Whenever Peter and I find ourselves in South Dakota, we like to take advantage of having free babysitting (aka Grandma and Grandpa).

But after many days sleeping in a hospital room, and hosting family and planning a funeral . . . well we just didn’t have the heart to dump our crazies on the Grandparents.  So we insisted on an early bed time for them, driving away with the kids strapped in their car seats before they could argue.

And then we went on a date anyway.

Now.  I know the importance of getting away with just Peter.  But can I just say that we had a lot of fun going on a date as a family?  When Kate turned to William and said, “William!  I’ve never dated YOU before!” it sealed the deal.  Especially when William turned to her so completely disgusted that she would even suggest such a thing.  Ah, the innocent difference of age 5 and age 7.

We went to our “usual” spot, an eclectic coffee shop in Aberdeen called “Red Rooster”.  And we all ordered Italian Creme Sodas.

Whenever we tell Peter’s Grandpa that we’re going to the Red Rooster, he tells us about the one and only time he’s been there.  “Well,” he says, “They had an advertisement for ‘Old Time Music’ so we went in and sat down.  We waited for a half an hour and then someone came up to us and said that they didn’t think it would be the kind of old time music we were expecting.  We didn’t stick around much after that.”

So, date night.
Sometimes it’s just as good WITH the kids.