Making Time

A couple of months ago I realized that I hadn’t been away (overnight) from my daughter yet. It had been a year of all of us being together. And it’s been great. But there comes a time when the parents need to get away. We were worn. The baby has been sick a lot her first year of life. Everything from acid reflux as a newborn to constant, non-stop ear infections and a couple of yeast infections. This lead to lots of sleepless nights for everyone.

I thought about how my husband and I could get away and when we could do it. Finally, I thought about leaving the kids at my parents for a night. They don’t live in our town so I had to plan it when we had a long weekend, and when they would be able to watch them for an entire 24-hour period. Fourth of July weekend was an option, I thought, but was months away at the time. I felt I needed something sooner, but no options presented themselves so I booked the Grand Grandparent Getaway. Now, I just need to wait about 3 months for this one day of bliss.

Well, it was worth the wait. I’m so glad that I went ahead and booked everything. Had I given up, the three months would have come and gone and no getaway would have been had. Instead, this is what I saw upon entering the hotel room:

Can you say Heaven?

Our room was right on the beach. Open those big sliding doors and the surf crashed right outside our window.

Our room had a little breakfast area that was almost too cute to use.

And, this little guy. He’s in the room waiting for us. At 9:00 p.m. everyone is to close their windows so the light doesn’t distract the baby turtles from crawling to the ocean. The La Playa hotel has a partnership with the Conservancy of Southwest Florida to help protect the turtles.

And, so it was. I just loved this place. It was perfect. Even though we were only gone 25 hours, it felt like longer. We were able to hold a conversation without any interruption. We stayed up late, knowing we could sleep in the next day. We had a great, adult dinner in a fancy restaurant. We walked the beach. It was just great to rejuvenate and spend time together remembering why we got together in the first place.

I didn’t want to leave, as evidenced by the photo below. The bed was calling my name again. I laid down, grabbing the down pillow and crisp white sheets and huddled up one more time as my husband snapped this photo.

He summed up our stay best on his outgoing Facebook post, “Good bye La Playa, we’ll miss you.”