I am preparing to see my kids for the first time in two weeks. They have been hanging with their grandparents and enjoying every minute of it. Why you ask? Let’s see if I can list just a few reasons. First of all they love their grandparents very much. But also from what I can gather life for them has been one big field trip; they have had soda which is pretty much 
forbidden at home; I’m not sure they have eaten much of anything green; they have stayed up until the wee hours of the morning playing video games and watching Disney Jr.; they abandoned the outfits I matched and folded neatly and wore whatever they wanted; and oh yea they received everything they asked for.
So to sum it up they have had a blast and will probably need to be deprogrammed when they get home.
So what did I do while they were away? I spent the first day figuring out what I was going to do while they were gone. I quickly realized my life is centered around my kids and began to miss them sorely.
After about two days I realized I have a husband with whom I rarely get to spend quiet time. So we decided to make the most of our childless home. We went to the movies in the middle of the day and found out there is a $5 matinee; made pizzas without telling kids not to eat all the cheese out of the bag; dined at a nice restaurant without having to pack up our food and send one parent out early with the kids while the other paid; stood in a line for 45 minutes for free food from a new restaurant in town; read books and magazines that had become decorations on my nightstand; and started an exercise regiment that was cancelled out by all the eating we did.
For a mom who took seven years to send her kids to spend the holidays with the grandparents and who left an 11-page “manifesto” with instructions on how to care for them when anyone watched them as infants, I think I did pretty good and have come a long way.
When I think about the fact my son has not finished his summer packet and my kids have not turned in their summer reading log to the library I get a bit panicked. But I know that over the last two weeks they have made memories to last a lifetime. And sometimes it is okay to just abandon work end enjoy life. Hey they work hard all during the school year so why not let them play hard?
They had so much fun they are already asking to stay longer next summer. Now we will have to think about that.