Because We Are Wild Like That....

Friday night was date night for James and me. We started the evening off by dropping the kids into some very trustworthy hands and were pleasantly surprised when Milla happily waved good-bye to us and ran off to play with Reiss. Seeing this was quite a change from the norm, as our date nights typically begin with a sobbing mess - Milla, not James or me.

For the most part, our date night plans generally consist of no actual plan at all. There is rarely any forethought put into what we will do for the evening and James and I are very much creatures of habit. So it was no surprise when, as soon as we had gotten into the car and shut the doors, James declared, "I don't know. You decide." As in, we both knew part of the evening's activities would consist of going to eat dinner somewhere but he did not want to be the one to decide specifically where we would end up.

Our first stop was a relatively new non-franchise type pizza place near our home whose specialty is gourmet pizzas. Although still right in the middle of things, the location is rather off the beaten path. Past restaurant businesses that have resided in the same building never tended to stay in business very long and I do not know whether it was the location or the food itself that played a more impacting role in their demise. I have a feeling I know which was the case for one particular restaurant that was housed there a few years ago. Suffice it to say that we only ate there one time.

At any rate, given the history of restaurants housed there in the past, we thought we would be able to get in and get seated immediately. Wrong. Well, not necessarily wrong. We may have been able to get in and seated immediately but we didn't even get to find out, as the parking lot was so packed there wasn't a single space to be found.

On to the next place. And again, as creatures of habit, driving around, wasting gas, and being indecisive as to where we shall eat is usually part of date night for us.

Next stop was a Chinese restaurant we ate at several years ago and thought the food was disgusting. Over the years though, we have continued hearing how great this place is whenever conversations with friends wander to the subject of local restaurants. We have been reluctant to give the place another try but figured we might as well.

James ordered Szechuan Chicken and I had their Curry Chicken. Before our food arrived, James thought sure the portions would be too small and we would leave the place with only half-full bellies and empty pockets. I reassured him that he would certainly not starve by reminding him that Dunkin' Donuts is just across the street.

Our server brought our food to us and even James mentioned that we probably could have shared an entree. This, coming from someone who doesn't bat an eye at eating an entire pizza if given the chance. Both meals were slightly spicy but still only on that level of spiciness that makes one aware that the spice is there, yet does not create a feeling of inferno mouth. We enjoyed what we could eat of our meals and left soon afterwards with our pockets only $24 (including tip) poorer. Not bad for a great sit-down meal.

Although quite full from the Chinese food, it just wouldn't have been right to drive past Dunkin' Donuts so we stopped and got a donut. Okay, it was actually six donuts. But we didn't eat them all right then.

As date nights tend to go for us, after catching a bite to eat we usually run some errands or browse a bookstore. Our first errand was to Goodwill to look for dinosaurs for Reiss - because we get wild like that on date nights.

Reiss is on a dinosaur kick right now and buying him a few brand new plastic dinosaurs seems absolutely ridiculous when the retail stores want eight bucks for a four-inch piece of plastic imported straight from China and probably containing who knows how much lead paint. So the search was on for less expensive plastic dinosaurs imported straight from China.

Judging from prices of plastic dinos being sold on Ebay and the availability (or lack thereof) of them at Goodwill, I have come to think these things must be a pretty hot commodity. We did not find a single plastic dinosaur like what we were looking for but, for $2.99, we did purchase a battery-operated T-Rex that roars and moves its head around while its eyes light up. Apparently, the person who donated it to Goodwill is not as frugal as I am when making donations because we were lucky enough to not have to put batteries in Mr. T-Rex in order for him to work properly. Milla's consolation gift was a $.99 plastic horse.

At another Goodwill store closer to where we needed to pick up the kids, we also found an Elefun game for $3.99 and a pair of jeans for Reiss. He has a closet full of excellent quality Gymboree clothes, including several pairs of jeans, but for some reason prefers worn out, on their last leg, jeans from Goodwill.

After the second Goodwill visit, it was pouring down rain and getting close to the time when we needed to go pick up Reiss and Milla so that is what we did. We went to get the kids and another crazy date night was done for us. The kids loved the toys and we played Elefun several times on Saturday. I am still in awe of the imagination of someone who would invent a game where an elephant shoots butterflies out of its trunk.