A night off
One thing any parent will tell you, is that their responsibilities as a parent are relentless and never-ending. Any time you can take away from the kids is usually a blessing, if nothing else, to just decompress for a bit.
With me heading out to San Francisco for a week and a half on Friday night, Bonnie's especially feeling the crunch -- she always gets trapped in the house with the kids when I go on business trips, because trying to coordinate anything with three young children is a herculean effort. So she takes advantage of any opportunity she can to get away from them for a bit beforehand.
Every winter my father in law gets a hotel room at a local place with a pool, just for an overnight, and takes his grandkids with him. My mother has an in at a local place so she got involved this year too, and all three of our kids spent the night at the hotel last night. It's been great.
If we were younger and more energetic this might have been an excuse for a night of romance and exhausting debauchery, but Bonnie and I took it easy instead. We went out for dinner at a nice Italian place nearby, then watched DVDs and went to sleep before 11. We woke up a bit late, on our own this time, rather than to the sound of whining or crying. Right now we're just having coffee and enjoying the silence that is all too rare in our house. It's been a pleasant, relaxing change of pace. Hopefully it'll be what we both need to get through the next few days of chaos.