Before Adler and Austen

Before Adler and Austen, there was Tom and me. That's where this story begins. Tom and I were friends first always going on skiing and camping trips together with our group of friends. Once we finally got together we traveled a lot together. This included going somewhere every New Year's (mostly because I think it's an overrated holiday and can't stand trying to catch a cab in the city when it's below zero)and every anniversary. Well, this month, Tom and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary and since we took last year off from an anniversary vacation, we decided it was time to get back to life before Austen and even Adler.

We dropped off Austen and Adler with the grandparents (they all participated in taking care of our brood)on Friday and enjoyed a nice dinner alone before catching our flight to Hilton Head early the next morning. (We toured Savannah and Charleston too.) It was nice to be able to eat out at restaurants with white table cloths and focus only on each other instead of the usual Chilis or pizza place and trying to eat as fast as you can before Austen decides he's ready to leave (or as is the case lately ordering in). It was great to sleep in and to be able to walk all over without trying to convince Austen he must stay in his stroller or hold your hand if he's walking. We did, however, talk a lot about Austen (and Adler) and it was weird to not have him with us, especially in Hilton Head where there were a ton of kids.

But, it was great to get away even if only for a short while. It allowed us to remember who we were before Austen and Adler. And, it made us realize that although we loved our life before, after about four nights, we were both ready to go home and be with Austen and Adler, and get back to our life now. We both agree that raising a child (a dog is easy - well, at least our dog is) is challenging, exhausting and sometimes just frustrating but it is an amazing experience and we wouldn't trade our life now for our life before.