and basically had the time of their lives. They stayed happy there for three entire hours, and we managed to leave right at the moment where they were just starting to get cranky. Then they napped for two and a half hours in their little hotel cribs while Kathy and I watched TNT in the hotel room. The girls woke up from their nap kinda grumpy, but Kathy and I expertly handled it by rushing us all off to the hotel's indoor swimming pool, where they had a great time splashing around and squealing at the top of their lungs. And then we went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant on Cannery Row, where the girls took turns feeding each other tortilla chips while Kathy and I gorged ourselves on enchiladas, complete with a bayside view of a sea lion sunning itself on a rock.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at the beach, and the girls had a great time just sifting through the sand and picking up rocks and sticks and handing them to each other, while Kathy and I sat there watching the girls and conversing. With each other! Like adults! And then we came back to the hotel, gave the girls a bath, and watched them play in the hotel room. And they played nicely together, handing each other toys and books and taking turns saying the word "guppy" and giggling. Then we said good night and put them to bed. To top off the evening, Kathy and I watched the sun set over the Pacific Ocean from our hotel room and then watched a crappy romantic comedy on Pay-Per-View.

Maybe this doesn't sound all that great or exciting to the non-parents reading this, but to us it pretty much seemed like the best day imaginable. Um, I guess, other than the fact that I wish we had seen a movie other than "Valentine's Day". But for that one day, every parental trick worked, every potential tantrum was averted -- we almost started to wonder if this day marked a new era where everything started becoming easy.

Ah, foolish parents. Foolish, foolish parents.

As you would probably expect, the rest of the weekend didn't quite live up to that one glorious day. The other days of the trip had nice moments but also some epic meltdowns. Sure, the other days were fun, but they were not by any means "easy". Or in other words, they were your typical days in the lives of the parents of toddlers. Alas.

Still, a pretty darn successful trip! For the record, here's some photographic and video evidence: