Time away

Kev and I decided to plan a little get-away sans children.  Deep breath.  For those of you without children (and maybe some with children), it sounds like such an easy/good concept in theory, but when it comes to actually leaving your children, it can be tough.  I'm always amazed I can have such opposite feelings...I want time away from my kids, but then I hate to leave them.  It seriously drives me a little crazy (along with many other things about raising kids).  However, we decided to take the plunge, and I'm so thankful we did.  

I'm definitely a quality time girl, so it's amazing what some one-on-one, focused, distraction-free time can do for my "love bank."  We decided to plan a fairly close first-time get-away, so we just went to Chicago.  Only an hour and a half away.  A short enough distance to get home quickly if we needed to.  Thankfully that was not the case because they were in good hands (thanks Billy and Kate).  The thing I love about traveling with Kev is we like to do the same things.  Seriously.  We both like a schedule, but not too rigid of a schedule.  We like museums, but we want to spend time seeing the things we really like.  We like seeing fun shops, but not necessarily going in them.  We want to eat good food.  We want to explore.  We want to try new things and see new places.  And that's just what we did.

We spent a couple of hours at the Art Institute (not too little, not too much), had some awesome sushi, explored the Lincoln Park neighborhood, spent time chatting in a coffee shop, explored Evanston and Northwestern, ate some amazing pizza, drank wine and ate dessert on the beach.  It was perfection.

On Sunday, we decided to go kayaking down the Chicago River.  Definitely worth it!  The view was awesome and it was good exercise.  Every time I kayak (which don't kid yourself, is not often), I think 1. I should buy a kayak, and 2. I look like a natural (which I'm sure is not the case, but a girl can dream, right?).  We didn't get hit by any large boats going down the river which was a positive, and our only injury was an ugly blister on my part.  Success.

After a little more time in the city, we decided to make a quick trip to Ikea.  It has been on our "to do" list for a long, but let's face it...it's hard to justify a trip to Chicago to go to Ikea.  That store seriously stresses me out, but I'm also intrigued by it.  We bought a little table for the kids among a couple other things, then raced back to pick up our kiddos. 

The closer we got to South Bend, the more I was missing the kids.  The funny thing about kids is they don't even act like you were gone.  You're expecting them to run into your arms (E) or give you an extra big smile (M)...but they don't.  They *maybe acknowledge you, then keep playing.  Sigh.  Such is the life of a mom.

Even with our anti-climatic reunion, I was glad to be home.  It's amazing how 36 hours away can make me love my husband more and make me even more thankful for our two little blessings.  We should go away more often. :)