UPDATE: For those of you who might be interested in the song I mention below, it is to be found on At the Bottom of the Sea. I was chagrined to discover that the title is actually The Coffee Song. But I am to be forgiven, as the title I list below is the chorus. Ralph makes a wonderful travel companion when you’re going places with kids. We own most of his albums and never get tired of them, even after hours on the road. See his website for more information.
There is a song by Ralph Covert (of Ralph’s World, a perennial favorite in the MOAT household) called M-O-M-M-Y needs C-O-F-F-E-E. This song begins with the lyric: “I love my kid. I love my kid….Gosh I love my kid” before going on to extol the mixed virtues of caffeine and alcohol as Mommy’s little helpers.
I’d like to borrow from Ralph and begin this post “Gosh I love my kids.” Indeed I do! And I love traveling with them. I’m really looking forward to the excitement of getting up early on Monday to drive to the airport, the plane ride, and all the fun things we’ll do in Arizona (including most probably the Heard Museum). But you know what else I’m looking forward to?
This:
Which should approximate the view at sunrise that I’ll have from my hotel room on Thursday and Friday of next week. Not that I’ll be awake to greet the sunrise, oh no. For you see, I will be staying at the Copperwynd Resort with Matt. The children? They’ll be at Grandma and Grandpa’s, playing Wii on the ginormous-screen TV, riding around in the golf cart, eating countless numbers of popsicles, and having a grand time.
So here’s what’s on my ambitious agenda: Drinking margaritas. Sleeping past 7. A massage. A nap. Followed by a snooze. And maybe, at some point, I’ll be roused to get in that rental car and go into Scottsdale where I can walk into whatever store or art gallery I want without worrying about breakage or dirty hands. I might even get real wild and crazy and have dinner after dark at my favorite Scottsdale joint Cowboy Ciao.
I don’t have a super-deep philosophical point to make about this except to say that it’s important for all us traveling parents to remember the following: It’s OK to take a little holiday without the kids. Really. And if you’re not convinced, I’ll write a post while I’m having my toenails painted by the pool. Oh, wait, no I won’t. You’ll just have to take my word for it.
[And since this post is ostensibly about travel planning I'll share that I found a great deal on this resort as part of Hotels.com Tuesday sale, which I understand they will be running every Tuesday for hotels in many cities. The resort is ranked well on TripAdvisor and it looks dreamy. Under serious consideration was the quirky, family-run Smoke Tree Resort - also highly ranked on TripAdvisor - which only lost out because I think Copperwynd has more gorgeous views.]
Photo courtesy of bank_daddy. And to be replaced by one of my own next week!
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I’m so jealous of your trip! And now I’ll have to go find that song. My kind of parenting. I don’t have time for moms who aren’t hooked on caffeine and secretly (or not so secretly?) crave their glass of red wine before 5 p.m. lol
Still trying to figure out how to spend my winnings! Woohoo! Enjoy your trip!