So, when you're on the road, you miss a lot of things about home: your family, your friends, your bed, your neighborhood, YOUR BABYSITTER!

If you ask any married couple with kids, the sight of your teenage babysitter pulling into your driveway can often look like this >>

But when you're on the road, and you don't know anyone, you won't have the luxury of being rescued by the 14 year old girl that lives on your street.

So what can you do?

Well, you may have seen the Pinterest images and the cutesie websites encouraging picnics in your living room or a Netflix movie after the little monsters retire to their caves at night. And there's nothing wrong with that except, after they kids have gone to bed, I'm exhausted.

If date night occurs after 8 pm, date night will consist of sleeping.

I want conscious and coherent trains of uninterrupted thoughts shared with my hubs during daylight hours. 

Enter the unsexy date night idea.

I told you it wasn't sexy.

It's no candlelit dinner that's for sure.

But here's how you can fit a date night of food and intimate conversation in while your family is traveling:

1. Visit your local Ikea store.

2. Check the kids into the childcare area! It's FREE!

3. Then head upstairs to the cafe for some nonsexy one-on-one time together.

At the risk of not only sounding like a nerd for suggesting Ikea for a date night, I will also risk sounding like a cheapskate--for your benefit of course:  Check out these deals! >>

You can get a meal and even shop a bit (although being on the road prohibits you from buying too much Ikea swag).

Ultimately, you just get to reconnect with your best friend and adventure mate. And that, my friends, is sexy.

So save your marriage, regain some sanity, and head to a very unsexy Ikea nearest you! 

Come say hi if you see us there! We'll be the nerdy, unsexy couple in the corner reconnecting.

For a dad's perspective on the beauty of Ikea, check out a friend's post from LifeOfDad.com here.