27 kid-free hours

On Friday morning, I took the kids up to my parents house for a sleepover. I hung around for lunch and left them at about 2 p.m.

And didn't have to pick them up until 5 p.m. the next day.

That was 27 whole hours without kids. And let me tell you, it was pure bliss.

The reason for this blissful 27 hours was that Ryan and I were going to a concert on Friday night with friends for a friend's birthday and we knew it would be a late night. (And it was. It was 2 a.m. by the time we rolled in -- having had just one, two...or maybe it was six drinks.) So rather than hiring a sitter, we asked my parents if they were interested in taking the kids.

They jumped at the idea -- and so did we.

Because in the three and a half years since Austin was born, we've had several nights out -- whether it be a date night (which we don't do nearly often enough) or a concert or even a meeting at the bank -- without the kids. Nights out are great and, as a parent, are very-much needed to maintain some sense of sanity.

But by sending the kids for a sleepover instead of getting a sitter, not only didn't we have a curfew on Friday night but we also didn't have a wake-up call on Saturday morning.

So, for only the second time since Austin was born, we woke up in our own bed on our own accord. So, yes, we slept until 10:30 a.m. And the only reason I got out of bed at that time and didn't roll over and go back to sleep was because I really wanted McDonald's breakfast -- and it ends at 11 a.m.

This isn't the first time the kids have gone for sleepovers -- but with the exception of that one other time three years ago, the sleepovers have always been because we wanted to go out of town. And yes, it's nice to go somewhere fun and sleep in a hotel -- and we've been on a few really nice mini-vacations since the kids were born --but when peace and quiet don't normally reside in your home, there's something really awesome about waking up in your own bed to a quiet house. And then taking full advantage of the peace and quiet by enjoying a cup of coffee while reading the paper and watching TV.

Which is exactly what we did when I got home with our greasy McDonald's breakfast.

After a couple of hours of that, we figured that we should use the kid-free zone to our full advantage and, as much as lounging around all day is nice, we got some stuff done around the house without interuption. We moved some furniture, cleared out some clutter and then, just because we could, we lounged around and watched some more TV before it was time to pick up the kids and return the house to its normal state.

I love the normal state of this house and I wouldn't change it for the world. But stay-cation sleepovers are definitely going to be booked into the calendar again from time to time.