Brian and I talked about a lot of things the other night and we worked out a plan that allows us to resume doing a lot of the activities we used to enjoy. Before we went crazy and, you know, got married.
We've decided that he'll use vacation time from work for the-whole-family vacations, but he will travel on weekends a few times a year and I'll get to do the same. The person who stays home will watch the kids alone for the weekend. I've heard it can be done.
This means that each month, one of us gets a weekend off to travel (wheee!) Brian will probably gather up those boys of his and head out for a dirt-n-grime-filled weekend of high-intensity creek paddling. I used to go with them on these trips, and as much as I adore camping, sleeping in snowbanks in sub-zero Adirondack temperatures is rarely fun. Especially when you get up in the morning and Joe Ryan has made coffee, using his well-worn sock as a filter.
I've tried skydiving, but it's not my thing. It's expensive and to be good at it, you have to do it a regular basis. Your reflexes have to be quick. If you have a problem, you have to solve it in the blink of an eye. I'd be terrible at it, and it's not like you get a whole lot of time to practice skydiving problems.
I love kayaking. I do not enjoy class V rapids. Brian loves kayaking. He ONLY enjoys class V (or more turbulent) rapids. I can (if I have to) deal with being inverted, playing rock-dodgeball with my noggin, because I can't complete an Eskimo roll when I'm panicked, but having that little neoprene kayak skirt suction-cupping my ass into a plastic water rocket feels a little too COFFIN-LIKE to me. I'll stick with softer waters, thankyouverymuch.
We both enjoy climbing, so as the kids get older, this will be one of our family activities. They will do it and they will love it.
We both really enjoy in-line skating too, so it only makes sense that we will force our children to enjoy it as well. We've already got Elizabeth excited about snowboarding this winter, so there's another activity we can teach (or pay, if necessary) her to love.
Brian has absolutely NO interest in the SCA, historical reenacting of any era, Pennsic or any of that sort of thing, so I'm on my own. "So, you want me to dress up in wool clothes and stop trying to defy gravity? FOR A WHOLE WEEKEND?" It's something I've wanted to do for years, but with two kiddos, trying to be a work-at-home mom and having a house to maintain has not left me with much time to pursue personal interests.
We've also decided that we each need to have a weekly personal activity. We do it for the kids, so we should each have our own self-improvement activites too. I'm either going to take up yoga or kickboxing. Or something. We live in a pretty small town, so if I can't find anyone to teach me kickboxing, I can always bartend on Elk's Night at the Lodge.
Kidding.
We don't even have a Lodge. Or an Elk's Club.
We're also hitting the climbing gym (together) at 3pm each week on a day when the kids are at the babysitter's house. We pick them up on our way home. Brian is going to start back up with jujutsu again.
And there you have it. A plan. A real, honest to goodness plan. The funny thing is - a few years back I used to (kindly) pick on my friend Tim, who heads home to Vermont at the holidays, where he, his parents and siblings all do crazy, healthy family activities, like run 60-mile marathons and climb mountains the day after Thanksgiving. My family gets together and we sit around competing to see who can stuff the most mints in their mouth at once. Me. Kickboxing. Tim's chin is gonna hit the floor when he reads this.
And when my sisters tell you that I was the only one trying to see how many mints I could fit in my mouth, THEY ARE LYING.
With that, I'm off like a pair of Joe Ryan's dirty socks.