The Other Best Part

In December, a good friend of mine took a trip to Hawaii with her hubby, leaving their two young boys behind to be cared for by relatives. When she came back, I asked how it went and expected a gushing response. Instead, my friend said honestly, "We really missed our kids."

I had flashbacks to the first time we left Soph and E-Man for an extended vacation. Soph was 3 1/2 and E-Man was barely 2 when we headed to D.C. and Virginia for nearly a week to visit friends and so Photoguy could run the Richmond Marathon (his first). Leading up to the trip, I was ecstatic about the prospect of a kid-less vacation. I practically did a cartwheel every time I thought of it -- the freedom! No working around naptimes! No hauling around heavy strollers and giant diaper bags! Just Photoguy and me doing whatever we wanted.

Let's just say, there were many tears shed (don't tell Photoguy I said this, but they were not only my tears) before we even got to the airport over missing those kids. We thought of them the entire time. "Wouldn't E-Man love riding the Metro?" "Wouldn't Soph go crazy over those squirrels running around the Mall?" "Oh, look an airplane. The kids love airplanes." Ugh, we were pathetic. We did have a nice trip, and the one redeeming thing about missing them so entirely was that I couldn't stop holding them and enjoying them every minute of the day for at least a month straight when we got back.

We missed them so much that we didn't even attempt a kid-less vacation (longer than a one-nighter here and there) until last Spring when we went to Boston. In Boston, I steeled myself against missing them and we had an amazing time.

Yet, as we prepared to leave for San Diego, I felt the familiar anxiety welling up inside of me. How I wished I could tuck that little AiAi in my suitcase and take him right along.

As it turned out, I reached full relaxation mode only hours into the trip. The first time we went to the beach, we were surrounded by young parents chasing their squealing cherubs in the surf. Photoguy and I looked at each other and briefly discussed how nice it would be to have our kids there. "Yeah. But, then someone would be hungry and someone else would be 'bored' and someone else would be upset over sand in their swimsuit and then we would have to pack up our million gadgets and bags of kid things and go take care of everyone. So, it's nice that it's just us this time," I said once I came to my senses.

Besides having a great time ourselves, the other best part of our vacation was that our kids were so thoroughly spoiled in our absence. The first night, Soph and E-Man got to have a "sleepover" (very rare occurrence in these parts) with friends who treated them like royalty. The rest of the weekend was spent in the adoring embraces of my parents. Soph got to dance with the Weber State cheerleaders at a basketball game. E-Man gave a wildly successful show and teach presentation on how to fold spy planes for his Kindergarten class (attended by my mom, thanks mom). AiAi got to stay up late watching cowboy movies with grandpa. And, my parents even took all three kids to their first circus. What a tremendous blessing to know our little ones were in good hands the whole time.