Last night we returned home from our 2 day 1 night mini-vacation.\u00a0 The kids ran freely through the waterpark.\u00a0 The Computer Guy and I got to loosen up the firm grip we keep on our big family and become \u2018fun parents\u2019 for just a little while.\u00a0 We all remembered what it felt like to laugh out loud and scream because something is just that much fun.<\/p>\n
I spent an entire 2 days not looking at a clock.\u00a0 For someone as fanatical about being on time as I happen to be, this was a major accomplishment.\u00a0 We woke up when we were done sleeping.\u00a0 We ate when we were hungry.\u00a0 The kids fell asleep when they were worn out.\u00a0 There were no set bath times, bed times or meal times.\u00a0 The only thing on our agenda was to play, and we did.<\/p>\n
I had an eye-opening moment about how I have trained my children to live by the clock when we were getting ready to leave the house.\u00a0\u00a0 The night before I had told them \u201cIt\u2019s a 3 hour drive to Dallas.\u00a0 We can go into the water park at noon, but we\u2019re not in any hurry to leave.\u00a0 We\u2019ll get there when we do.\u201d\u00a0 They didn\u2019t believe me.\u00a0 At 9AM sharp, all of the children were in the car, buckled and waiting.\u00a0 Since their dad was still in the shower, I shooed them out and encouraged the eating of Pop Tarts and watching of cartoons.\u00a0 (Yay vacation!)\u00a0 Ten minutes later, they had once again all congregated in the car.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to be late,\u201d the 10 year old worried.\u00a0 I told him that there is no \u2018late\u2019 on vacation, but he gave me a look which said I must be smoking crack or have been abducted by aliens.\u00a0 What kind of world can exist without the concept of \u2018late\u2019?<\/p>\n
When lunchtime came on the drive down, we stopped for burgers.\u00a0 The children sat patiently in the car and had to be told that we really were eating inside.\u00a0 I frowned a bit at myself.\u00a0 What kind of life were we giving them that eating inside<\/i> the burger place was a treat?\u00a0 As they wolfed down their lunches so that we wouldn\u2019t be \u201ctoo far behind our schedule\u201d, I decided that while punctuality is good\u2026\u2026I may have taken this a bit too far.<\/p>\n
I want them to be polite and on time, but I don\u2019t want to rob them of the joy of meandering.\u00a0 Side trips are so worth while, last minute plans can be the most fun.\u00a0 Flexibility needs to be built into the calendar and I need to realize that the world will not end if we decide to chuck it all out of the window and go play.<\/p>\n
As we settled in at the hotel, I placed all of my time pieces on the shelf beside my husband\u2019s blackberry and I turned the hotel clock toward the wall.\u00a0 I put aside the burden of running a family for 2 days and just reveled in the fun of it all.<\/p>\n
As the Computer Guy and I flew down the \u201cTornado\u201d on our two person float, I heard us both laugh out loud and whoop with delight.\u00a0 As we climbed out of the ride at its end, we both giggled like little children.\u00a0 I saw the dancing delight in his eyes and the smiles on the faces of our children and realized that a few more days of turning off the clocks would be good for us.\u00a0 I\u2019ve scheduled them in over the next few month.\u00a0 What?\u00a0 You didn\u2019t think I\u2019d changed that<\/i> much did you?\u00a0 Who do you think we are? Hippies?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last night we returned home from our 2 day 1 night mini-vacation.\u00a0 The kids ran freely through the waterpark.\u00a0 The Computer Guy and I got to loosen up the firm grip we keep on our big family and become \u2018fun parents\u2019 for just a little while.\u00a0 We all remembered what it felt like to laugh […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1979,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n