Today we had the second of our prearranged dates while Nana and Papa took care of the bambino's. The additional challenged that we had at my parent's house was the addition of three additional kids. My parent's figured they were up to the task of taking care of 6 kids under the age of 4. We didn't argue even for a second, for fear they would realize the craziness of what they were offering, so at 9:00 am we put the Twin-kies down for bed and rushed out of the house for 12 hours of adult fun. This is the last photo we took before we left. Notice how happy Mrs. B and mom look....wonder if the after shot would have looked like this?
We started with a little golf (for the guys) and shopping (for the girls) and agreed to meet for lunch. I did find it a little funny that for our "date" both couples decided the best way to start was to split up and do more gender specific activities. Welcome to married life. Upon meeting up, we tried to find a dining establishment that was actually open. The town looked like a horde of zombies had descended and wiped humanity off the planet. Springfield is a very weird town, and I do realize that it was following a holiday weekend, but we were all surprised at the very limited selection of dining establishments on a Monday.
After lunch, we went to Goodwill in a hunt for a t-shirt or two with some local flair. As a couple of you know, I am a self proclaimed t-shirt snob, and I prefer to only wear American Apparel t-shirts because they are so comfortable. I am a little afraid to let this secret out, but my favorite place to get "new" shirt is at the Goodwill. The shirts are way cheaper then you could otherwise buy them, and they often come with a unique design already printed on them. For this reason only, I have visited Goodwills and Savers at all of our vacation stops in the hopes of finding a t-shirt with a little local appeal. I had success in MSP and Springfield, but not St. Louis......maybe next time.
After finishing up at Goodwill we had a little over an hour to kill before the movie. It was quickly decided that we were going to go to the local bookstore and just read magazines. You would have thought we were a group of 13 year old boys when the Victoria Secret's catalog arrived by the way we acted. We were all so excited to just sit down and read magazines and drink tea/coffee without interruption, how quickly you forget what life was like before kids.
Winters Bone was the movie of choice. It was my suggestion, and basically because nothing else of interest was playing around that time, I won out. I have wanted to see this movie from the moment I heard about it. It is a thriller/drama that takes place in the hills of the Ozarks, which is pretty much where my grandparent and now my parents live. The whole movie shot in and around Springfield, does a wonderful job of capturing the beauty and hardship of the Ozark Mountains and its people, although seeing the movie in Springfield is a little like watching Deliverance in Appalachia or Fargo in Brainerd. I highly recommend you see this movie if you have the chance, you will be talking about it for days, which, in my opinion, means that it was a great movie.
We finished up with a dinner of sushi and drinks. By the end of our 12 hours, we were all exhausted and ready to get home and see the kids, who should have been sleeping by that point. We had a great day and couldn't have wished for anything more. My parents were champs for taking all 6 kids for the day, and they survived with very little drama. Next year at this time, we will know their hardship, because we plan on working a kid swap with my sister, which will allow each adult couple a week of vacation without kids. I am pretty sure there are going to be lots of story's from those two weeks together, but we will have to wait another year before we find out what those may be.
These are the faces of stress-free parents on a wonderful day away.
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