Mother-Daughter Trip Interrupted by Virus

I took our youngest Mae away to a nearby city for a night so we could have some special mommy-daughter time to ourselves.  I always do this with each of my daughters when they get to about the age of 11 to talk about the upcoming changes of adolescence and have some bonding time over manicures or shopping or whatever.  Feeling the urgency to undertake this adventure sooner rather than later as Mae is rapidly developing, I made a last minute decision to go this past weekend, grabbing a great online deal on a hotel near a fun shopping area.  Unfortunately and unbeknownst to us, our family had acquired the dreaded 24 hour stomach flu before we left.   Mae spent the entire night away throwing up and continued through the morning, even in the car on the way home.  And Jane started throwing up while we were gone, so I came home to another sick kid and a lot of dirty laundry and bathrooms to clean.  Oh well.  We will press the reset button and do it again later in the spring or early summer.  Lesson learned:   skip weekend trips in January and February during the height of the virus season.  The risk hasn't been worth it!