Ok, so it wasn’t quite an entire weekend.  We drove down to my aunt and uncle’s house on Friday.  We all stayed the night.  Then my husband and I left the next morning.

What We Did

We went to Oklahoma City and stayed at a nice hotel in Brick Town.

We didn’t have anything planned when we got there, that was part of the luxury, we could do anything or nothing.  It was really nice just being able to get up and leave.  We didn’t have to make sure that kids went to the bathroom, that the baby’s diaper had been changed, etc!

We walked around a lot and just enjoyed the peace.

I had one of the best salads I’ve ever had (not very healthy, but oh so yummy!)  (We also got free crab necklaces for the kids at this restaurant!)

It was weird that we could have an entire conversation without being interrupted or having to make sure that the baby was staying out of trouble.

Cost

I’m not going to lie.  We spent quite a bit of money (although less than we budgeted).  And even though we didn’t “per-say”save up for this trip, we were at a point in our financial journey that we felt like this was worth dipping into savings for.  We could have spent a lot less and still had a wonderful time.

Between our schedule and my aunt and uncle’s, we only had a few weeks notice.  However, both my husband and I had noticed that we were starting to feel like roommates, the littlest things were getting to us and we felt really stressed.  We needed to remind ourselves why we got married.  We also didn’t want to wait, because my husband was going to go to college and we felt that we needed this break before more responsibility was placed on both of us.

Kids

We are so fortunate to have family willing to watch our kids. My aunt and uncle are pretty much new “empty nesters.”  While they are enjoying their new “normal,”  they really do miss their kids.  They were excited that we took them up on their offer, although, very scared too.

I’d been a while since they had kids this young and they never had FOUR young children.

We were just so thankful that the kids behaved well.  Everybody wants to do it again and the next time my aunt and uncle said that they are pretty sure that they could handle it for an entire weekend.  (It was so cute, earlier this week, my daughter asked if they could go back!)  🙂

Gratitude

Although we thanked my aunt and uncle.  I still wanted to do more for them.  So we got them a gift certificate to Starbucks because they love coffee, but don’t ever spend that kind of money on it.  We also got them a small gift card to Sonic because my aunt loves their drinks.  And since we drove their car to OKC (so that they could have the van and actually leave with our kids) we washed it and vacuumed it out.  (Although we have been told that the next time my aunt and uncle watch the kids that we aren’t allowed to get them anything, but we’ll see about that!)

Well Worth It

I think all parents should find a way to getaway for a weekend, a few times a year.  It does everyone so much good.  Remember, the best thing you can do for your kids is to have a great marriage!