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Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Our Last Summer Hoorah (Mommy and Daddy Slept Like the Kids Went to Nana's House...for the Whole Weekend)!

We had one last summer vacation before school starts!  Where did we go?  The question is more like where did the kids go?....to Grandmama's house!

Let me tell you about our weekend vaca.  I apologize if I make you jealous.  Actually, I don't.  It was awesome.

Friday night started with dinner... with other carefree parents. It started at 7:30 PM (not 5:00 PM) and it was at an Argentinian restaurant (that did not have a playground).  Now we can of course, have date night and get a sitter and do that same thing any time.  But this evening didn't get kicked off with me throwing together a dinner of shells and cheese and corn dogs.  No one was simultaneously fighting me to not take a bath while also complaining that we were having a baby sitter.  And there's something really freeing about knowing that if we stay out late, drink a little too much, that's okay.  No one is going to wake us up at 7:00 AM.  The thing I observed about this evening was how much I enjoyed it.  I didn't even really know the people we were having dinner with that well.  It did not matter.  I just enjoyed that I didn't rush to get there, I didn't have to rush home to relieve a sitter, and I wasn't going to have to get up feeling tired and worn out in the morning.

Saturday morning didn't get kicked off until around 9:15 (11:00 for my husband).  I casually drank my coffee (I probably didn't get off the couch for a solid hour...amazing) and I watched some HGTV and Dateline.  My kids complain about house shows...and well, I think I should hold off for a few more years before I let them know mom is really into murder shows.  There was also no swim class and no Chick-Fil-A.  I'm sure Chick-Fil-A missed us.

Our afternoon was a leisurely one that didn't involve being home for nap time or planning a trip to the pool or bounce house in the afternoon.  I had a massage.  We had lunch and ran couple of errands.  We capped it off with a trip to the grocery store that was awesome!  Can I tell you that before we had kids, I used to rush us through the grocery store as fast as we could.  I couldn't stand wasting my Saturday on that.  Now, 6 years later, it seemed so luxurious to just peruse the store slowly.  We did every food tasting in the store.  We did every wine tasting in the store (and I mean that we enjoyed the tastings, not that we quickly took a wine shot to take the grocery experience edge off).  I loved the grocery store!  

We thought we would like to go see a movie that night, but we had waited too late to get tickets.  Who cares?  We could go on Sunday night.  So we ordered some sushi and downloaded a movie (Ex Machina, which btw, is a pretty good movie).  Again, so leisurely and so carefree.  

Sunday morning we played hookie from church (in our defense, our Sunday school teacher was on vacation, too).  My husband went for a bike ride and I went to spin class.  Those two things NEVER happen on Saturday or Sunday mornings...ever.  We followed that up with brunch with friends who have older kids, and we normally don't have the courage to impose our two year old on them.  I mean once you make it past toddlerhood, you are PAST toddlerhood.  We checked in for our lunch and they said it would be a 30 minute wait.  I'm like great.  Who cares?  You have a bar.  We've got nothing but time.  We did eventually wrap up our TWO HOUR brunch, so that we could get to other pressing activities (a pedicure and gun cleaning...I will let you guess which one I participated in).  And finally, we capped off a Sunday evening by going to a movie - a non animated movie.  

AHHH.   It was all so heavenly.  I didn't rush.  I didn't feel like I need to get somewhere, go faster, or think through all of the needs of my children for every possible scenario for every event on each day.  At the end of the weekend, I felt so relaxed and rested.  

I realized that my biggest struggle in parenthood right now is that we are going on close to 6 years of living on a very rigid schedule, with little flexibility and it has taken a toll on us.  Hence the reason a trip to the grocery store sans kids seems like a trip to "gay Paris".  But I also realized at the end of the weekend how much I missed my kids and I couldn't wait to give them a hug on Monday.  I'm not sure if we can make our family life more flexible and less rigid...I'm not sure if we can make our household feel calmer and more relaxed.  If I figure out how to crack those two nuts, I will for sure let you know the key.  But hopefully my renewed energy can carry me through...and if not, I will at least have the fond memories I can day dream about.


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