Is everyone else feeling burnt out right now? I mean, it comes in waves doesn’t it? For a week or two, I’ll feel like I’m juggling everything fine. And then, with no warning at all, everything will collapse. Jack will throw an attitude that would make a teenager proud at his poor tutor. I’ll be ready to take someone’s head off for a perceived insult. Travis will turn into Grumpy McSleepypants.
BURNT OUT.
I’ve been feeling the burnout creeping up over the last couple weeks and decided that we all needed to get out of town. Literally. We needed to shake up our lives for just a weekend, but in a careful, COVID-specific kinda way.
I booked us a night at a hotel we like in Virginia. We’ve stayed at SpringHill Suites Ashburn Dulles North a few times before and appreciate that it is convenient, clean and the prices are very reasonable. The hotel has their COVID-safe practices right on their website with extra cleaning and suspended maid service during your stay. You must wear masks in all the common areas and there are plenty of restaurants nearby with take-out options and extra spread-out seating if you go indoors.
Our plan was to pack our most comfortable pajamas, compete with robes. We would get all snuggled up in a hotel room and watch television, play video games and just spend some time together as a family. Without real-world interruptions, chores, or the monotony of our own house.
The cherry on the top of the sundae was that the Alamo Drafthouse theater has a drive-in movie theater right across the street! We’ve never actually gone to a drive-in theater before, so we were super excited to try it out. We loaded up on snacks from the CVS and drove on over to watch the new Tom & Jerry movie. (Mini Review: the movie was… not great. However, Jack said he loved it!)
We also took some time to check out a couple car dealerships (I’m in the early shopping stages for a new SUV), got a burger at ROOTS 657 which has AMAZING burgers and fries, and even stopped off for homemade donuts from The Fractured Prune.
While the weekend certainly wasn’t perfect at all – there was rain on Sunday and grumpy attitudes when the movie was dragging on and on – but it was a nice change of atmosphere.
What a good idea! Looks like fun.
YES! The kids had a 4-day weekend in February, so my husband and I also took off and we rented a secluded little cabin in Gatlinburg. We didn’t do anything exciting, but being together without a to-do list, somewhere other than our house where the kids and I have been schooling and working for the past year was so special and relaxing!