#014 Date Night
Hello again. As I sit here and wait to go to church, I thought it might make sense to send out another update. We've done a couple of things recently that are particularly noteworthy in our lives, so I thought I would share. Note: when I say "noteworthy," I mean something other than sitting at home watching TV. It doesn't take much to make something noteworthy in our house.
Date Night
Can you believe it? My wife and I actually decided to go on a date together! When does that ever happen? Especially now, with a 2 month old in the house. Lucky for us, we have a neighbor who loves our kids and also wanted to make sure we got out and did something together.
Before I get started on our date night, I have to tell you something. It kind of goes along with the unusual way my wife and I sometimes communicate with one another. My neighbor lives right up the street, so I had planned on walking the kids up to her house. However, I also wanted to put the carseat into the van so we could transport Gabriel home in it. I figured it would get a little too cold walking home after the date. I tell my wife I'm going in to get the carseat.
"Why are you getting the carseat? Nadia lives right up the street."
I explain what I've just explained to you.
"Okay, well then just get in van and I'll grab it."
I start up the van, back it out of the garage, and then open the passenger side door so my wife can put the carseat in. She does this, gets in the van, and I prepare to drive away.
"You're not going to leave with the door wide open, are you?"
I look back and notice the sliding door is open. Yeah. The door that my wife put the carseat into. The same door that she left open, walked over to the other side of the van, got into the van, and waited for me to drive away. I'm all for chivalry, but come one!
Now I ask you, if you are going to put something into a car, once you've committed to the action, doesn't the action of closing the door fall upon you? Apparently, this is not the case with my wife. Apparently, it is the responsibility of the person driving to put the van in Park, remove his foot from the brake, get out of the van, close the sliding door, get back in, apply the brake, put the car back in reverse, and then prepare to leave. This makes far more sense than just sliding the door when you complete the task.
I said this same thing to my wife and she realized how funny the situation was. That is the only reason I tell you this now. If this was a sore spot with the two of us, you would never know about it. As much as I love to make you all smile, I also enjoy the liberties of a happy home. I once heard a Christian comedian that had the statement "Happy Wife, Happy Life." That is a true statement. My wife bought the t-shirt... for me.
I'm not kidding. I still have it.
Okay, so now we're going on our first date in who knows how long. What's the game plan? We are going to have dinner with some friends and their kids.
I'm sorry. What's that? Dinner with kids?
Apparently, a date out means "time without our kids." I wish I had known that. I wish this was in a manual somewhere so I could be more prepared. I mean, I had a completely different view of a date. Maybe that's what a "marriage date" is.
Here's something else that's pretty funny. We planned to go out to eat at Chipotle. Side note: is that even spelled right? Who can spell that? Why do restaurant names have to be so complicated? What ever happened to "Tom's Diner?" Yeesh! But, I digress.
Why Chipotle? Between 6-8pm on our date night, the Chipotle we were going to was donating all the proceeds to a high school football player who recently got paralyzed. It is definitely something worth supporting, so I was remaining optimistic. We were supposed to leave at around 6pm. Of course, we are running late. Why? Well, that's another story. Let's start a new tagline, shall we?
Biking with the Boys
I decide to take my boys on a bike ride. At the beginning of my vacation, I fixed the flat tire on my bike. It was the rear tire. Why is it always the rear tire? That means I have mess with the rear derailer, and I hate working with that. Anyway, I get it fixed and then it sits... all vacation long. I decide I can't go the whole vacation without riding it, so I set up a ride with boys. My oldest son was heading out to the junior high to play tennis with a friend, so I thought it would be nice to ride by and harass him on our journey. He left about 20 minutes prior to us leaving, so I figured they would be pretty warmed up by the time we got there. I open the door to the garage and see my son messing around with his bike.
What?
He too had a flat tire, and it was his rear tire as well. What is it with these rear tire flats? I think it's some form of conspiracy. Whatever it takes to get grease on the hands. He finishes with his tire, but is having trouble adjusting the brakes. He had this same trouble with his front brakes. How did he solve this problem? He removed them. A man after my own heart! Unfortunately, this solution will not work this time. He needs at least ONE set of working brakes. He asks me for help.
I laugh.
Need I remind you of the water softener incident? I tell him "that's why I have disc brakes... so I don't have to mess with the brake pads." After all, when you make the technology behind brakes so technical, all you can do is give it to the bike shop, right? Yay for me.
I tell him he needs to figure it out, and me and the younger boys head out. That's called "good parenting." The boy has to learn to fend for himself, right? Go with me on this one; I need to rationalize it and need some validation.
As we are riding, we happen to spot him riding around. I asked him later how he fixed it, and he said "I didn't." I guess when he holds down the brakes, he has a "little bit" of brake, so it just takes him a bit longer to stop. Hey man, whatever gets you there.
Back to me and the little ones. We ride around the park and eventually find ourselves at the school. I pick on my kid for a bit (ever tried to play tennis where you hit the ball and then jump in the air, or hit the ball and spin your racket, or hit the ball and change hands? Esaiah has), and then get back to our ride.
There is a 1/4 mile race track at the junior high. I timed my boys as they rode around it. Christian (7) did it in 1:09, and Nathan (6) did it in 2:19. Of course, I have to see how fast I am, so I also go around the track. As I start around the track, I realize it is quite slippery around the corners. I imagine myself slipping off my bike and getting a very large raspberry on my leg. The reality of this sets in and I decide to take it a little easy around the corners. I'm still going pretty fast, and get up to 23mph on the straightaways. How do I know this? Because I have a bike computer, silly! Can you imagine Roger without some form of technology existing on everything he has? Perish the thought! I complete the track with a time of 0:47.
Hmm... not much faster than Christian. Well now, that's a bit embarassing. We take off and start back through the park. We round the corner and I hear this hissing sound. A snake? Out here? Of course not. It's not a snake. It's my tire.
My rear tire.
I get off my bike and stare at my tire. Yep, it's flat, and I have no spare. Looks like I'm walking. Here's the thing about walking with a flat tire on a mountain bike: The knobby tires make for a bumpy walk. It gets a bit annoying. I decide that it is annoying me too much, so I hoist the bike onto my bike and carry it home. As I'm walking with my bike on my back, I recognize that I'm not in shape, and my bike is heavy. I take my bike off my back and continue walking. The annoyance of the tires is far better than the pain of having the weight of my bike on my back. After walking a bit longer, I realize my biking shoes were made for biking, not walking. I can feel the blister forming on my ankle. I decide to take my shoes off and walk in my socks. My kids look at me walking in my socks and tell me I'm going to ruin my socks. Kinda sounds like what I keep telling them.
Boy, there's parenting being thrown right back your face.
I decide to take my socks off and walk barefoot. I'll just clean my feet when I get home. It is at this point that I realize how many people in Clemente Ranch do not keep the gravel of their landscaping out of the sidewalks. It does not feel good on the undersides of the feet. I try to lie to myself and think that it's therapeutic. You know, like reflexology. People pay good money for this kind of pain!
I get home, and I'm tired and in pain. I lay down on the couch and fall asleep. When I wake up, it's 5:45pm. We are supposed to get the kids ready, pack a bag for the baby, drop them off at the neighbors, shower, get dressed, yadda yadda yadda... by 6pm.
Not gonna happen. We were late.
Let's continue the date, shall we?
Date Night (part 2)
We get a call from our friends. They tell us the line at Chipotle is out the door and around the building. Seems there was quite a turnout. Our friends decide to bail out, because they are not going to be able to get served before 8pm. My wife however still wants to go. We head for Chipotle and it's now nearing 7:30pm. I see the line and I know for sure we will not be able to get served before 8. I convince my wife that we need to go somewhere else, so we decide on sushi.
We get into the restaurant and finally realize we are sitting in a restaurant... without kids. How nice is that? We look around at the other people in the restaurant. I notice the families with their children. I see parents trying to keep their kids in tow.
"Quiet down Johnny."
"No, no, Sara. Don't throw your food."
"Stevie! If you don't get back in your seat, so help me!"
I smile. I am not one of those people tonight. I'm on a date. My wife and I enjoy our meal together... and then go home. Why? Can you imagine the feeling of sitting alone in your own house? Man, I never knew it could be like this. However, after awhile, it got a little strange, so we headed back to our neighbors to get our kids. And thus, the end of our first date.
Okay, okay... so we're a little rusty. Cut us some slack man! At least we're trying! Anyone have any better ideas? If you do, please feel free to share them. If we ever happen to get another chance at a date, we might try your idea.
Until next time...
Date Night
Can you believe it? My wife and I actually decided to go on a date together! When does that ever happen? Especially now, with a 2 month old in the house. Lucky for us, we have a neighbor who loves our kids and also wanted to make sure we got out and did something together.
Before I get started on our date night, I have to tell you something. It kind of goes along with the unusual way my wife and I sometimes communicate with one another. My neighbor lives right up the street, so I had planned on walking the kids up to her house. However, I also wanted to put the carseat into the van so we could transport Gabriel home in it. I figured it would get a little too cold walking home after the date. I tell my wife I'm going in to get the carseat.
"Why are you getting the carseat? Nadia lives right up the street."
I explain what I've just explained to you.
"Okay, well then just get in van and I'll grab it."
I start up the van, back it out of the garage, and then open the passenger side door so my wife can put the carseat in. She does this, gets in the van, and I prepare to drive away.
"You're not going to leave with the door wide open, are you?"
I look back and notice the sliding door is open. Yeah. The door that my wife put the carseat into. The same door that she left open, walked over to the other side of the van, got into the van, and waited for me to drive away. I'm all for chivalry, but come one!
Now I ask you, if you are going to put something into a car, once you've committed to the action, doesn't the action of closing the door fall upon you? Apparently, this is not the case with my wife. Apparently, it is the responsibility of the person driving to put the van in Park, remove his foot from the brake, get out of the van, close the sliding door, get back in, apply the brake, put the car back in reverse, and then prepare to leave. This makes far more sense than just sliding the door when you complete the task.
I said this same thing to my wife and she realized how funny the situation was. That is the only reason I tell you this now. If this was a sore spot with the two of us, you would never know about it. As much as I love to make you all smile, I also enjoy the liberties of a happy home. I once heard a Christian comedian that had the statement "Happy Wife, Happy Life." That is a true statement. My wife bought the t-shirt... for me.
I'm not kidding. I still have it.
Okay, so now we're going on our first date in who knows how long. What's the game plan? We are going to have dinner with some friends and their kids.
I'm sorry. What's that? Dinner with kids?
Apparently, a date out means "time without our kids." I wish I had known that. I wish this was in a manual somewhere so I could be more prepared. I mean, I had a completely different view of a date. Maybe that's what a "marriage date" is.
Here's something else that's pretty funny. We planned to go out to eat at Chipotle. Side note: is that even spelled right? Who can spell that? Why do restaurant names have to be so complicated? What ever happened to "Tom's Diner?" Yeesh! But, I digress.
Why Chipotle? Between 6-8pm on our date night, the Chipotle we were going to was donating all the proceeds to a high school football player who recently got paralyzed. It is definitely something worth supporting, so I was remaining optimistic. We were supposed to leave at around 6pm. Of course, we are running late. Why? Well, that's another story. Let's start a new tagline, shall we?
Biking with the Boys
I decide to take my boys on a bike ride. At the beginning of my vacation, I fixed the flat tire on my bike. It was the rear tire. Why is it always the rear tire? That means I have mess with the rear derailer, and I hate working with that. Anyway, I get it fixed and then it sits... all vacation long. I decide I can't go the whole vacation without riding it, so I set up a ride with boys. My oldest son was heading out to the junior high to play tennis with a friend, so I thought it would be nice to ride by and harass him on our journey. He left about 20 minutes prior to us leaving, so I figured they would be pretty warmed up by the time we got there. I open the door to the garage and see my son messing around with his bike.
What?
He too had a flat tire, and it was his rear tire as well. What is it with these rear tire flats? I think it's some form of conspiracy. Whatever it takes to get grease on the hands. He finishes with his tire, but is having trouble adjusting the brakes. He had this same trouble with his front brakes. How did he solve this problem? He removed them. A man after my own heart! Unfortunately, this solution will not work this time. He needs at least ONE set of working brakes. He asks me for help.
I laugh.
Need I remind you of the water softener incident? I tell him "that's why I have disc brakes... so I don't have to mess with the brake pads." After all, when you make the technology behind brakes so technical, all you can do is give it to the bike shop, right? Yay for me.
I tell him he needs to figure it out, and me and the younger boys head out. That's called "good parenting." The boy has to learn to fend for himself, right? Go with me on this one; I need to rationalize it and need some validation.
As we are riding, we happen to spot him riding around. I asked him later how he fixed it, and he said "I didn't." I guess when he holds down the brakes, he has a "little bit" of brake, so it just takes him a bit longer to stop. Hey man, whatever gets you there.
Back to me and the little ones. We ride around the park and eventually find ourselves at the school. I pick on my kid for a bit (ever tried to play tennis where you hit the ball and then jump in the air, or hit the ball and spin your racket, or hit the ball and change hands? Esaiah has), and then get back to our ride.
There is a 1/4 mile race track at the junior high. I timed my boys as they rode around it. Christian (7) did it in 1:09, and Nathan (6) did it in 2:19. Of course, I have to see how fast I am, so I also go around the track. As I start around the track, I realize it is quite slippery around the corners. I imagine myself slipping off my bike and getting a very large raspberry on my leg. The reality of this sets in and I decide to take it a little easy around the corners. I'm still going pretty fast, and get up to 23mph on the straightaways. How do I know this? Because I have a bike computer, silly! Can you imagine Roger without some form of technology existing on everything he has? Perish the thought! I complete the track with a time of 0:47.
Hmm... not much faster than Christian. Well now, that's a bit embarassing. We take off and start back through the park. We round the corner and I hear this hissing sound. A snake? Out here? Of course not. It's not a snake. It's my tire.
My rear tire.
I get off my bike and stare at my tire. Yep, it's flat, and I have no spare. Looks like I'm walking. Here's the thing about walking with a flat tire on a mountain bike: The knobby tires make for a bumpy walk. It gets a bit annoying. I decide that it is annoying me too much, so I hoist the bike onto my bike and carry it home. As I'm walking with my bike on my back, I recognize that I'm not in shape, and my bike is heavy. I take my bike off my back and continue walking. The annoyance of the tires is far better than the pain of having the weight of my bike on my back. After walking a bit longer, I realize my biking shoes were made for biking, not walking. I can feel the blister forming on my ankle. I decide to take my shoes off and walk in my socks. My kids look at me walking in my socks and tell me I'm going to ruin my socks. Kinda sounds like what I keep telling them.
Boy, there's parenting being thrown right back your face.
I decide to take my socks off and walk barefoot. I'll just clean my feet when I get home. It is at this point that I realize how many people in Clemente Ranch do not keep the gravel of their landscaping out of the sidewalks. It does not feel good on the undersides of the feet. I try to lie to myself and think that it's therapeutic. You know, like reflexology. People pay good money for this kind of pain!
I get home, and I'm tired and in pain. I lay down on the couch and fall asleep. When I wake up, it's 5:45pm. We are supposed to get the kids ready, pack a bag for the baby, drop them off at the neighbors, shower, get dressed, yadda yadda yadda... by 6pm.
Not gonna happen. We were late.
Let's continue the date, shall we?
Date Night (part 2)
We get a call from our friends. They tell us the line at Chipotle is out the door and around the building. Seems there was quite a turnout. Our friends decide to bail out, because they are not going to be able to get served before 8pm. My wife however still wants to go. We head for Chipotle and it's now nearing 7:30pm. I see the line and I know for sure we will not be able to get served before 8. I convince my wife that we need to go somewhere else, so we decide on sushi.
We get into the restaurant and finally realize we are sitting in a restaurant... without kids. How nice is that? We look around at the other people in the restaurant. I notice the families with their children. I see parents trying to keep their kids in tow.
"Quiet down Johnny."
"No, no, Sara. Don't throw your food."
"Stevie! If you don't get back in your seat, so help me!"
I smile. I am not one of those people tonight. I'm on a date. My wife and I enjoy our meal together... and then go home. Why? Can you imagine the feeling of sitting alone in your own house? Man, I never knew it could be like this. However, after awhile, it got a little strange, so we headed back to our neighbors to get our kids. And thus, the end of our first date.
Okay, okay... so we're a little rusty. Cut us some slack man! At least we're trying! Anyone have any better ideas? If you do, please feel free to share them. If we ever happen to get another chance at a date, we might try your idea.
Until next time...
posted by Roger Winkles | 9:24 AM
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