I visited Vancouver, BC in October for a conference for work. I was excited - I love flying, the conference was wonderful, and it was so weird being on my own (I NEVER travel alone!) But shortly before my trip, it was announced that the airline I booked through was potentially facing strikes starting on the day I was due to leave. The hotel was booked up, and we had carefully figured out flights versus my husband's work schedule versus the conference schedule, and I had no room to rebook or miss my flight. So we opted to cancel, I booked on another airline, and kept the credit for future use (minus a whole bunch of fees, thankfully! Part of their apologies for the "inconvenience")
Hubby had a conference in Vancouver in March, and so we started planning a getaway. It would be the first time Tobes was ever without either me OR Hubbyman overnight. It was the first time since he was born that we were away from Princess overnight too. We arranged a special Grammie-sleepover with my mom, and started to look at hotels, restaurants, and activities for us to fill our time with on our special getaway!
Fast-forward to Saturday morning. We're packed and ready to go. We kissed our babies goodbye and headed to the airport. It was weird not to worry about unpacking kids, and to have so little luggage to boot! We had uninterrupted breakfast in the airport (a theme for the weekend!) and then boarded the plane!
The whole weekend was magical! We went to the aquarium (I used to have an annual pass to it! Back when Tara was younger we used to travel to Vancouver often enough that it was cheaper just to have the pass), walked around Stanley Park, and ate seafood to our heart's content. We stayed in an amazing hotel downtown, went shopping, and went to Grandville Island. All the while it was just the 2 of us. There were definitely moments where we missed the kids, especially at the aquarium (so many little ones running around!) and it was hard to hang up with them on the phone when we checked-in (hard for us, but they were eager to get back to play with Grammie!), but I've got to say there were moments when we really relished our alone time together (uninterrupted meals, and we were able to keep a much faster pace overall). We "struggled" a bit in the beginning trying to think of non-kid-related things to talk about (and if you know me, you know that I NEVER struggle with coming up with conversations!) It was actually pretty funny - we kept having awkward lulls in the conversation and then both burst out in laughter over it. But the goal wasn't to keep the weekend kid-free, it was just time that Hubby and I needed to spend together. Between all his trips (5 in 6 months), my work (which involves a few evenings and weekends here and there) and the general business of life I mentioned in my last post, we needed the time to just have together, and do whatever we pleased whenever we pleased. It was an amazing time for hubs and I, and it's something we're contemplating turning into an annual tradition!
The conference Hubbyman attended is annually held either in Vancouver or Victoria (both beautiful places to visit), but even if I don't join him for those, we live just hours away from the mountains. Either way, it'd be nice to have that time for just the 2 of us to reconnect and recharge. It's funny because I'm still up in the air about it all. I hate being away from my babies, and I am a FIRM believer that time for myself doesn't have to be by myself, or sans kids, but it really was a fantastic weekend. Please know, I'm not feeling guilty about being away from my babies, I just genuinely enjoy the time we have when we travel to fun places together. But at the end of the day, my relationship with Hubs deserves time and attention too, and the uninterrupted night's sleep is also a pretty awesome bonus ;)
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