by Vinny Knowles

Created on: February 12, 2011   Last Updated: April 12, 2011

We knew there was a chance it could happen when we made the decision to try in vitro fertilization. But hey, the reason we were doing this was to have children. Neither of us cared if we had our family all at once or one at a time. But after three years of four toddlers constantly on our heels, we needed a break. Valentine’s Day was just around the corner and my husband decided that this was the perfect opportunity for a romantic weekend for two.

It is never easy to arrange a get-a-way for a couple with small children. But for a couple with four three year olds, it is near to impossible. We could never have done it without their grandparents. Grandparents always welcome a visit with their grandchildren, right? Well almost right. This would take a combined effort.

Frankly, I was skeptical that we could pull it off. I had never left them for even an overnight trip. To be away for three nights seemed unreal. To be honest, it almost brought on a panic attack each time we discussed the plans. But I agreed with John that a break was needed.

John planned to take off work Friday and Monday so we could have a long weekend. Since the Grandparents had agreed that all four were too much for either to handle, we had decided that the girls would go Pampa and Mimi Clark’s house and the boys would go to Grampa and Mawmaw Dickson. The trouble was that they lived in separate directions-both three hours or more from our home.

My husband, the eternal optimist, had arranged everything. He would take the Van and I would take the car. We would each drive to our respective parents’ homes. Then in order to save time, he went online and found airline tickets for us to fly from our parents’ hometowns a short hop to the airport where we would meet up. Then we would fly together (just a hop, skip, and a jump- my husband assured me) to our college Alma Mata for the annual Valentine’s Day dance. We had received reports from old college friends about how these reunions were always such a blast, so we were excited about finally getting to attend. John had rented a Tux for the occasion and had insisted that I buy a new dress.

So early Friday morning, we got all the kids situated in the vehicles. We had their blankets snuggly wrapped around them in their car seats, their stuffed animals, and a cup of juice in a spill proof cup tucked securely beside them. We had a portable T.V. arranged in each vehicle to keep them occupied while we drove. With all the stuff we

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