Date Night

We get a few of them. When my mom visits. But she's here often enough that Sandman and I get at least a night out alone each month. Sometimes it's a quick bite somewhere, sometimes a movie, and sometimes it's just a shopping trip without worrying about the kids getting bored.

She visited this weekend, and she arrived early enough Friday evening for us to go out. We decided to follow something I read on Jen's blog called the Great Date Experiment. We had a blast. I highly recommend it.

Here's the packet for Date #1.

It's a progresseive date. We had an appetizer at one place, an entree at another and dessert somewhere else. We kept it fairly simple and not too expensive- we shared chips and guacamole at Chipotle, a sampler plate at a Greek bistro, and ice cream from Baskin Robin's. We even saved gas money because all of those places were located within walking distance (well, we did drive/re-park a little, but only because we had not decided where we were going....in hindsight, we could have parked at one location and walked around, which would have been more fun!)

At each stop, there are questions to go through with your spouse. My tough military hubby really got into it, and I think we both appreciated the limited conversation about kids or work. It was all about us. There were actullly tears shed a few times, and yes, we both got a little sappy. Well worth it!!

It took just over two hours, and we spent less than $40. I think Jen mentioned spending around $35. Obviously, a nice dinner out at one place could easily cost that much. But it was a lot more fun with an agenda- although we felt so free at each place sitting and talking!

Time alone with Sandman is so precious to me. He's my best friend, and we need those times to rekindle not only our marriage relationship, but our friendship. We plan on keeping up with the other dates. I believe the series will be 6 dates long, and we definitely plan on doing the rest.

People forget that marriage is hard work. I mean, love is great and wonderful, but when your patience is at it's end, everyone is tired, cranky or needs a Time Out, you haven't showered, your boss has unreasonable expectations and so on....it's not difficult to let it get to you. And then it takes away from your relationships. They suffer. And you do, too. But by reconnecting and seeing beyond the mountains of laundry or broken flight simulators.....you come back to where it all began. You and me. And you can tackle those dirty diapers or those no-show instructors without bringing them in between Us at the end of the day.

I just can't stress how important (and amazing!) it is when you're in a marriage that works. It's a blessing, and I love our life together. It's so worth it. Plain and simple.

I'd love to hear about it if you try it. I'm sure I'll post about Date #2 when we have a chance....I've peeked at the first part of it, and it looks wild.

Giddy Up

A couple weeks ago, my mom's neighbor invited us to her ranch where she keeps three horses. Woohoo! We were excited, though not really prepared (the boys only had shorts and Crocs....we'll come prepared with proper cowboy attire next time...or at least jeans and sneakers). We enjoyed feeding and riding her sweet horses! Apparently the boys didn't scare them too much, so we're welcome to make a trip there anytime we're in Houston! Thanks so much to Ms. J for sharing with us!

Yes, that's my mom on Lady and my "cowboy" on Comanche....we found out after he'd been riding him for a little while that he's not fully bridle trained...or whatever it's called. Fun, fun for Sandman! He did get a Horsemanship Badge or something when he was in Boy Scouts! Nugget wasn't a fan of getting on the horse. I think being up so high scared him, but he was so content to ride the saddle in the back of the pickup- probably for a good 15 -20 minutes. We can't wait to go back!

Chick-a-flay

That's how my boys say "Chick-fil-a." It's adorable. Whenever we ask or mention going out to eat, we hear from both of them...."we should go to Chick-a-flay!" from Buddy or "I nee-nee eat a Chick-a-flay" from Nugget. At least they are making a "better" fast food choices. And you gotta love those waffle fries.