Alone Time

I recently had some alone time.  With June, that is.  When each of our kids turn 5, they get a special hotel night with mom or dad.  This time, it is June's turn.  Here's what we did:

• Biked to her favorite dinner spot - Larkburger.  She giggled the whole time. 

• Rode across a full Boulder Creek to a no-waste hotel with a great pool.

• Checked in and organized our stuff.  Big.

• Swam.  A lot.

• Got hot chocolate from the bar and played with stickers.  (The whole impetus here was to repeat the lore from Clara's hotel night.  It was a strange combination: rock band, sticky beer floors, and little smiling June, ordering up.)
• Painted toenails, played the matching game in bed, and read fairy tales.
• Woke the next morning and headed straight for the pool.
• Ate breakfast poolside and then biked home.

It's something special to have one-on-one time.  There was no competition, no fighting, no tears, no waiting for attention, no taking turns.  June glowed. (Can you tell?)

It feels right, here and there, to give our kids a time when they can shine, all on their own, and to let secret parts of them come out from the shadows.