A Dreamy Date Night

It seems that every marriage book recommends regular date nights and warns of the marriage perils if couples do not adhere to a scheduled date night routine.  Yes, it would be great to have a disposable income and to take advantage of weekly date nights (or even monthly), but that has never been a reality for us.  It's not that we don't recognize the benefits of spending alone time together, we have just never had the extra money sitting around to 1. Pay for the date and 2.  Pay the babysitter.

Now that our oldest is into his teen years we're able to get away close to home for a coffee or to go for a run.  We're usually gone for a short period of time and are close enough if anything were to happen we're no more than 2 miles away.

Every once in awhile and I'm talking ONCE in AWHILE we get out on a REAL date!  We went out once in the spring, on my birthday, and now once in the summer.  Maybe we're a seasonal date night couple.  In the spring we had our former babysitter visiting with us and she offered to watch the kiddos so we could get away. 

Maybe she wanted to babysit since we showed her such a great time at RAINY Disneyland

A good babysitter lets the babysittee apply crazy make-up

Or maybe she let us go on a date because I fed her yummy food!

Here she is with 2 of our 3 kiddos

About a month ago, my hub sent me an email letting me know he had purchased tickets for an Angels baseball game followed by a Dierks Bentley concert at Angel Stadium.  I cannot turn down a date as GREAT as that!  We only feel comfortable being further away from home for many hours with a friend hanging out with the kids.  Fortunately, I was able to secure someone I know and trust to spend time with our precious three.

I didn't know what to expect from our little evening out.  I tend to be the person who only deals with what needs to be done at that given time on the given day- some people might say procrastinator, I just think it's living in the moment.  On the way to the Sold-Out game, I was teasing my date a little.  I asked him questions like, "Is this a REAL date, like the kind where you don't ask me if I have parking money?"  He reassured me he had the cash on hand.  I had no idea what section we were sitting in or even what time the game was.  Bummer for us as we were an hour late to the game, but no problem.

One of the three home runs was hit to our section!  The sun was bright and the evening was great!  The Angels beat the Mariners.  I felt a little bad for the Mariners again, but that's the way it goes.

Love the sun!

Following the game we proceeded onto the field for our up close Dierks Bentley concert.  Not only were we going to see Dierks live, we were going to watch him from Angel dirt.  The band and the stage were wheeled out onto the field right after the game.  If you had a wristband you were allowed out to watch.  I can honestly say it appears Country is going strong in Orange County.  Many fans in the stadium stayed and enjoyed the concert in the stands.  It was so cool to look up in the stadium and see all the people dancing and singing.

Dierks Bentley

The Crowd

The Couple

My Feet on the Angel Field

The night was going so well.  We were having a blast.  Word at home was the kids were having a blast.  It was successful date night.  Then I glanced to my left and saw a familiar face.  Since we don't have cable and I pretty much don't like the content of what is available on television we don't watch much.  We do have Netflix and Hulu and follow a couple shows.  One show we watch is Friday Night Lights.  I think it's my small town fix.  Anyway, I glanced over and who do I see?  Tim Riggins!  Okay, at this point I didn't know his real name, but I was pretty sure it was Tim Riggins minus the long hair.  I so wanted to go up and ask him, but what if it was just a look alike?  After the concert we walked away.  My supportive hub (who thinks I'm a wee bit silly, I'm sure) told me to go ask, be the high school girl that I truly am, but I was too embarrassed.  When we walked to the car I knew my chances were gone.  Big stadium, big parking lot.  As we were waiting for cars to leave, I glance up and who was there...Tim Riggins, actually his name is Taylor Kitsch, thank goodness for internet phones.  He was there again!  I so wanted to take my famous self-portrait with him...just because, but I lost any nerve I may possess and we left.  Drove home.  End of story.  This is the second time in my life I've chickened out on something like this.  Bummer!  Note to self:  You're too old to be a chicken! 

Taylor Kitsch?

The good news is I drove home with the love of my life.  We had a WONDERFUL date night!  I'm looking forward to another exciting one.  I wonder what he has planned for the fall?