Goose eggs and shattered plans

We were planning to go camping this weekend, and Cory took Friday off so that we could leave as soon as possible and escape to nature. The more we looked at the weather forecast, the worse the weather looked, so we ditched our plans. Cory took the day off anyway, which was good, because I had a Kairo By Night gig that day. While I was gone, Cory and the kids played outside in the yard all morning, then got McDonald's food and took it to a park for a picnic. The kids had more fun with Daddy in one morning than they usually have with me all week, I think. Ella was so excited that she threw a fit when they left the park and refused to get into her car seat, and had another one when they got home because Cory wouldn't let her play in the car. (She was very tired and REALLY needed a nap, but how do you explain that to her?) 

Lear invented a new game this week - I think he even has a name for it, but I can't remember it right now. It involves pulling his sleeping bag over his head so he's covered from head to toe in it, and running around the house while Ella chases him. They really have a lot of fun - Ella and Lear giggle  endlessly while they're doing it. Needless to say, it isn't a very safe game. Lear ran headlong into a wall, after which Cory, who was watching them alone (I was at another rehearsal), tried to get them to stop, but they're both wonderfully stubborn, especially when they're having fun. The next thing Cory heard was a thud-thud-thud-thud: Lear had fallen down the stairs. Luckily he wasn't hurt very badly - a tiny goose egg on his forehead is the only injury we saw. Did he learn his lesson? Absolutely not! The next day, I found them playing the same game - although Lear was a little more cautious, staying in the living room away from the stairs. 

Saturday, Cory and I had a date - the first time we've had a date in quite a while. Cory's mother came to watch the kids, and we left to have a romantic dinner and a movie. We wanted to try the Cheesecake Factory, but it was a zoo, so we drove right past, and went to a nearby Olive Garden - also a zoo. So, we tried a third place, Macaroni Grill (all three are in the same block), but alas, it was also packed. So we decided to go to a Japanese restaurant on the other side of town that we love, thinking that it's not a big chain restaurant, and we've never had to wait to eat there, so it would be good. No such luck: it took us 20 minutes or so to get there, and we found out that without a reservation, it was an hour wait for a table. We ended up eating at Yoshi's Grill, a Japanese fast food place (great tempura-fried sushi rolls there). Then we went to a movie theater to see The Forbidden Kingdom, but the next movie time wasn't for an hour, so we went to another one, but the show was sold out. We ended up going to Lowe's for our date, where we bought a rake and a bag of grass seed to patch the dead spots on our lawn. The moral of our story? Plan ahead, even for a casual date. Duh!

Lear quote of the week: "My goose egg makes my head so big that it's impossible to get my shirt off." (Lear's excuse for not changing out of his pajamas on Thursday morning,)