Last week was our annual “kid-free break” when my parents take the kids for a few days so Chad and I can have a nice break.  Last year was my first year having this blog during tour break, and I got to read over the post before this year’s break.  I’m so glad I did, it gave me a good perspective going into it.   Last week was i-n-c-r-e-d-i-b-l-e.  It was restful and slow-paced and peaceful and I’m already thinking about what I want to do next year.  Let’s walk through it together, shall we?

Tuesday we went out to lunch at P.F. Chang’s and saw some friends who recently moved to IL from Fort Wayne.  Then we meandered through IKEA, and made our way to our hotel in downtown Chicago.  We walked to Soldier Field where we got to see U2 and it was amazing!!!  Such a good show.  We got back to the hotel at 12:45am and decided we were hungry, so we got ice cream and ate it on our bed watching Conan.  I mean come on, when else does that get to happen?

Wednesday we got up at 10, had breakfast outside in Chicago, went on a boat tour on the Chicago River and Lake Michigan.  It was a gorgeous, sunny day, perfect for a boat ride!  We drove back to Fort Wayne and had supper at Pint & Slice. Mmmmmm

Thursday I think we got up at 9:30, had breakfast at Spyro’s, went to Kohl’s, went to the church so I could get a little work done (and Chad looked at a few computers for us!), supper at Cebolla’s (honestly, if we didn’t have kids we’d eat all of our money), and then on to a friend’s house for a night of cards and ice cream!

Friday we went to Dunkin’ Donuts for coffee and, well, donuts.  We saw Thor at the cheap theater, considered seeing Pirates after that, but went home to relax instead, played some Wii, I may have taken a nap, went to Paula’s for supper, and to a friend’s house for coffee after.

Saturday we went to Starbucks for breakfast, then up to the lake where a friend so graciously opened their home for the afternoon.  It was a perfect end to our week.  We had lunch, relaxed, went on a pontoon boat ride, swam in the lake without having to watch our kids… we just got to have fun ourselves!  It was so great.

I said so many times, it was like we were dating again.  No responsibilities, no chores, no thinking that I should go to bed because the kids were going to get up by 7… I just got to be present.  I got to focus on Chad and spending time with him.  Thank you, mom and dad, for giving us this incredible gift.  (What’s crazy is that they thanked us for having 5 days with the kids!!  They’re amazing.)