Just Us

Like most families, Dan and I tend to jam-pack every spring and summer with tons of activities as we break out of winters cold. Even if we wanted to “relax a little”, those spaces are hard to come by with a toddler and two very active school-aged kids. There is soccer, baseball, and softball for the kids, as well as softball for dad and outdoor playtime for baby. We are “on the go” pretty much all of the time. After things settle in for the evening, my husband and I might sneak in a 30 minute TV show that we recorded on DVR 2 months ago. Not surprisingly, that doesn’t feel like enough time to stay connected to each other. We find ourselves having loads of misunderstandings because we tend to organize our lives over some form of electronic messaging or while talking over rambunctious and relatively needy children. It’s exhausting. To top it off, Dan and I have don’t vacation. We didn’t honeymoon and we don’t have “date night”. For better or for worse, I’m too much of a miser to spend money we don’t have on things we don’t “need”. Dan and I have agreed that we would rather spend our extra money working our house into a little oasis. That way, we can enjoy our time at home, rather than spend money going somewhere else to enjoy ourselves. (Also, I like sleeping in my own bed J) With this in mind, last year we opened up the floor plan in our house so that we can enjoy indoor time. This year, we built a patio in the backyard so we can enjoy outdoor time. We have our own backyard fire pit and lately we’ve been staying up a little later than usual, sitting by the fire, chatting, and just being together. That’s been nice…very nice. 

Here's our newly finished backyard oasis complete with swing and fire pit. 

In fact, one of those evenings it crossed our minds that although our plan for at-home “staycations” was a wonderful plan, wouldn’t we both like to just be away by ourselves with minimal responsibility beyond eating a few times a day? 

Our answer to that quandry?

Yes, we would like that. We really would. So we devised a plan to go away for our birthday this year. And guess what? 

That’s THIS WEEK!                 

So, the plan you ask? Taking our tent, air mattress, wood, and bare food essentials to a campground and “set up shop” for a couple days. Only eat what we can cook over a fire or store in a cooler. We found a spot on the Rifle River where we can float downriver on a tube all day and the campground will pick us up to take us back. Extra bonus: the campsite is free through a family membership. There is undoubtedly some who are reading this and thinking it sounds more like a nightmare than a vacation but me...I love to take away the layers of how complicated life has gotten and just do nothing...a wonderful, beautiful, nothing. No agenda or schedule...no plan and no hassle. Most of all, I want to spend that nothing with someone I love, appreciate, value, respect, and overall adore. 

So with that settled, we did our grocery shopping last night while taming the toddler-sized shrew with a sucker in the front of the shopping cart. In three days, we will be celebrating our birthday, each other, and taking a vacation we can easily afford. I’m feeling more relaxed just thinking about it. Sure, we will be without baby boy for the longest time since his birth, but I have confidence that I will survive. 

After four years without a vacation built for two…yeah…I’ll survive.