Fun for the 4th & Staying True to YOU!

Not sure if you noticed, but I was off from writing last week… we were on vacation for the 4th. I have talked about our place in Lake Cumberland in the past and we spend a lot of weekends there and holidays if possible. Steve and I have known each other since I was 15 so I have been going there since I was a baby (!) and the 4th was always a big weekend for us. We would always have tons of friends come down and celebrate with food, drinks and fireworks!

We had 5 other couples join us this week and between us we had 12 kids! I wasn’t sure how it would all work out, but we had a BLAST! All the kids had SO much fun running around and playing and us adults had plenty of time to reminisce, chat, eat and drink :) We had one day of no rain so we were able to boat that day and the other days it rained off and on so we were able to sneak in some fires and marshmallow roasting and golf cart rides in between the showers. We have a pretty large screened in porch so we spent a lot of time out there just sitting around laughing and talking while the kids played.

We were actually short a couple of kids here, but how fun for all these kids to have the week to play together!

How cute are these 2?!

We stayed up WAY past my bedtime every night (like 2 & 3am!) so I am super tired, but it was SO worth it! We have all known each other since high school and some of us since grade school so we talked about old times and just had a blast! It got me thinking about how different I was pre-kids. I didn’t have a care in the world and I am a pretty adventurous girl. I like to laugh, drink and just be silly and a lot of that I had to simmer down when I had my kids…. not all the time, but you take on a lot more responsibility when you have kids and you have to be on your A game for the most part. They are looking up to you for how they should act and what they should be doing on a daily basis and so although I like to cuss like a trucker, that part of me I have to tuck inside until they are sound asleep in their beds :) I am sure you can relate and know that there are parts of us that we have to hold back while our kids are around and sometimes we can lose sight of those things that made us who we were before kids. It is easy to get caught up in the competitive mom game and become engulfed in the needs of our families and especially our kids. At the end of the day we don’t have time for our needs or wishes.

This week just reaffirmed to me that we have to take time for US, away from our kids, to spend with our friends and spouses/partners to just be us, pre-kids. We have to allow ourselves to drop an F bomb if we want, have one to many drinks and just be plain IRRESPONSIBLE every once in a while! We work so hard every day to be wives, mothers, friends, daughters, sisters, employees etc. etc. etc. that we can easily lose sight of what made us tick so long ago.

So my plea to you is to get a sitter, plan a night and do SOMETHING for yourself! Let yourself be silly and crazy and know that your kids and YOU will be better off for it! How do you unwind when away from your kids??!!!