What is a vacation?

I once heard a pastor speak on how important it is to have getaway time with you spouse. He said, "If I packed up my wife and 4 kids and we headed to Hawaii for week, that would not be a vacation, it would be a family trip. Now, if just my wife and I headed off for a week in Hawaii, now that would be a vacation!"

My husband and I are heading off for 6 nights in Maui to celebrate our 10 year anniversary!

Since we had 3 babies in 4 years, we have only had short, close to home getaways without the kids in the last 6 years since our 1st child born. And we have been talking about this Hawaii trip for a long time. But I think I saw it as more of a dream thing to do for our 10 year anniversary rather than something we'd actually do! But my husband arranged it all in the last couple of months!

All that being said, I wouldn't be honest if I didn't admit I have mixed feelings about the trip. Obviously it is a dream trip. I've never been to Hawaii and neither has my husband. It will be a trip of a lifetime. This will be a glimpse back to our pre-kid days, the whole 4 years we were married and traveled freely and often! The vacation will be an investment in our marriage. And growing up in a home where my parents had a horrible marriage, I know what a gift a loving, stable, strong marriage is for the kids! Let's face it, when you have little kids they are very consuming, taking over your entire life, and allowing you only 20 second conversations with your spouse before there is an interruption! So having time just the 2 of us will be amazing!

But, I have never left my kids for this long. And however tiring and annoying they can be sometimes, I really truly enjoy being around my kids most of the time! I will miss them, perhaps terribly! Also, the next week will be busy in terms of kid activities (but what week isn't, right?), so the logistics of planning for someone else to do it is hard. And then there is the worry that they will miss me, and the worry that they will not miss me.

My husbands parents are coming to stay with the kids at our house, so they will be in very good hands. Now I just hope they don't run screaming out of the house when I show them the schedule for each day, complete with all the running around to deliver or pick up somebody from something multiple times per day! But the house is stocked with groceries, it is fairly clean, all the wash is done and the meals for the next week are made and in the freezer, just ready to be thawed and heated.

Actually, maybe I want to stay home after all, that kinda sounds like a vacation week to me!

Oh wait, the toddler wants to sit on my lap while I'm trying to type this and eat my cereal. And he has a poopy diaper! Okay, maybe I do need a vacation, if only to be able to eat breakfast without the smell of poop in my lap!!!!

I have set some old posts to rerun this coming week. I know most of you have not been reading since the beginning, so hopefully they will be new to you.

And there will be some exciting bloggy fun when I get back! On the agenda -- the Jillian Michaels - 30 Day Shred, every day, for 30 days, no exceptions, no excuses!!!! If you want, get the Shred yourself (and some hand weights and a mat) and join me for the start of the 30 days on May 18th. Because there is camaraderie in pain!! And I'll also begin potty training my 2 year old and blogging about it. Oh the excitement of it all! I just don't know how you'll contain yourselves!