La Vacation!

Know what today is?  My last day of work before... vacation!!!  I'm a little excited.  Okay, a LOT excited!  I came back to work after having Ella when she was six months old.  She's now 13 months old, and with the exception of a week off in April when I was dealing with a really shitty illness, I've only had an odd day off here and there.  So I'm thrilled to be having 10 1/2 whole days off!

Work has been incredibly busy and hectic for me this summer, so vacation kind of snuck up on me.  And you know what, I liked it that way!  Just this past weekend I said to Danny, "Oh my God!  We're on vacation next week!  What are we going to do?!"  He didn't realize how quickly vacation time had snuck up either, because he had forgotten to put his leave pass in at work!  Good thing he was able to get the time off anyway!

We talked about what our plans should be.  Should we take the kids to Upper Clements... that would be hard with Ella being so young, and being incredibly cranky if she misses her afternoon nap.  Should we take day trips to the south shore, so Ella can sleep in the car?  Then one of us (I can't even remember which one) said, "Wouldn't it be nice to go to Halifax for a couple of days, just the two of us?"  And that was it... the seed of getting-away-without-the-children was planted.  But who would watch the girls?  My parents are off galavanting across the country to see my brother in Petawawa.  Which left us with two options... my sister, and our babysitter Nancy.  I was debating which one to ask first.  If it was my sister, that would mean she would have to pack up and go to our house for two days, since her place isn't exactly set up for two under three!  I played it back and forth in my mind, still not completely convinced that going away for two days was really necessary, especially without the girls!

On Monday, I arrived at Nancy's house and as soon as we got out of the car, she said, "I missed the girls this weekend!  I was going to call and ask to steal them for a sleepover, but I thought that would make me look a little crazy."  Wait, what?  You wanted them for a sleepover?? Could it be... fate?? 

"Well..." I said, "about that."  Nancy's eyes lit up! "Danny and I were thinking about heading to Halifax next week for two nights." "YES!' Nancy said.  She didn't even need me to finish the sentence... that was it, the deal was made!  Before I had time to realize what had just happened, I had committed myself to a three-day/two-night vacation in Halifax... without any kids!

I got back in the car, and endured a slight moment of panic before euphoria set in!  Holy shit, Danny and I were going away.  Without kids.  Not just for one night, but for two!!  Holy shit. Holy Shit. HOLY SHIT!  I was beyond excited!  As soon as I got to work, I texted Danny and told him we were free to have our little get-away.  He responded with equal enthusiasm, "awesome."  Okay, so you have to know Danny to know that's pretty enthusiastic of him!

I started looking up hotels and quickly realized that not only were we getting away for a couple of days, we were going to pay a month's mortgage to do it.  Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit.  Oh well, it's the first time in nearly three years that we've been away, so we might as well splurge (though we are taking donations, if anybody is interested!).

I know exactly how the two days are going to play out.  We're going to drop the kids off at Nancy's next Tuesday.  They will completely ignore us as we try to give goodbye hugs and kisses, because let's be honest... they wont even know we're gone!  We'll drive to Halifax, have lunch somewhere amazing (probably the poutinerie... do you know they sell poutine smothered in bacon!!!!!), check into the hotel, and collapse onto our king-size bed and marvel at the space and silence in the room. Then we'll probably fall asleep and waste the rest of the evening dreaming about our kids and the life we left behind.

The next morning we'll sleep in.  Well, I wont exactly sleep in, but there's no way in hell I'm getting up at 5:30!  But knowing my mommy-trained body, I will wake up by 7:00 at the latest, where I will toss and turn until finally deciding to wake Danny up around 8:30 or 9:00, to which he'll exclaim "Sammy, we're supposed to be sleeping in!!"   My only plans for our two days is to get out and enjoy the sun, and eat.  I love food.  I love food so much, I could probably spend the whole two days bouncing from restaurant to restaurant, until I've tried a little bit of everything.  We might see a movie.  Oooh... maybe even a late show!  Maybe we'll even stay out until midnight... or later!!  The possibilities are endless!

And when the two days are over, we will drive home and stop at Nancy's to pick up the girls.  They will greet us like they always do... Gracie will run across the lawn with her arms wide open screaming "Mommy!!  Daddy!" and Ella will point and scream as loud as she can "Da-da-da-da-da-da!!"  We'll hug them and Gracie will tell us how much she missed us.  We'll present them with the presents that we surely are going to buy for them, then we'll head home.  Gracie and Ella will get in a screaming match over a toy, Charlie will pee on the floor with excitement, Ella will dump her supper on the floor, Gracie will knock over her milk at least twice during supper, Ella will have a gigantic poop that seeps up to her ears, Gracie will say "mommy" at least 300 times, Ella will trip over her own feet no less than a dozen times, and Gracie will cry when it's time for bed.  There will be no doubt in our minds that our vacation is over and we're back to our normal lives... but, ahh, what a sweet little life it is!