This year my husband and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary (I posted a bit about it here). Since we had honeymooned in Disneyland (of course!), we decided to celebrate by reliving the memories and spending a day in Disneyland – without kids. No strollers, no diaper bags, no nap schedules.
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| We got our anniversary buttons – and we’re ready to go! |
Sounds great right? It did at first to me, but I’ve got to admit, I started to feel pretty guilty about not taking the kids. I went back and forth – I mean, Disneyland is made for kids (or at least families), right? How could I deprive them of the pleasure?! But in the end, we made the decision to leave them behind, and for the first time in ten years (and probably not again for another ten, at least) visit the Happiest Place on Earth just us two. It turned out to be a magical, fun, memorable, relaxed, and all-around amazing day.
Some of the things that rocked-our-socks about spending a day in Disneyland without the kids were…
- Riding together – We are so used to having to make all these decisions about who will ride first, who will stay with the little ones, where will we meet up when it’s over… just getting to jump in line for our favorite e-tickets and wait together was a treat.
- Spontaneity – With kids, especially small ones – there is much planning or at least conscious effort put into the day – making sure kids are fed (something they will eat) before they get too hungry, riding the rides they like, not waiting in lines that are too long for the sake of their patience, giving them breaks and naps to avoid the crankies. What a feeling of freedom, to just do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted! We had forgotten what it felt like!
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| We get to ride together, since nobody has to stay behind with the kids! |
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| Trying new treats – this is the pork shank… have mercy. |
- Foodies for a day – Without extra mouths to feed, we could afford to go a little crazy and eat whatever we wanted, and I do mean whatever. I’ll have to save it for another post – but we pretty much ate our way through the whole park – trying everything new we could get our hands on and making sure we indulged in our old favorites. Seriously fun.
- No baggage – It just added to our feeling of freedom to be roaming around hands-free! Not lugging backpacks full of snacks, diapers, jackets etc. and having to push a stroller through the crowds and worry about parking it. It lent a whole feeling of ease to the day.
- Special memories – Not only were we feeling and acting like newlyweds, holding hands, and reminiscing about all of the special memories from our our honeymoon trip – we were making new, unique, special memories throughout the day (and taking loads of Instagrams of them!).
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| Seeing “Mickey & the Magical Map” for the first time – complete with the most giant and beautiful cotton candy I’ve ever seen! |
It truly was a one-of-a-kind trip for us, if it does happen again, it won’t be for a loooong time. We remarked all day long, how lucky we were to get the opportunity to the spend the day just us, and how easy everything felt, and how different… And this is where we get back around to talking about the kids – and, oh yah, how much we missed them.
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| Paying our respects. |
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| Our wedding gift to each other 10 years ago – we visit it every time we go. It’s too bad this program is gone. |
While we were loving our experience without the babes, we were simultaneously wishing they were there. We were constantly bringing them up – how much Liam would love this, and Carolina would get a kick out of that. Spending the day without them made us that much more excited for the next time we could come with them. Although we only had one day in Disneyland to celebrate – we decided it was plenty – tons of fun was accomplished and we knew we absolutely wouldn’t want to spend more than one day there without the kids. We missed that extra magic that comes with taking a child to Disneyland, watching their eyes widen, their smiles, their innocent belief in all of the magic.
A day without the babes, once in a while, can be a very special thing – but any day with them is about as special as it can get!
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| We had to say “goodbye” to the park – knowing we’ll be back with the whole family makes it bearable. |
Read more from Jessica on her blog, Idahome. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, or on Instagram.
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We always do the same thing, Jessica. We plan a day without the kids and then end up talking about them the whole time! That being said, there’s no other place better to have a date-day than Disneyland!
Our 10 year was this year too and I originally planned on a trip out to relive our honeymoon too but our big fall trip with the family took priority. I love that you actually managed to go sans kids. Maybe we can do an 11 year trip. 🙂