10th Anniversary Trip

Last week Braydon and I indulged in three whole luxurious nights away from our children. It was glorious. Since becoming parents we have rarely left our kids overnight. We can count on two hands the number of nights we’ve ever not slept under the same roof as Kyle and Owen. And prior to last week, we had only ever left Meera overnight once (when we took K & O to the DR).

Five years ago, to celebrate our 5th anniversary, Braydon and I went away to a fancy shmancy hotel/resort in Naples Florida. It was supposed to be a lovely wine-and-spa get-away, but it turned into a pathetic-3-days-of-wallowing-in-the-misery-of-terribly-missing-our-bambinos. All we could talk about was K & O. All we could think about was how much we wanted them there with us. It was ridiculous. We came back from that trip vowing we would travel more with them, and never leave them again. The only good thing about that trip was that – fortunately!!!!! – we both felt the same way about it (thank God for that!!!!!!!!!).

However…

A lot has changed in the past five years. We now have three kids. Our careers are more demanding than ever. And life is faster paced now than we ever could have even imagined five years ago. As we approached our 10th anniversary we could not wait to get away for an Adults Only Retreat From Our Reality.

We picked a wine-and-spa trip again (we are nothing if not determined!). And we picked the Finger Lakes Region of New York (a place we’d never explored). Our only plan was this: we would only do things that we could never do with our kids in tow. And that, precisely, is what we did.

Yes, we talked a lot about our bambinos. But we talked a lot about other stuff too. And yes, we missed them (because we’re pathetic like that), but we enjoyed our time alone together.

We got massages. We sat in hot tubs and saunas. We did wine tastings. We admired vineyards. We went to bed early and slept late. And played many hours of Boggle (yes, we’re geeks like that). One of us read the newspaper. Another read Bon Appetit. We watched t.v. And ate steak frites for dinner. And croissants for breakfast. And drank whole cups of coffee from start to finish without forgetting where we set the mug down halfway through. We spontaneously went to the movies one night. And drank champagne at least once a day. And talked and talked and talked and talked, without interruption. These are things that we don’t normally get to do. It was phenomenally fun.

We’re already planning our 15th anniversary. We can’t wait!

MorMor and MorFar graciously took care of the bambinos and kept up things on the home-front while we were away. Three nights doesn’t sound like long, but believe me… it involves a LOT around here. Kudos to my parents for being able to pull it off so graciously and gracefully. They are the best. And they gave us the best anniversary gift by agreeing to take care of K, O, and M. The bambinos not only survived, but they loved their “alone time” with their grandparents.

Now it is back to reality. Laundry and dishes and cooking and kids-waking-up-with-fevers and insane-work-calendars and soccer games and toddler tantrums and, basically, generalized chaos 24×7.

(at left: the kitchen floor, upon arrival home after work and school today / at right: their most recent driveway trick (and please refrain from lambasting us with nasty comments about what horrible parents we are because our kids don’t always have helmets on)

The three nights of wine-and-spa are a distant memory. But one that will not be forgotten— and those three days will keep us chugging along for quite some time. Amazing what a little Adults Only Anniversary Retreat can do.

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p.s. This is not a paid advertisement, by any stretch of the imagination, but nonetheless I want to plug LuxuryLink.com (/Family Getaway/Vacationist). This is an online auction site for vacation destinations. We bided on and purchased our 3-night-stay in the Finger Lakes on LuxuryLink for a fraction of the price it would normally cost.