11 Things I Realized When Traveling Without My Kids
Over the weekend Jenn, Kristen and I (aka Team Fit Bottomed World) met at Kristen’s house in Florida for our “annual but not always every year depending on the baby situations” retreat. We spend a lot of time eating good food, drinking good wine, and having fun (fun includes dripping-buckets-of-sweat workouts) — but we also spend an enormous amount of time brainstorming about the sites and the things we’d like to do in the coming year. So even though Florida and beaches put me in an immediate vacation mindset, we also had to put on our thinking caps, which makes it easier to justify to my husband, of course.
This was the first time I was away from my youngest (and it was the final nudge I needed to pull the plug on breastfeeding), and it’s always hard to be away from my kiddos. And as hard as it can be to drag myself away, I did survive. I even enjoyed it. And I learned a few things in the course of 48 hours…
1. Traveling without kids is so easy. Packing? No biggie. Getting to the airport and through security? Quite a bit less stressful when you’re not carrying carseats or trying to keep a toddler from getting arrested because he breached security. And not trying to prevent a meltdown because “this is taking forever…”
2. I missed them before I even left. I really did and then it was like the universe was laughing at me — in the best way — because on the plane, I got sat next to a 5-year-old kindergartner, Charlie, who immediately struck up a conversation and started writing and drawing.
Thanks for the company, Charlie!
He spilled Cheerios everywhere and while I helped his mom pick them up I assured her I was her peeps and I was quite familiar with the scenario. Later, when I dozed off (again, when you’re solo and not entertaining kids, you can sleep on a plane!) she had to work very hard to prevent him from waking me up so that he could give me my snack (which he adorably helped me open).
3. I truly needed the break. The week I left was a week of tantrums and meltdowns and pee in places not the toilet and Fig Newtons in the bathroom sink. Full Moon Yoga on the beach at sunset on a Friday night was a nice change of pace.
4. Being out on the town at 11 p.m. felt foreign. And it cracked me up that my “Do Not Disturb” on my phone popped up at 10 p.m.
5. Technology makes being away much easier. My husband sent pictures and Snapchats so that I’d be able to see what everyone was up to, and I was able to snap myself so that they could see where I was. Made me feel connected! (Check me out; I’m fitbottomedmama on Snapchat!)
6. Day drinking wine in a pool is the best kind of drinking.
7. Whether your babies are human or furry, they’re always eating things they shouldn’t be. Trixie…
8. Waking up at 7 a.m. and not having to sprint to fill hungry kids’ bellies is a little nice. Okay, a lot nice.
9. I sleep like a baby when not interrupted by kids joining me in bed, kids needing a hug, or kids crying out in the night. A baby who finally starts sleeping through the night, that is.
10. It’s good for my hubby. It’s not only good for him to get to spend extra time with the kiddos, but it’s good for him to see what I do on a daily basis and why some days I’m just spent when he gets home. And judging from the hour-long nap he just took, I’m guessing he got a pretty good taste of the good life.
11. I was ready to get home. I was definitely ready to get back and there is no better feeling than walking through the doors and having the house come alive with joy just because you arrived.
Do you do much traveling without your kiddos? I’ll definitely have to find my mental happy place on the beach when my kids are asking for a snack while they’re eating lunch (not even kidding…) but it’s good to be back at my crazy zoo of a house. —Erin