Date Night!!

Brian and I were super good about going on dates before kids. It was easy. Decide we want to go out and...go!!

Since The Girl and then The Boy came along, so much more thought goes into date night. We could even be planning a date just to El Torito or someplace close and we have to think ahead (quite difficult for my spontaneous hubby), call a sitter, arrange for the kids to have something to eat, give the rundown to the sitter, make sure B eats "safe things" while we're gone, show the Epi-pen and explain how it works to the sitter just in case B happens to stop breathing, explain bedtime routines and what Sadie may or may not say to try and get out of brushing her teeth...and the list goes on. But,

we do it. Why? To have the coveted "alone time" that ALL parents should take together!!! Last night was one of the REALLY special nights that we planned 2 weeks in advance and made reservations!!! Brian surprised me with where we were going. All I knew is that it was in L.A. and I needed to dress up. Uh, don't have to twist my arm for that!! :)

Here we are in the car getting ready to pull out of the driveway! So excited for some "no sippy cup to pick up off the floor 100 times" time together!!!

We were at a stop light and Brian said, "look up, that's where we're going...Astro Burger!!" Nice try, Mr. B - I know that is not what I'm wearing this dress for!!


This, my friends, is what I was wearing the nice dress for...(well besides for my husband)...Providence - an unassuming very cool, #1 rated new restaurant in the country!!

So we go in and get seated and open the menu...to discover that we don't even know what 1/2 of the stuff on the menu is!! We got a good, long laugh out of trying to pronounce things and act like we were all "cultured". We finally decided on a meal after I asked the waiter what his favorite things were (just so I could figure out how to pronounce what I wanted). Before we knew it, these cheese pastries and this "shot"* of cheesy stuff were in front of us. The waiter completely described everything that he put before us and when he left Brian said, "what is this?". My answer to that was "blah, blah with a cheese blah and and blahddy blah shot with Parmesan foam on top". Honestly, we both had NO idea what we were eating, but the experience was fun. The pastry thing was good, the cheesy shot*, not so much.

*the shot was only called a shot because of the container it was in ;)

Next up...our "Cold" - a lobster salad (that's not what the menu said, but that is what we called it). This was actually pretty good!!

And then our "Hot" - Ravioli!! I have absolutely no idea what was inside, but this was my favorite dish of the night.

The main course - I chose to have Duck...here it is. It wasn't what I expected. Not horrible, but not my favorite. It was fun to try something new, though!

Brian got the steak. It was very yummy!! I loved the presentation of the food. Wish I could do that at home - haha!!

At the end they gave us some "palette cleansing desserts". They were quite tasty - strawberry something followed by chocolate something and pear something or other.

After a yummy meal at a very cool restaurant with no kiddos!!

We headed to the Melting Pot for dessert after our dinner. Mmmmm.

Hot Chocolate!!!

Smores Fondue!!

Dipping items - bananas, strawberries and brownies were our favorites!!

Our waitress gave us mints after our dessert. Brian made me laugh when he said, "this is the kind of palette cleansing item I'm used to".

What a wonderfully fun night with my equally as wonderful husband! I am so blessed to have him to share life with! It was fun to not plan anything myself and not know where we were going because I didn't have to think about a thing except for having a great night!!