Last Friday, Mack's mother, aka "Nana" (etymologically kind of a cross between Grandma and nanny, which is fitting because of how much child care Ms. Daddy and I press-gang her into-- she loves it, though-- but I digress) took all three of our offspring to Virginia, to visit Mack's sister, who's a lawyer down there.

And so the last few days, while fraught with all the usual work tensions and so forth, have had kind of a Utopian feel.

The first night, we danced, sometimes on our coffee table, until three in the morning.

(And it wasn't like we had a party: we only had one other couple over, but we were in a highly festive mood.)

Since then it's been a non-stop succession of brunch, dim sum, dinners out, shopping, strolls in the sunshine, and so forth.

At first, all this leisure kind of created a little tension between Mack and Ms. Daddy. We tussled, a bit, and scrapped. Mack's no marital counsellor, but my theory is we weren't used to each other's leisure-rhythms, we were rusty in this department.

We're used to snapping into action first thing in the morning, dividing into two working units: you take the kids to this, I'll do that, you put the kids to bed, I'll make dinner, and so forth.

In a way you could say we are in harness so much, we weren't really used to one another's company.

So it's been a treat to get reacquainted with Ms. Daddy, as I first knew her: pre-kids. And I'm pretty sure she has enjoyed it, too.

Don't get us wrong. We've missed our boys, terribly, and it's going to be a treat to see their shining faces (they come back today).

But they've had a great time: my sister has like a kid-paradise down in Virginia. She has a hot tub, ATVs-- AND a "zip line" (those things where you hold onto a thing with wheels and zip down a rope). And three kids for my three kids to play with. So they're having a ball, I know.

And a week is about all I could take of being without them.

But it's been nice. Everyone should get a break like this, once in a while. A vacation from parenting. Recharge your batteries.

Doesn't that sound nice, my bloggies? "Boy," I bet my readers who are parents are thinking right now, "could I use a little of that."