Bikinis in the Snow Week 6 – Quality Time
For week 6 of Bikinis in the Snow, we decided to focus on quality time. Most nights, after putting the kids to bed, Morry and I sit on the couch and watch a show or two on TV. I’m not a big television watcher, but we mostly do that because we can’t think of anything else to do together. We know it is important to spend time together, but often after a long day, we just feel like relaxing.
Bikinis in the Snow Week 6 – Quality Time
This week we decided to turn off the television and focus on quality couple’s time. We still sat together, but instead of watching a show we would chat and eat dessert (on one occasion). A few nights we sat outside on our porch. Other nights we sat at the couch or kitchen table.
Yes, I enjoyed just talking, but tonight, I wanted to add something fun to our evening. I came up with the idea of a dance game. One person would play the first few seconds of a song and the other person had to dance. Yes, I know it sounds cheesy, but it was fun. A few of the songs chosen were Oops I Did it Again, The Right Stuff, Locomotion, Shake Your Groove Thing, and Footloose. Sorry, there’s no video of our evening, but here are a few pictures.
Rachel
How did I feel before trying this challenge?
I was looking forward to spending some evenings without the television. Sometimes, I just feel like quiet, or quiet conversation if I’ve had too much going on during the day.
How did I feel during the challenge?
There were a few evenings where we weren’t sure what to do. I felt like I had to come up with something fun or exciting to do together. Once was got started in conversation, it was nice.
How do I feel after the challenge?
This challenge wasn’t as exciting as some of the others, but I’m glad we did it. I like switching things up and trying new routines to see what works best for us.
What did I learn?
I enjoyed just sitting and talking with Morry, especially on the nights we were able to sit outside. I would like to do that more often.
Morry
How did I feel before trying this challenge?
I was excited for this challenge. Rachel and I have been watching TV before bed since even before the boys were born. But it became a big thing after the boys were born. We made sure that we had alone time once the kids were in bed. And it became a thing that we always watched TV or a movie after putting the kids to bed.
How did I feel during the challenge?
I felt like it was tougher than I thought. Each night we struggled to come up with something to do. But it was good – we talked and I enjoyed that. But it wasn’t as fun as some of the other challenges. The last night, Rachel came up with the idea to have each other pick out a song and the person who didn’t pick out the song had to dance to the song. That was part of the silliness that came with some of the other challenges.
How do I feel after the challenge?
After the challenge, I felt like it’s hard to find something to do every night. I felt that even though we couldn’t really come up with something fun, I was still glad we took the challenge.
What did I learn?
I learned more than I thought I’d learn in this challenge. I learned A) that we don’t need to come up with big “things” to do every night. We don’t need to be doing something all the time. It’s not like when we were dating and we were coming up with things to do each night like going to dinner, going dancing, going to a bar or things like that. I learned that B) Rachel and I can still talk. We have things to talk about. And we have things to talk about that aren’t just the kids. And I learned that C) watching tv is not a bad thing. We don’t do it because we HAVE to watch TV. We do it because we do want to spend time together and we don’t have to do something exciting each night. Both of us would be happy to do something other than watch a TV show if we wanted to. The challenge made us realize if there is a night we don’t want to watch TV or a movie, we don’t have to nor do we feel we need to.
Rachel Belkin is an Austin, Texas blogger, entrepreneur, speaker, freelance writer, and educator. After selling her lifestyle blog for six figures in 2021, she teaches business, blogging, and influencer marketing strategies that helped her build her business on part-time hours. Bylines include MSN, HuffPost, Medium, NewsBreak, and Hometalk. She has been featured on KXAN, Studio 512, Fox 7 Austin, CBS Austin, and other news and media outlets.
