anatomy of a date

Do you want to know what a perfect Friday night date looks like to me?

I'll show you.

It starts with my two favorite people. (And yes, we pretty much always take Baby G with us on our dates. We like him.) We go somewhere fun but not too pricey, like The Aquarium. Baby G and J are both pleased about all of the fish to view.

They are likewise pleased about the rays to pet (mostly Baby G was just pleased about the water to splash around in).

After more than our fair share of fun at the children's playland in The Aquarium we leave to get some food. But first we stop at the bank because being married means that it is okay (desirable even) to run errands while on dates-- it's called multi-tasking. While at the bank I peruse our "Enjoy the City" coupon book to find a place to go eat (another marriage perk? Coupons for dinner are completely allowed). J decides that it would be awesome to send the teller back some coupons for "Big Daddy's Pizza" in the little tube. We wrestle over the coupon book because I think that is embarrassing. We laugh and look ridiculous and the teller asks us if we are okay. J unhooks my fingers from the coupon book, rips 2 coupons out and sends them on their merry way to the bank teller. We drive away laughing our heads off. Hopefully she likes pizza from "Big Daddy." I'm still chuckling about it. Dinner at Chipotle.
Still can't get enough of the veggie burrito.

Dessert at Yogurt Stop because we had another coupon there (that's how we roll).

I adore this picture because Baby G is holding his "Twos" and that just makes me happy. In case you didn't read my last post, he calls anything like pencils, pens, scissors, spoons etc. a "two" because he wants two of them-- one in each hand.
After dessert we head home. Since it is a little past Baby G's bedtime he is more than ready to be asleep and isn't really patient about getting his diaper changed and pjs on. He just wants to be in the rocking chair going to sleep.

He is looking at the camera with the tired eyes of a baby thinking, "Daddy, please take the camera and leave so that Mama can put me to sleep." I also must note his "Gaygie." That is his blankie and he is in love with it. He will go get it when he is tired and bring it to me so that I will take him to bed. It is so endearing to me how much he loves going to bed when he is tired.
After a few minutes he looks like this and I turn on his heater, shut the door and leave. (As a sidenote: sometimes it amazes me that this little person just goes to sleep in this big dark room all alone and I shut the door and leave him there by himself all night long. Does anyone else think thoughts like that?)
At this time (it is about 8:00 PM) I go out to the living room where J greets me with a kiss and we are free to engage in whatever activities we choose for the rest of the night. (I'm not going there, are you?) It is like two dates for the price of one-- one with the baby and one with just my husband and me.

I'm telling you, this is the life.