Ever Do One of These Cheap, Easy, Amazingly Therapeutic Mini Va-Ca’s?

Oh man, I just found a seriously big sanity saver.  If you're a parent, maybe you've already been doing this.  Either way, do it.

I seriously needed a break from my three girls (ages 8, 8, and six.  Yep, twins!)  They are amazing - I actually learn from them - they make me want to continue being my absolute best - but they're kids.  They're loud, they're busy, they leave their pants turned inside out in the laundry with the underwear still in them - and I hit a wall this week where I just had to get the hell away.

Thank God for our wonderful neighbor lady for volunteering to take her "hotel" (free "Air bnb?") getaway at our house for a night and having a fun Friday night with our girls.  She was as excited to get away from her house as we were!

We thought of doing another escapade in downtown Denver, maybe hitting an EDM bar, or a comedy show.  Then, it hit me:  Why do the drive, spend the money, or exert all that energy?  Heck, we booked a king room at the Quality Inn on Mason, right off the Max Line, for about $75, which is cheap nowadays!  So simple.  Such an escape.

What did we do?  Not a lot.  We walked to the Troutman station for the Max, hopped on for a few minutes down to Prospect, and took a short walk over to Black Bottle Brewery.  I tried the smoky, boozy, tasty "Roll Your Window Down, Dad" beer with a $10 appetizer of mussels & garlic bread.  Both were great value, by the way, as they give you plenty!  Then we went next door to Los Tarascos for the veggie burritos, which are like $5-something apiece and huge.  That's like half the price of most.  We got them to go, hit up a liquor store, dashed back to the room, and finished the night off with some margaritas in the hot tub, followed by some stupid, funny, brainless, enjoyable TV (yes, Golden Girls.)  And now, I think I might be ready to go be a dad again!

Side note:  Happy 11th anniversary of meeting my wife, Kim Gundy!  We met when she used to call me at 101-9 KING-FM in Cheyenne, a sister station of ours, to record the weekly ad for the former Ikon Events Center.  I loved the life in her voice so much that I asked her out.  We made it a casual double date, just in case we didn't like the way each other looks.  Are you freaking kidding me?

Update:  Back home now, and the house looks like a nicer place than it did yesterday.  And it's warm outside, so the girls are playing hard out back, so chances are they'll be much easier to tolerate!  *siiiiiiiiiigh*