I’m guessing the tandem bike will be more of a success…

The countdown has begun. Well, it had begun back in April when my husband and I first decided to do something completely out of character by purchasing a Living Social deal for a vacation at a bed and breakfast on the Outer Banks. This was out of character because a) we have gotten in the habit of rarely spending larger amounts of money on non-essentials (or “frivolous” things, b) we are actually going on a vacation, and c) we are going on said vacation without children.

Ever since we booked this deal, I’ve been torn between guilt, excitement, and a bit of anxiety. The guilt is due to our typical spending habits and the knowledge that this vacation is not part of our usual budget. We were blessed to be able to pay cash for this trip (or we wouldn’t have done it), but it does take away from the savings we had been building up. The excitement part should be obvious. And the anxiety part? Well, that is because of our almost 4-year-old and our almost 2-year-old. We have never left them overnight before (2 exceptions: the first was when I was giving birth to Asher- Eila stayed with my parents; the 2nd was when Will had to go out of town, Asher was not yet sleeping through the night, and my parents offered to have Eila spend the night so I would only have one child waking me mercilessly). In fact, we’ve never been gone from both of them together more than maybe 5-6 hours. I will miss them terribly and worry primarily about Asher since he is in full-blown “must be with mommy” phase and I’m not sure how he will do sleeping in a bed rather than a crib! But…

Now that we are less than a week out from our trip, I am getting very excited. The anxiety is easing because I do know that, overall, the kids will do great and my parents will do a great job with them. The guilt has eased, primarily because I know we are responsible with our finances but also because I believe that having time with just my husband is so incredibly important for our marriage. I am a homebody most of the time, but I definitely love opportunities to experience new things and new places, and who better to do that with than my best friend? I can’t wait to be able to have uninterrupted conversations, uninterrupted sleep, and the opportunity to go out and explore without having to accommodate naptimes!   The bed and breakfast we are staying at has gotten great reviews and the deal we purchased through Living Social included a couples massage, which will be especially welcome by my tension-filled shoulders (resulting from carrying a toddler around on clingy days).

The B&B also has a tandem bicycle couples can use.  I hope we get to take it around the Outer Banks.  My last experience with anything remotely similar was kayaking with Will pre-kids on an NC mountain lake.  Let’s just say I use that experience frequently as an analogy for marriage- when you both try to do it your own way, or to go your own way, you get nowhere.  We you finally start to work together towards a common goal, progress is made and it is filled with an amazing amount of fun and excitement!   Let’s just say that with the kayak, my stubborn self had a hard time doing it anything other than my way for a bit, and we made some beautiful circles in the middle of the lake…at least the bike won’t allow that some degree of stubbornness!  Although, I’m now thinking that it would be incredibly great to rent a kayak while we are there…

Anyway, I’ll make sure to take some pictures and share about it when we return.  I’m going to go back to knocking things off my pre-vacation to-do list!  

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