Bowling and Humble Pie. . . Err, Pizza

Most couples have a weekly or monthly date night.  We don't.  We catch lunch on the fly when the kids are in school and Rob happens to be working from home.  Usually it's accompanied by an oil change or a trip to Walmart.  I can't remember the last planned, babysitter scheduled date Rob and I went on. . .I think it was last summer, or at least last fall.  I even won a trip to Astoria with a hotel stay and dinner--two months ago.  We are still trying to work that in.

But we did start something fun--Family Date Night.  A few weeks ago Rob decided we are so busy we are forgetting to give our kids a good time.  We don't take a lot of trips and we don't do a lot of spur of the moment "fun" things.  We have zoo passes that we use like twice a year and OSMI passes that see as much action--usually when we have out of town guests.  And of course the girls are signed up in a plethora of activities--dance, tennis, piano etc.  But that really isn't the same as going out for a good time as a family.

Our first adventure in family date nights started promptly after school on Friday two weeks ago.  This worked out great since I volunteer in Signe's kindergarten class and could simply gather them up after school and head out.  We swung by home and picked up Rob and gave the girls two options: The Mall and a new outfit + dinner (which was actually my preference because I needed lotion from Bath and Body Works, and Makeup from Nordstrom) OR Alice in Wonderland 3D movie. . . yeah, I lost.

It was really fun, despite Signe's nerve inspired reservations. All the way up the wait line prior to getting into the theater she kept informing us how she actually didn't really want to see it after all. But in the end she loved the movie.  And since they picked the movie, I picked dinner. . . Thai.  Ohhhh and it was good.

So last Friday we had to keep the tradition alive.  My day went something like this:

1. Get up and edit the paper of a fellow student before class (despite the week it had been sitting in my inbox)
2. Rush to class--which was meeting at the Water Education Center--for a lovely tour of a water treatment plant (Stream Monitoring--darn missing lab)
3. Drive home for lunch and other misc. quick activities.
4. Head to the girls' school to volunteer in Signe's class.
5. Zoom home to pick up Rob and my camera equipment.
6. Go take pictures of a family in our neighborhood.
7. Head to Big Al's (FINALLY) for an early evening of bowling and pizza.
8. Pick up Redbox movies on the way home (one for the girls and one for us).

***I did all this while ignoring the fact that in two days I had two papers due on two books of which I had only read half of one!***

Now comes the humble pie part. . .

Bowling is super fun, but we don't go that often.

Rob gets really competitive. . .

. . .but doesn't really deliver.

I can say that, because I don't either.

We tend to get strikes or nothing. . . go figure.

And, it is true that both girls used bumpers. . .

But there is really no excuse,

for losing to a six year old.

That's right.

Signe won. . .

. . . she beat ALL of us.

It was a proud moment for her.

Especially since she started the evening saying "I know how to bowl, but it just isn't that fun."

She has since changed her tune.

At least we had pizza to console ourselves with.


Have you done anything fun with your family lately?

(Excuse the grainy pictures--it was rather dark in there.)