Mom's Day Out!

Two of my very best friends from work and I have started a new Mother's Day tradition this year! This is the group of friends that we had over recently and their husbands came along and my one friend brought her daughter, who is the same age as my older daughter. We had had a great time just hanging out and talking and we got to talking about taking a wine tour together sometime. My husband's work schedule is just crazy, to say the least, and so it turned out that the best time for him, would be this past Saturday, the day before Mother's Day. I talked to my girlfriends about it, and at first I thought, maybe it would be too hectic for them, maybe they wouldn't want to go on Mother's Day weekend. But, in talking about it, we decided, hey! We're all mothers, why not go out and do something special for ourselves for a change!

So we did! The six of us headed out in the new mini van, armed with a picnic lunch, cheese and crackers, soda and water -- we were probably stocked for a weekend, not just a day! But we drove to Seneca Lake and we visited about 7 different wineries and had a really great day! My husband and I used to go to the wineries quite a bit before our first daughter was born, and we haven't been back since then, so this was a real treat for us. Our friends had never gone wine-touring before and they had a great time -- it was the perfect mix of good friends, good wine, and great weather! At one of the wineries, we pulled out our lunch and sat at a picnic table in the sun, enjoying the nice weather and the view of the vineyards and the lake -- you couldn't ask for better ambiance!

The wineries close at 5:00pm and at the last winery we went to, we again found a picnic table, this time near a pretty little pond, and we pulled out the cheese and crackers and sat around relaxing, enjoying the conversation and having a few laughs. It was the perfect day!

On our way home, we stopped and picked up my friend's daughter, and we brought her back to our house. My kids were there, after a fun-filled day with Grandpa and Gramby -- they went to The Indoor Sandbox, out to lunch, and my girl even had an ice skating birthday party to go to.

Everyone had brought something to contribute to a bbq, and so we threw some chicken and sausage on the grill and had a nice dinner together. My daughter and my friend's daughter even pulled themselves away from playing to have dinner with us. It's so great that they have become such good friends -- from the moment we walked into the house, the two of them disappeared up into my daughter's room and they played Barbie's and listened to music on her cd player. They really play very well together.

We had such a great time that day that we decided to make this an annual tradition and to try to do the same thing every year as part of our Mother's Day celebration. It's wonderful to honor all of the Moms in your life and to spend the day/weekend visiting them and celebrating with them, but it's truly a special treat to get to do something a little indulgent for yourself too!