The Tale of Shrek, a Mini bar and a One-legged, Tatooed Musician

So, the kids are on day 4 of their 6 day youth choir trip to Oklahoma. Lauren has called us 3 times, all with good reports about how much fun they're having. We haven't heard from Josh yet, but that means that all is good. We typically only hear from him when he's upset about something so no news is good news. The house is so quiet right now the only things I can hear are my typing, the hum of the computer and one of my dogs snoring! Awesome!

The kids left Sunday around 6:45 a.m. and we headed home with the intentions of getting ready for church. Well, after my bath I came out to see where Rick was and found him snoring on the couch. I laid down as well and, needless to say, we didn't make it to church. I awoke to the sound of Rick vacuuming and joined him in the attempt to have a tidy house for the next 6 days. What a treat that I haven't picked up anybody else's stuff for 4 days now. Rick's on his own!

We had a great time at the hotel on Sunday and Monday! It's a gorgeous place with a great staff and beautiful rooms. After we checked in we went to one of our favorite restaurants in all of Houston. It's called Cafe Caspian, a Persian place, about 3 minutes from Susie and David's house. They had already eaten so we had a table for 2 and it was awesome as usual. They make kofta (they call it Koobideh), a grilled meat dish, as well as my Uncle Kamal does and that's hard to beat! Yum. We had planned on going to see a movie but we were too tired and headed back to the hotel.

Monday morning we ordered breakfast in bed, which was fabulous and a nice indulgence. You know, spending money is a funny thing. We write checks, big checks, HUGE checks, left and right for school tuitions, therapy, medications, etc. and don't even think twice, because we know the kids need it and they're worth it. That's kind of the attitude we went into this week with. Rick and I need this pampering and are worth it, dag nabbit, at least that's what we told ourselves as we took a Coke and a Sprite out of the mini bar in the room!! Isn't it sad that a $3 Coke is a splurge!! Oh well, you parents understand the mind set.

After breakfast, Rick had to have a quick meeting with someone while I soaked in the huge tub. Poor Rick couldn't get away from work, even on his day off, but at least he compromised and asked the guy to come meet him at our hotel. After that, we jumped on the Metro rail (I'd never been on it before) and went to the Museum of Natural Science to see the Planetarium's movie on black holes and the IMAX 3-D movie about the Galapagos Islands. It was great. We also got free tickets to their Geopalooza exhibit and saw incredible geodes, fossils, etc. On our way back to the hotel on the rail we passed by The Continental Club on Main Street. Rick's step-brother, Glover Gill, plays his own Tango music there on Monday nights, so we decided to go before we went to dinner. It was so great, listening to Glover and watching various people dancing to his music. What a different scene from our normal suburban lifestyle. FYI - Click on the link to the club, then 'Upcoming Shows', then 'Glover Gill' for more info about Glover and his music.

Monday night we ate at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, where you can practically cut your filet with a fork. Don't ask me about the name; I still don't quite get why it's called that but who cares, it's deeeelish, as my Aunt Robin says!! We took bread pudding with whiskey sauce to go and ate it in bed while watching TV at the hotel. Hey, that's better than Sunday night, when returning for dinner we watched the movie Shrek! Yea, no kids and what do the Raineys do, watch cartoons in a hotel!! Oh well, at least I didn't sing "Baby Beluga" or some Disney song as we were driving in the car. I have been known to break into song of such types even with my teenager children. They roll their eyes but secretly I think they like it. Hee hee.

So, we're home now and I'm quite enjoying myself, especially seeing as our house is clean and we prefer to sleep in our own bed. The dogs are very happy we're back and have been following me from place to place all day. We're not done celebrating "KIDlessness" yet and will be going out to dinner with my friends, Hilary and Amy, and their husbands to The Melting Pot tonight. We've never been there before so I'm really looking forward to it. Between, our adventures of the past few days, our loving pets, our tidy home and the sweet phone calls from our daughter things are wonderfully gushy around here. Wanna bet that ends approximately 2 minutes after the kids come home on Friday evening? Oh well, it's nice while it lasts!