when Irish eyes are smiling they're usually up to something

Have you noticed the countdown going on in the sidebar on the right?

Today it says 18 days... yikes!

Lest you think we are filthy rich completely insane, we are not taking a family vacation to Ireland.

It's better than that.

My beloved and I are venturing overseas alone.

What?  How?  Why?  Or most importantly, who will be with the boy brood?

Well, hubby is finally finishing his MBA after a long two years and a lot of hard work and dedication on his part (and a lot of cheerleading and proofreading on my part).  One of the requirements of his program is to go on one of the international business trips offered by the college.

And they graciously leave a few spots for spouses to come along.

Guess who got a spot?  Yup.  Me.

We have some great friends here in our little ski town who are going to love on our boys while we are exploring Dublin for seven days and London for three.

Ashley will bring our Hunter into her fold of eight kids.  He will be milking goats and building igloos and identifying animal scat and forget we ever left.

Christa will go from her single sweet little two year old son to a full house with our Sauce, Rufus and Squirt.

Kate and Todd will be spoiling our dog Jack for the time, as well.

Our accommodations will be nicer hotels than we have ever stayed in together.  I wasn't expecting youth hostels or city missions, but I was very surprised to see the high end hotels where we will be staying.

This is a business school trip, so there will be work to do - like visiting Guinness and Mini Cooper (ho hum), but there will also be a tremendous amount of free time and plenty of tours of museums and cathedrals and "touristy sites."

Lots of dinners on our own, nights at the pubs and did I mention no kids?

Hubby suggested that we might want to spend some of our free time just catching up on lost sleep from the last eight years.

I'm up for that!