Friends of ours are on their way to Las Vegas in a few weeks. Knowing that we had been there a few years ago, they asked us about must-see shows on the Las Vegas Strip. Shows? Events? We were at a loss. You see, as busy parents our trip to Vegas wasn’t about seeing shows. Our couples-time away from the kids was spent just being a couple and rediscovering who we were as Tenille and Kirk as opposed to Mom and Dad.
In fact, I’d have to say that the best date we ever went on was a day-long excursion that took us around the world.
We had lunch under the Eiffel Tower at a little French restaurant (where I had the best French onion soup ever!) followed by a walk experiencing sights and sounds beyond the sippy cups and lullabies we’d grown accustomed to.
We visited New York City where we screamed at the top of our lungs on an amazing roller coaster ride that filled me with adrenaline and reminded me that risk makes my heart race with glee.
We ended the afternoon with a romantic gondola ride through Venice with a singing gondolier who hinted to us that kissing under a bridge could bring good luck. And so we did. Married for years and now parents, we reconnected by ushering in romance and good luck on a little gondola in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip.
Was it silly? No doubt. It was also a day filled with adventure, no watches to check and nowhere to be, spent with the man I fell in love with who was now my parenting partner and protector. I can remember the smallest details of that day even years later.
It surely wasn’t our last couple’s outing (though they are quite rare these days!) but it’s one that I remember fondly because we were truly carefree and able to be silly, young, and in love again.
What’s the right vehicle for your active lifestyle? It has to be large enough to handle your stuff, yet compact enough for easy maneuverability and excellent fuel efficiency – and with safety that gives you real peace of mind. The right fit: the 2013 Equinox http://www.gm.ca/gm/english/vehicles/chevrolet/equinox/overview
Aww, what a sweet post! 🙂 Makes me want a date day with my husband! And also to visit Vegas… lol
Date DAYS are so much better than nights….as parents we’re too tired at night. 😛
Lovely photo of you and your hubby!
Thank you! That’s a scanned image of one of those cheesy photos you get at the end in a cardboard frame for lots of cash. But we had to have it, it’s a memory worth keeping!
Date nights are important for those wanting a lasting relationship with their spouse and to demonstrate healthy relationships to their children.
What a sweet post! It’s really important to spend time with your partner and refocus on yourselves.
I’ve been with my husband for 17 years & married 13 years. It’s very important to keep the relationship fresh! Plan dates & outings once a week. Never stop dating!
I have been with my hubby now for 13 years and I think date nights/days are very important to prevent the relationship from being “too routine”. Date nights/day help to keep that spark alive!
Always try to say a word or two or three of gratitude and/ or appreciation to your spouse every day. This keeps the good things in the forefront of our consciousness, instead of the negatives. 🙂
Even with no little kids around every day, it is still important to have special, go out and have fun times with your spouse. We like going for a drive along the lakeshore and stopping for a meal somewhere along the way.
It’s always nice to have alone time to spend with your partner and refocus on your relationship 🙂
Always nice to spend time relaxing and cuddling watching a movie in pj’s.
You two look so happy! What a great time you had to spend together! My husband and I have been married for over 20 yrs now and we make a point of spending time together every week. Thanks for shsaring!
So great! I agree date nights are super important. We try to have one a month. It ends up being more like every 2-3 months though
Man, I don’t even remember the last time I had a proper date night with the hubby… that sounds so nice. My mum is taking our sun one night over the Easter long weekend, so we’ll have to fit something in there. Even just dinner and a movie would be great!
life can get crazy…its so important to make time for eachother to keep the relationship strong….
I enjoy going to a movie in the afternoon and that for supper.
wow, what an awesome day spent with each other. Would love that experience.
even a marriage without children need date nights. Unfortunately where we live there is really no where to go without travelling for about 90 minutes so we have a couple of date nights in with a bottle of wine and conversation and or DVD’s
My fiancé and I are going in a date this weekend, the first one since we had our son 4 years ago. It’s much needed. We finally have a babysitter for once. I can’t wait.
It’s been a while since our last date night / day…we are long overdue!
My husband travels a lot for work so we don’t get many chances for date nights but we really appreciate the “adult time” when we have it.
Never have either 🙁 we have a hard time getting the grandparents to take him for us to have time alone 🙁 Part of being a parent I guess
however simple, date nights, are great!
Date nights are a perfect way to reconnect!
Date Nights (and date days) are important to nourish relationships. It’s so easy to get caught up in things that need to be done and so many responsibilities that you forget why you love to be together. My husband and I try to have time away from home (and all those things that need to be done) just to spend time together doing something as ordinary as going for a walk with no specific goal.
My husband’s son visits with his mom on the weekends for two weekends in a row usually, then he’s with us. So we do have the opportunity for date nights, but often we just spend them at home relaxing and enjoying each others’ company 🙂
Date nights/days are important for a healthy relationship. I think our relationship would suffer greatly if we didn’t have time to ourselves. You spend so much time focusing on work, and kids, and together time sometimes gets forgotten. I’m grateful that we have the weekend to ourselves now and then.
Our 20th anniversary will be this December and, I must admit, that date nights have never really been a priority for us. I’m not sure why, they probably should have, but we do not have family handy to watch our children so we have just somehow had date night at home or out together with our boys LOL Date nights sound wonderful though 😀
Such a nice memory for both of you and such a fun idea. My parents have been married for 55 years and they still go out on dates and go dancing and for dinner. I think part of why they are so happy is they have always taken time for just the two of them. I encourage my children to take a break and go out on dates by offering to babysit so they can go out without the added expense of a babysitter. I love spending time with my grandchildren and look forward to my kids date nights too.
new house so our date nights consist of watching tv in bed and eating popcorn.
We wish we did date nights more often and started earlier. We didn’t start going on weekly dates until our oldest was 3 years old. It’s so important to connect with your spouse and NOT having to talk about the kids all the time.
We don’t do many date nights as there isn’t much to do in my town, but we do have date days where we go out of out town for the day try a different restaurant and go sight seeing. Nothing special, but we like it and it gives us a break from the kids and we have fun.
I think it is a must to have date nights/days.
I never considered travelling to Vegas because we don’t gamble, but time after time my friends come back and tell me about the sights, great shows, shopping, and more. Definately on my list of places to go!
My husband and I go on Date Nights as often as possible, and we think it’s super important. Usually our best date nights is if we are away on a short getaway 🙂
We don’t have the opportunity for date nights.. but we make sure we do date days 🙂
I’m not married, but I think it’s important for married couples to still have date nights and spend some quality, fun time together 🙂
I’m sure it would be so different now than it used to be, if even we had a chance…
I’d love to take my husband to Vegas. Probably going to be a few years yet though, with a 3 year old and 7 month old. I guess we’ll make do with a date day!
Because it’s definitely important to keep the romance alive!
Once the kids are older it’s much easier to sneak time away. I’ve never been to Vegas, need to make that a destination one day.
Sweet.
It’s super important to reconnect as often as possible with your mate. It helps to keep you a strong team and that benefits the whole family.
Wow, that sounds lovely. I love date ngiths with my husband. They’re so rare though.
Agreed! With a toddler and a four-month-old at home, we haven’t had a real date night in ages! So important for keeping that connection strong. Thanks for the reminder 🙂
Soumds like you guys had fun. I’d love to send my parents on a special vacation like that.
That looks like an amazing date!! My husband and I haven’t gone on one in ages. I just had a new baby awhile ago and I didn’t like leaving him. Now we just moved a month ago and don’t really have anybody to watch the kids so at the moment date nights… or days… are non existent. We do watch movies together after the boys go to bed or play video games. Sigh we’re boring lol
my marriage would not be successful if not for the date days and date nights!
Awww 🙂 What a sweet photo!
I absolutely LOVE Las Vegas! I’ve been twice now and even though I don’t gamble, I had a blast! As you mentioned, there is SO much to see and do there! I very much want to go back one day
When hubs was in between projects at work we spent a lot of days together. Lunches and walks. It was fun!
Date-nights are important because they are time carved out for just the two of you.
We regularly have date nights. Our lives are so hectic, and we need the down time to catch up on our own lives.
Its a lovely treat when you can make it happen
Absolutely essential. You need to keep the fun and romance going on, even after years of being together. You can’t allow things to simply be taken for granted.
After being married for 25 years and together for 32 years to me there are 2 important things, never go to bed mad and do things with each other on a date that each one of you loves to do, like golf, hockey games, the beach for the day, dinner etc. Keeps your marriage fresh and connected.
We are happily married with three children and I wouldn’t change one day or one date with my husband.We have had nothing but fun together.The time flies by too fast though when you are in love and have this much fun together.
I love that you spent your time like this in Vegas. It’s exactly what we would do. It’s so important to have a date day apart from the kids. I truly think they get sick of you too and need time apart from you to really appreciate mom and dad. Everyone gets a little recharge away and comes back happier.
it is important to reconnect, so I think YES they are important
I am so jealous! 😉 Just teasing, I am not really jealous of your experience but sad that my husband and I have had very little time together lately. There have been so many things (bad things) happening lately that we simply have not had the time for each other. We still have one son at home and are also taking care of an aging parent (his father). Since we began living with him, there has been no ‘us’ time at all. I am hoping that perhaps someone will step in and help us out for a weekend so we can get away for a couple of days together without all the drama. Couples need that!
Awww, this was great. My hubby and I have a 2.5 year old and a 6 month old so needless to say we don’t get very much alone time. Hopefully we can get away for a date night sometime soon!
Getting away for a day ,two just in two is awesome and also important if you want to keep a healthy relationship.
My husband and I like to spend time together, even if it is just to go out for coffee.
Looks like you had a very good time.
Date Night = Sanity.
Love the sound of that date!! When my hubby and I went to Vegas we went for my best friend’s wedding and my daughter (one and a half at the time) was the flower girl so it wasn’t exactly a good get away. We went to Mexico last year, just the two of us and it was such a good reconnecting time! We also try to go on a dinner and something fun date once every month or two as well. We like day dates best but they don’t happen as often as we’d like.
That sounds nice. would like to do that some day.
As much as I love breastfeeding, I can’t wait until I’m done so we can have a late date night and leave the little one at the grandparents without having to pump!
I have been married 18 years, and date nights are essential. Happy parents are the start to happy kids.
It’s important to keep the spark going even if its a simple thing like getting an ice cream and going for a walk on the boardwalk.
Date nights or mornings or afternoons or whenever
you can fit them in are so important. They help remind
you why you chose to share your life with this person,
they take away the stresses of life and usually make you
feel young again and see why you fell in love with the
person of your dreams.
Date nights are vital here. We are a busy family with 6 kids so adult quiet time is a must for both of us
It nice to have adult time just the 2 of us out for dinner or movie night it’s very important
We have standing dates and special dates.
Date nights so few and far between lately with our busy lifestyles. Not being able to to enjoy quality time together definitely makes us appreciate the moments we do have and committed to not waste them.
That’s a super cute picture!
Its a break from everything so we can spend quality time together while the kids enjoy a sleepover at their Grandparents
Date nights are essential for a couple because before you know it your relationship will be only about the kids, jobs, the house, parents..etc. etc. It is so important to have one evening when it’s just about the two of you, after all that’s all that matter when you first met each other right!!
couples time is definetly something i want but rarely get. when we do it’s certainly not for a vacation or even 24hrs. it’s maybe an hour or two. maybe with my sister having a baby this year she’ll be looking to swap nights so we can both get couples time.
Def need time alone, without kids, to have adult conversations & just to connect with each other.
All couples need time together and it looks like you two know how to have a good time.
After years of not going out alone together we have very recently started going out for short outings alone. It’s so much fun and it will be something we try and do at least monthly. I think it’s really important to have that time together.