Ladie's Getaway

For the past 18 months, the women in the family have tried to get a nice weekend away. You see, our husbands hunt. We encourage their hunting knowing that it's a needed man time...get out in the wilderness and shoot a gun. However, since we've seen them slip away several weekends, we decided it was time for us to leave town. Unfortunately the last two times we have been scheduled to go, something catastrophic has come up. (mainly on my end). So here we are, a year and a half later, holding our breath hoping the weekend will go as planned. Praise the Lord it did!
Last Friday morning my mom in law and sis in law picked me up in the minivan, and away we went. Ahhh....we enjoyed the 6 hour drive to the mountains to meet up with the other sis in law. First thing scheduled for all four of us - hour long massages! Ahhh...relaxation. It was simply the best. My gal did a wonderful job. She informed me that I get tension headaches. Who knew I was tense? :) She also said, "I can tell you've been carrying babies on your left side for the last five years." Bingo...she could tell just by looking and working my back. Crazy! After we all were finished and very relaxed (almost to the point of woozy) we went out for dinner. We landed at the Elephant Bar. Delicious! While waiting for my meal I called the girls and chatted with them quick before they went to bed. Brandon got on as my food arrived, and my sweet self simply said, "I'm going to go now since I'm determined to eat my meal while it's hot." He's so gracious. :) We then went to some great stores for a little shopping and a lot of laughing
We went home to my sis in law's house and stayed up while and chatted.
Saturday morning we "slept in". For me these days that means 8:00. I got up and relaxed by reading. We then spent the day shopping, shopping shopping. Between shopping was a yummy lunch at Panera. I decided to surprise Brandon and bought a dozen bagels to take home.
While shopping, I was really looking for some long sleeve shirts. Nothing fancy, just every day normal shirts. I was counting on Kohl's, but it let me down. I left with a sweater for myself and clothes for the girls.
We ate dinner at Chick-fil-A and went to see "Love Happens." I highly recommend it! There are a couple of lines they could have done without, but otherwise it was quite clean and very good. I laughed, I cried. After the movie was dessert and then another night staying up late while chatting with the girls.
We went to church on Sunday morning and really appreciated the worship time and sermon. We ate lunch at Jason's Deli and began the drive home. As much as I wanted to see my girls before bedtime, I knew the likelihood of that happening was slim. Brandon was fine with that. I got home at 10:45 and immediately went to give each of my girls a kiss.
I truly loved and appreciated the time away. I got to do things as an adult, a friend, a sister in law. Shopping without keeping someone happy with snacks;not telling a daughter over and over to "not touch";answering a 1000 questions; eating hot meals, getting things done at my own pace. I came home refreshed. A big thanks to a mother in law who knew all this was needed and took upon herself to make it happen!
On the home front...Brandon and the girls did awesome! (almost too well...). I tried to help Brandon out as much as possible. I figured if he was going to take a day off work and be a single dad all weekend, then I would chip in. I left all the girls' outfits out for each day. One less thing for him to worry about. My mom in law and sis in law and myself all made one big meal so each of the men and families could get together each night for company and a good meal. It worked well!
Now my hubby went beyond the call of duty. He not only took care of the girls, had fun with the girls, but he also did some major house cleaning! I had cleaned the bathrooms and floors before I left, but he took care of things I never seem to do. He cleaned all the baseboards, washed benches, cleaned all the windows (inside, outside and inbetween!). My fridge was all wiped down on the inside! He pulled it out and cleaned behind it, too! He cleaned the basement! Vacuumed the stairs in the basement, and the list goes on. When he is away hunting, I find myself relaxing in the evenings. :) The girls did great with him and had lots of fun. They didn't mention me much nor ask about me much. I think that's a good thing...
I loved my time away, but I was ready to be home with my family. What I wasn't ready for was the week ahead...