The thing I miss most about my pre-children life is traveling. Hubby and I saw much of the world before kids, but now, due to school schedules and PMS (Preschooler Mood Swings, not Premenstrual Syndrome), we don’t travel nearly as much. That’s to be expected.
But I do miss traveling, so when hubby recently announced that he was going down to Florida with a friend of his, I seized the opportunity to plan a weekend away with the kids. This was a little intimidating since Dad is the one who usually plans these things while Mom is the one who implements them. I needed to get over that and remember that I used to plan jaunts like this all the time. Still, I’d never planned one ALONE with two kids.
I chose Lancaster, PA for several reasons: 1) it’s relatively close 2) it’s known to be extremely family-friendly 3) I’d been there before, and 4) it’s so pretty. I chose a place we’d never stayed before, The Fulton Steamboat Inn. This lovely hotel is located right where two major highways meet. It has a ship theme to it, which is novel. It offers rooms with bunk beds for the kids – a big selling point for them since they’d never slept in bunk beds before. It also had the ESSENTIAL for any weekend away with my children – an indoor, heated pool. Basically, my kids don’t care where they go as long as there’s an indoor, heated pool.
I was meticulous in my packing and planning. The children were absolutely perfect for the whole trip. Really. They looked out for each other and even played in the pool alone so “Mom can relax.” Fighting was minimal. And we didn’t need the portable DVD player any time during the trip.
They relaxed, I relaxed, I rose to the challenge, and now we all realize that we can get away even if Dad isn’t with us. Pretty cool.
1 comment:
I just spent three days alone in Orlando before dad could join us and was so paranoid about losing my kids that I wrote my number on their bellies in permanent marker! Luckily no one was lost, the marker faded and we too had a great time.
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