Three babysitters. Five months of planning. A ten page long to-do list. Four days of child-free bliss in a foreign country. Remember the days when all you needed to get away was a passport and some vacation time? My hubs and I used to pride ourselves on perfecting the “last-minute” vacay, trying to prove that we were just too cool to actually plan our long weekends in advance. And maybe booking a flight to Vegas that was departing in two hours gave me a slight adrenaline rush. (Well, that and knowing I’d be screaming BLACKJACK! in three hours.)
Children Changed All That…
Now, we practically have to set up a tactical control center in order to have a child-free weekend. The Oscars have been put on with less planning (and it shows!) than our recent trip across the border. Okay, so maybe purchasing an earpiece and a mic to speak into while coordinating the school drop-off and picks ups was a bit too much. But I’d like to think that my to-do list would’ve brought even the biggest A-lister to their knees. I was determined to board my Mexicana flight with a margarita in hand and not a care in the world. (Well, except for the fact that we were flying Mexicana. But that’s a whole other blog.) But things didn’t go exactly according to plan. But, no worries, we were still able to have quite the fiesta(and more importantly, a siesta) in the lovely city of Cabo San Jose. And because I’m such a giver, I’d thought that I would give y’all some tips for the next time you’re stupid brave enough to have the balls to actually try to have some time to yourself:
1.Schedule As Many Babysitters As Possible
Because nothing says “I Love You” to your kids more than passing them off to THREE different caregivers during a four-day period.
2. Make Sure You Miss At Least ONE Childhood Milestone
It’s fine. I didn’t want to see that first tooth come out anyway-too much blood and crying for me. And that lame movie starring The Rock totally ruined the whole Tooth Fairy thing for me anyway.
3. Book A Resort with Crappy Cell Reception
Because nothing makes you want to party down more than when you can’t figure out whether your children actually made it to school. And squeezing yourself in between the TV console and sliding glass door in order to get one bar of cell reception after eating a pound of chips and guacamole is just unflattering. Trust me.
4. Spend More on The Trip Than Babysitters
Thankfully, our resort was serving up fourteen dollar margaritas or this might not have happened. Whew! That was a close one. A big shout out to Cabo Azul’s swim-up pool bar for helping us out!
5. Make Sure When You Have Reception, Your Kids Don’t Want to Talk to You
Because it really warms your heart when your five year-old screams “HI! BYE!” into the phone after you’ve just spent ten minutes trying to figure how the hell to dial 011 before your home phone number. (Or was that 001? Maybe that’s why it took 10 minutes. So confusing!)
There You Have It!
A big thank you to all the wonderful friends who watched our little rugrats so we could eat a meal that lasted longer than thirty minutes and actually digest our food. Thanks to you, they didn’t miss us at all! xoxoxo
About the Drama Mama
Liz Fenton, along with her best friend of 20 years Lisa Steinke, co-wrote the Chick Lit novel “I’ll Have Who She’s Having” and created the popular Chick Lit is Not Dead blog. She lives in California with her husband and two kids.
