Between the dog owners in my neighbourhood, if you see someone just walking around by themselves, sans canine companion, it's known as a "dogless dog walk."

Some other dog owner will see me walking by myself to mail a letter, say, and say: "Oh, hey, out for a dogless dog-walk?"

"That's right, dude. You too?"

"Yeah."

And now, by the same token, you could say Ms. Daddy and I are embarking on an experiment in kidless parenting.

Mack's mommy, the kids' "nana" (you still with me?) aka grandma, is taking all three of my kids to Virginia for a week, to visit Mack's sister, who lives there and works as a lawyer and has three kids of her own.

So Ms. Daddy and I will be all alone, left to our own devices, for an entire week.

It's going to be weird. In 12 years, we have never been without the kids for this long.

I have literally no idea what we are going to do with ourselves. Could be an early hint of what it's going to be like when we're "empty nesters."

Or maybe it'll be like a return to our footloose and fancy-free twenties, when Ms. Daddy and I lived in a loft above a bar called The Devil's Martini, which we called our "rec room," because we went down there so often to play pool, and to get cheap drinks and food at "happy hour."

Who knows? What should we do, my bloggies? Go see existentialist French art films? Read "War And Peace"? Stay up late and sleep in? Go to happy hours? Jump off the speakers at concerts?

I have no idea how it's going to work out. I'll keep you posted, my bloggies. Friday is Day 1.

Between now and then I am open to all suggestions. Make a suggestion, my bloggies, and-- within reason, provided it does not cause undue harm to myself or others-- I'll do it, and let you know how it goes.

Let the Kidless Parenting Challenge begin!