Welcome back, friends! It has been a busy last couple of weeks in our household between a few Halloween events, a couple of birthdays, and two trips. Now that we’ve settled back into our regular routine, I’m finally able to sit down and gather some thoughts for a new post.
One of the trips we went on last month was particularly special since it was a date trip for my husband and I to our happy place, Disneyland! Yes that’s right folks, we went on another Disney trip. But this one was special because it was the first time my husband and I had been alone at Disney (a.k.a. no kids, no friends, no family members, etc.) for the first time in 4.5 years. The decision to go on this trip wasn’t planned until about 3 weeks prior, and it was one of the best “last minute” decisions we’ve made in a long time. After going on two big trips with our kids in September, we were exhausted and realized we needed some quality one-on-one time.
The easy solution would’ve been to do our usual date night. But we decided we needed something bigger. It was time for a date trip.
But why Disneyland again?
While we do make an effort to spend time alone while the girls are at school or at afternoon at grandma’s, we realized that often those moments alone become more “administrative” than romantic. Administrative doesn’t sound like a word you would normally associate with a marriage, but when you have screaming kids around you on the daily, an hour or two alone seems like the perfect time to talk about your finances, problems with the kids, or responsibilities around the house. Instead of being on a date, our short dates away from the kids sometimes become more like “meetings”.
So when deciding to go somewhere for a quick date trip, we decided on Disneyland, again. Other than taking advantage of being annual passholders, we chose to go to Disney again because it was one of our favorite places to go pre-kids. If there’s one thing that keeps the romance alive in our marriage, it’s definitely acting like kids together. And what better place to do that than the happiest place on earth?
We knew that by going to Disneyland we would truly enjoy each other’s time. And we definitely did. We rode all the things, we ate all the things, and we took our time doing whatever we wanted to do. We even did things we’ve never done before! It also happened to be the weekend before my birthday so it was the perfect birthday treat.
We learned something BIG from this trip.
After being away from our girls for 2 nights, we realized that they really are our biggest stressors. We did not fight or bicker once during the trip. No nagging, no snarky comments, no bickering, NOTHING. Without the girls there, we were able to just be “us”.
Safe to say we left Disneyland feeling refreshed and more in love. Not that you ever really stop loving your spouse when the kids are around, but it’s hard to keep focus on your marriage when your kids are always your biggest concern.
Coming home from a date trip, I know our girls could feel the shift in our energy. And what I noticed is that when the kids have happy parents, they are happier little human-beings themselves. It was a win-win all around.
If you haven’t done so yet, I highly recommend going on date trips with your spouse. And if you already go on trips regularly with your significant other, I’d love to know where your favorite date places have been. To see more from our date trip, be sure to check out our vlog over at @LivNGwiththeNGs.
Zherr-Anne, the Fil-Am Mama 
I’m so glad you’re religiously going out on dates or trips without the girls. It’s really good for your relationship.
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