It Be the Month of Blustering (or, "March Date")

Things be busy here at the Dread Pirate household (I'm covering for a co-worker for a month in addition to my regular job, my parents are visiting for a week, we've got a contractor installing new windows and fixing a water damaged wall).  All your typical yada-yada-yada to explain the blog neglect.

In the midst of it all, Hubs and I had our Christmas date for the month of March.  The theme for this month?  I got him a gift certificate for Home Depot, with the promise that we could go for as long as he wanted and that I had to act interested yet not over opinionated over anything he wanted to look at.  The in-laws babysat, we got Starbucks before hand, and we managed to hit two different Home Depots in order to hunt down some special lights we needed.  But the best part came after.

We got to go on a dinner and a movie night for the first time in, literally, years.  Yes, plural.  We sat at a sushi bar, eating incredible grilled hamachi cheek and pretending we were in our early 20s again (i.e. did sake bombs).  We sobered up during the movie, Friends with Kids (entertaining 1st half, then sads set in as we realized that eventually we will know people of our generation who get divorced, all wrapped up with a cheezy ending).  The plus side?  We got home at about 9:30pm!  Couple that with the fact that we actually had beer on St. Patrick's Day, and we call that a win.  Either way, for a little while, we felt like these crazy kids back in 2007, complete with the cocktail in the pic.  [Fun fact for you San Franciscans -- I'm pretty sure this photo is from Bubble Lounge, back when it was cool and we lived in LA and just didn't know any better.] 

Five years is not a long period of time, unless you think about how much has actually happened since then.  A proposal, a cross-state move, a marriage, buying a home, having a baby, illness.  The first real grey hairs and wrinkles have invaded these two kids.  They drink less, travel less, sleep in never.  But they also get to play every single day, sing and laugh more than ever, and work a lot harder.  I'm proud of how far they've come, but I love when they get to resurface to play, if only for an evening.

A Romantical Tradewind (or, "February's Date...with the Kid")

Remember the Christmas gift for Hubs?  The one pre-planned date a month deal?  Well, February's date was a doozy.  Mostly because we opted to bring the kid along, as it was a day excursion.

We drove out to the coast to the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve.  It's this gorgeous expanse next to the Pacific with a rocky coast that's perfect for tide pooling.  And the weather!  It was a crazily beautiful day in the mid 60s, wild with sunshine.  Tide was lowest at 2:38pm that day, so we got there after her nap, about 3:10pm.  Kid had on her ladybug rainboots and was all set to go charging into the ocean.  She adores the beach, so how could we not bring her along?

Winter in CA?  Yeah, it's not just like this in the movies.

We had a blast charging over the sand, chasing gulls, and gazing up at the bluffs.  We had to teach HD to be extra-super-insanely gentle with every creature we came across.  There were anemones, hermit crabs, barnacles, and seaweed everywhere.  HD had a fabulous time quoting every book/tv show she'd ever heard regarding sea life, insisting that there were octopi in the pools, etc.  It was definitely perfect (FREE) entertainment for a kid, but roping in our ball of energy wasn't the easiest task.  After close to an hour of romping and "HD-BE-GENTLE-touch-it-niiiiiiiice" we were off to the car for a snack and the drive back.

HD admires her "lagybug" boots.

Sandbluffs make her seem even teenier.

Hubs is wearing his best date face.

From there, we went out to eat.  Since salt air gives you a case of the starves and all.  We hit up Jack's Prime, a neighborhood place that's your basic upscale burger joint.  This place is genius, y'all.  To quote ...myself (I wrote a Yelp review on the place), "Love and hearts and puppies and cuddles abound."  Jack's obviously strives to be a family place (smart idea, considering the area demographic)!  It was hopping on a Saturday eve, but we were seated after a mere 10 minute wait.  Huge booth, instant crayons & coloring sheet, local craft brew (delectable Full Boar Scotch Ale for interested parties) for the parents and a superfast served kid's plate  ofwhite meat chicken fingers & crazy fresh fruit plate.  And the juiciest burger I have feasted upon in a long while, besides my precious In'n'Out.  It was such good food and service, I made a point of telling the manager how much I appreciated having a swell local resto to which we could bring our toddler.  [Y'all like my awkward I'm-not-ending-a-sentence-with-a-preposition bit?  You can't ever unteach an English major...]

Daddy, you can't expect me to pose when there are fries to be had.

Back home to wind the kid down for bed and for us to snuggle up to watch Sherlock (grab on Netflix Watch Instantly; it's a fun miniseries).  A perfect Family Date Day, although next month we're definitely taking off for some adults only time.