Of all the things we learned when we took prenatal classes many years ago, very few things have stuck. The prenatal class instructor was a lovely mother of 4 named Kathy and one thing that she stressed which resonated with us was the importance of keeping our relationship healthy. She said that the best gift we could give our children was two parents who loved and respected each other. As all parents know, kids change the relationship; sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, but one thing starting a family highlights is just how important the bond between parents is for the strength of the whole family.

Because of Kathy’s sage advice we try to take time for ourselves when we can. We manage nights out, occasional weekends away and even a few rare vacations without the children. And we always come back refreshed, recharged and reconnected. It’s not surprising that everyone is happier when we get back, and not just because we bring the kids treats!

We’ve been together 20 years, which means we started dating as teenagers and in May we celebrated 13 years of marriage. Our relationship has obviously changed over the years; we are no longer angsty teenagers and we have grown up problems. We decided to combine a trip to see our family with a quick getaway for us; hooray for grandparents that babysit! On this trip we were able to channel those teenagers who fell in love and only had eyes for each other.

So where do you go when you have only a few days?

Las Vegas Baby!

Welcome to Las Vegas sign on the Las Vegas Strip

Photo credit: Las Vegas News Bureau

And what do you do?

We sat our butts at the pool, swam, people watched, and enjoyed listening to the hijinks of a group of young guys on a bachelor party trip. Canadians from the Sunshine Coast no less!

We drove around to some shops outside the strip including stops at the real life locations of some of our fave reality shows, Pawn Stars, Counting Cars, and American Restoration.

pawn shop

Counts Kustoms

We ate at some interesting places like Emeril’s. We ate at some cheap places like Salsa Cantina. We ate at some really good and really cheap places like In-N-Out Burger.

Salsa Cantina

We visited the Atomic Testing Museum because we’re a little dorky like that and were taken aback by what we learned there. Seeing a piece of an I-beam from the World Trade Center was a riveting and astounding experience. They also had a large chunk of the Berlin Wall on display. Being that close to pieces of history was humbling.

I beam from Twin Towers

Atomic Museum

We walked. A lot. 11 miles the first day (according to my Fit Bit tracker). We even took the time to go on a few runs together!

We got all dressed up to spend the nights enjoying amazing music, atmosphere and lots of dancing at clubs like Chateau in the Paris Las Vegas and Hakkasan at the MGM Grand.

Las Vegas Strip shot from the Trump Tower. 2/23/10

Photo credit: Las Vegas News Bureau

We took barely any photos on our trip because spent 4 days totally into each other, didn’t really talk about the kids, didn’t really talk about our real life worries, just spent the time focusing on each other and enjoying being together. The good juju from this trip still hasn’t worn off. It was totally awesome.

This trip might not be everyone’s cup of tea but it was perfect for us. How do you recharge?