Date night - R & J style

Reason #274 why Russ and I are a great match is that we both love a good date night out. We try to go a couple times a month, and they don't always have to be just the two of us either, double dates/group dates are lots of fun! Hey, if you get to be out without kids and eat without having to cook it's two thumbs up in my book no matter who's involved!

Last night we had a date night scheduled to include: 

Dropping kids off at grandparents @ 5:30 pm, going out to eat in Portland, visiting recent newlyweds Isaac & Noelle (of recent Blake's ringbearer day fame) in their new university apartment, stopping in at Dicks Sporting goods because my husband is a hunting maniac and the store was going to be nearby, and finally catching a late movie.  

When you live out in the country you try to pack a lot in when you make it in to the big City.

But this is what happened:

We left half an hour late and then I was dragged to Bi-Mart before dropping off the kids so someone (Russell) could "take two minutes" to return something which of course took at least ten. By the time we left the grandparents to begin our date we were already an hour behind our original schedule. No worries, we're not really stick-to-the-plan kind of people anyway so we decided to visit the newlyweds first, then go eat and watch a movie, skipping the sporting store altogether (oh bummer. Or not.)

And then this happened:

We enjoyed our visit with Isaac and Nollie so much that we stayed "longer than we had anticipated" and then roped them into the rest of our evening plans, dragging them with us to eat at what was now 9:00 pm, even though they'd already had dinner. Then we drove 1/4 of the way back home to get to the theater with the latest show time possible, enjoyed ourselves a fun movie (don't listen to the boys, just ask me and Nolls :), before driving back up into Portland to take the newlyweds home and then turning back around and coming home ourselves. AT TWO O'CLOCK AM. 

AND WE LOVED IT!

I'll tell you why:

When you've known and loved two great kids since they were just little, and watched them grow into wonderful young adults, making great decisions along the way, and then they get married and you get to go out and enjoy an evening together as peers, it gives you a very satisfied feeling! We're proud of them in a we-had-nothing-to-do-with-it-but-got-to-watch-it kind of way.

PLUS: after passing the same locations 4 times in one night I now feel secure that I know how to get to at least one more place up in Portland! Always an accomplishment for this directionally-challenged mama.

Yeah for Red Robin steak fries!

and this one just makes me laugh :)

Dear I & N (IN!),

thank you so much for being great hosts,

skipping your sporting event,

and hanging out with us a-whole-decade older folks.
You guys are fun!

And don't worry, we won't tell anyone about how we LAUGHED OUR HEADS OFF at you both strapping yourselves in on opposite sides of our car's backseat instead of next to each other because you're still getting used to this whole newlywed business. It will be our little secret :)

Love, R & J