Date night - DONE RIGHT!

Last night our church made 750 goodie bags to give away to the first people at the church to pick them up. What an awesome way to build into marriages!!

when you arrived... they even gave you a little Polaroid to remember your night!

and off we went. We had a sitter lined up but they accidentally messed up weekend, Bebah wanted to see Tristan so it worked out perfectly.

We took Tristan to dinner with us at Red Fish Grill and he was awesome. We were passing the time in Pier One (I know.. INSANE to bring a two year old into Pier One) and he was SO good that I bought him a paper yo yo... I used to love those things. That $1 item was short lived... BUT he fell in love with a dinosaur. Not really...it's really an alligator but he is adamant that it's a dino... so .. it's a dino. Will show pics later, he's sleeping with him right now.

We had a ton of questions to read and discuss and it makes you go waaay back and also brings you in to the present and gets you talking about what you love about each other.

We needed that. Holt and I have had a really rough 4 years in our marriage. Family stressors, finances, leaving our friends and community in Chicago just about wrecked our marriage. We are in counseling and in ReEngage and it's changing our marriage for the better.

Anyway.. the questions were great and we were able to really tell each other what we LOVED about each other. IT was a bit toough with a two year old though... so....

We dropped T off to Bebah and Gwampa and headed to my surprise.

Let me start off by saying this is TOTAL love for me from my hubby... he hates these.

CARNIVAL TIME!!!!! WUHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

We bought $20 worth of tickets. He said he needed to "build up to" my favorite ride so we started off on the ZIPPER. It's kind of like that big boat at six flags and you just swing back and forth and back and forth and you are weightless for a second....

Well THIS zips around and around and around... complete circle, hang... repeat circle hang... then she haaaaaaaaaaaaaaangs and then you go backwards. Mid ride Holt yet "Why is this so loooong? We only gave you 4 tickets??" I almost peed in my pants.

Then we rode another ride that I can't find a picture of but it was just circling and it was intense. Even I wondered why I said yes to that one.

So we only had 8 tickets left (1 more ride each) and after we walked around and let our stomachs settled ... we hit it!

I LOVE THIS RIDE. You go around and around in those bucket things AND if like me you love to spin... you rock back and forth and spin WHILE spinning. OH IT IS A WOW for sure (do I get a point for that Holt?)

Now this is the version that I am used to... Tracy Poole can attest...we had a carnival on our school grounds once in Buffalo. I made her ride this so many times that we had goose eggs on our spine from hitting the back so many times while spinning. Remember Pook?

Then we headed off to OBEETZ...a jazz club we just read about.

More questions, more great conversation at this odd little place... not really a jazz bar but COOL for sure!

This wasn't the guy that sang but it was the same "deal" - guy, guitar,mic, on small stage - awesome!

This is the dessert display and we ordered a piece of cheesecake... Date Night Done right told us to chat about questions while you had dessert too.... I'm not a dessert person but I DO love cheesecake. It was the LARGEST piece I have ever seen in all my life and I'm not kidding. It was like 1/4 of the cake for $7. yes please!

So we sat, played "I Spy"for about 45 minutes (I spy a turtle with no head, I spy a creepy figured triangle sign, I spy an alligator, I spy a beer on a diving board) - I'm telling you it was stellar... they are decorated with lawn art and I wouldn't have it any other way!

Imagine this at night... good stuff

It's someday how I hope our backyard will be. Inviting, hilarious, red wine flowing and full of Jimmy Buffet/Kenny Chesney music...bring on the sand!

We ended with the rest of our questions and both just held hands and realized that THIS is how you make a date great.

Thank you Watermark - thank you Holt... we haven't had that good of a time in about 3 years. We needed it...let's do this more often. I love you!

PS - Tristan when you start dating at 45 ... ask Daddy - he's a pro!