Taking a Break

It's been somewhat of a slow week, but I am sooooooooooo looking forward to this weekend when John finishes his finals and we will be leaving the kids behind while John and I go with my parents to Hawaii!!! I'm so excited. I haven't been there in over 10 years and John has never been, so we are both looking forward to that. Some friends of ours will be staying at our house to watch the kids. We have such great friends. There will be lots to do this week to prepare for this trip.

Now that John and I have kids, I can see why my parents of 6 kids made it a priority to go on vacations without us once a year...they needed a break! It's been almost a year since John and I took our last vacation alone together. It was so wonderful, but weird at the same time. Last June, right after John graduated from Dental school, my parents took the kids back to Utah with them, and John and I went on a Graduation Cruise to Mexico. The reason it was so weird was because it was my first time away from the kids....ever...and while John and I were waiting for our flight to take us to LA to the ship, I felt uneasy like there was something, or someone I should be fussing over....but there were no kids to worry about. There were no runny noses or stinky diapers to change. It was weird to sit down for a long time without worrying what you child will do next that will require you to apologize to someone else for their behavior.....such a foreign feeling to me. And now...I long for that feeling...at least once a year. Is that so bad? So I'm sure I will have to go through that strange feeling of nothing to do for anyone except myself, but I'm sure I will kid-detox pretty quickly this time. And so, I think that taking a vacation once a year is so essential to the sanity of the parents to continue at the never-ending 24-7 job. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids very much, but it never hurts to take a break.

Ben pushing Bella on the Elmo Lawnmover