Bon Voyage!

For the last two days I've woken up much earlier than my children because I'm too excited to sleep. Tomorrow at noon, Keith and I leave to Napa for 3 days and 3 nights. This is a trip we did last May with a group of friends, and it was so relaxing and so fun, that we decided to make it an annual event. Personally, I can't think of a better way to spend a vacation -- delicious wine, savory food, spa treatments and, best of all, wonderful company to share it all with. We're staying in a beautiful house in Healdsburg that's surrounded by vineyards and total silence. There's an infinity pool and plenty of room for us to lie around, be lazy, and live a little bit like we did before children arrived. Of course, as mothers, we can never totally detach ourselves and there will be constant chatter about preschools, tantrums, eating habits, and plenty of periodic check-in phone calls to make sure the kids are sleeping and eating well. But, overall, it's as much of an escape as we can allow ourselves at this phase of our lives.

Besides the aforementioned reasons, the other huge benefit of going away is reconnecting with my husband. I think we have a great relationship but it's overrun by children and work, and there is little time left for us to be a couple. A vacation strips away the everyday stresses and allows us to focus on each other again. It's refreshing, and necessary. I recently read a statistic that said couples who vacation at least once per year together are happier. It didn't say whether happy couples vacation more or vacations resulted in happier couples, but either one works. I want to continue being a part of that statistic.

My in-laws arrived from the Midwest yesterday and they'll be with us for the next 10 days. It's so wonderful to see how much my children light up when they're around. Having them here eliminates any concern I could have about Madeleine and Owen's well-being while we're away. Knowing that makes this escape even more enticing. Hopefully I'll be able to get some sleep tonight, but I wouldn't be surprised if I'm up again at the crack of dawn, excitement rumbling in my stomach. On Sunday, I know I'll be just as eager to come home to kiss my kids and get back to the life I'm anxious to take a break from. But I guess that's why vacations are so important -- they allow us to see our lives from another perspective. In my case, a perspective that will be slightly skewed by wine, but that will only make me more enamored of a life I already treasure.