Time Away from My Angels

Last Thursday afternoon my parents came to stay at our house for two nights. With our kids. While we were not there. We were downtown Minneapolis at the posh Gra.ves 601 hotel. Drinking champagne and toasting us. Because, for Heavens sake, we haven't been "us" in too long. Last summer we decided that if our marriage could survive three years of IF and the first year with twins, well, we might just deserve a little time away, with each other, to bask in the glow of each other.

So, it all began last summer when I asked my parents if they would be willing to come and hang out with our kids for two nights while we went somewhere. One night is nice, but two nights would allow us to sleep in and lounge around and not be in hurry to check out of a hotel or get back home. We had no plans on where we wanted to go, but just wanted to go someplace. As the winter progressed and we have hit almost record high snowfalls we decided that we didn't want to go too far away and be caught in a blizzard. We decided on Minneapolis which is only 45 minutes from our house, but we don't really go downtown that often. Our planning began.

We arranged to go from Thursday evening thru Saturday morning. That way, my parents would only have to focus on the Little Monkeys during the day while Logan was at kindergarten. We found the Gra.ves 601 hotel with a Star.bucks and a spa next to it. They are also adjacent to the skyways. When we arrived at the Gra.ves 601 we headed up to check out our awesome room and get ready for dinner at The Melt.ing Pot. Yum! We had not been to this restaurant since Logan was a baby! The next morning we went down to the spa to have a couples massage. After that we headed over to the Minn.eapo.lis Convention Center to go to the Boat Show, of all things :) We used to own two different boats and got rid of the boating hobby a couple of years ago as we bought a camper and could find enough time in the summer to use both the camper and the boat. So we just went to look and see what was on the market.

After that we headed back to our hotel to get ready for dinner at Ru.th's Ch.ris Steakhouse. The best steak I have ever eaten! And their sweet potato casserole was TO DIE FOR. Super good! We woke up Saturday morning regretting that we had not gone to any real night spots, but we were so tired both nights and just wanted to rest up, relax and rejuvenate.

We are hoping that we will have this opportunity, aka that we can convince my parents to take the kids for two nights again, every year. DH and I have been away from the kids individually for longer than two nights at a time, but we have never been away from our kids, including just Logan before the babies were born, for more than one night. It was quite the treat. And walking into the house after being gone for two days we were greeted by two happy smiling babies racing while they crawled towards us and our big boy Logan jumping on us and giving us hugs and kisses. All the while we were away, they were perfect angels and didn't miss a beat, but we sure felt good being greeted by all three when we got home. :) I also received a thank you email from my parents thanking US for letting THEM come and stay with our children and entrusting them with our children for two nights. What a great weekend!