Time For A Big Kid's Trip

As a much needed grown up vacation quickly approaches, my anxiety level is also quickly approaching!  Since its been 5 years since the hubs and I have spent more than an evening free from soccer practice, laundry, and kiddo conversation we are heading off to paradise in t-minus 3 days! To satisfy my OCD and help me feel sane before leaving the littles for 9 days (here is where I need to breathe), I make very detailed, indepth lists....lots and lots of lists!  Aside from large amounts of Pinot, lists help me gain control even from 1,600 miles away.

We are very lucky to have all of our family within a 10 mile radius of us so when mommy and daddy are away, all of the grandmas and grandpas are able to step in.  To help make it easier on the grandparents, aka Saints, my lists consist of who will have kids when, notes about school, notes about bedtime, emergency authorization forms, and clothes individually packed and labeled for each day of the week.  The hubs calls it neurotic, but it helps maintain some normalcy for the littles while we're away.

To help the littles feel that we're not that far away I setup Skype on everyone's computer so they'll be able to hear and see us.  I wrote little cards to each of the littles that I'll mail the day we leave and snuck little gifts I picked up at Target's fabulous $1 bin into their suitcases.  Hopefully between the novelty of seeing mommy and daddy "in the computer" and finding little gifts, which I'll probably wind up sweeping up or stepping on when we get home, the littles won't miss us nearly as much as I know I'll miss them. 

The hubs and I have mutually agreed that it is very important to take time out for our marriage so we return as better parents, a better couple, and better people.  So as my anxiety gets higher the closer departure becomes, I turn to my inspiration....

Picture courtesy of Sandals Royal Plantation

Cheers,