3.13.14 - Date night (skating & ice cream)

Tonight Jack and I had a great date night. We went roller skating on a Groupon and it was super nostalgic. The place really reminded me of a place I used to go skating in high school, and we went during family night so there were a lot of kids there. There were kids of all ages, but especially middle schoolers, and watching them interact strongly reminded me of what it was like to be that age. It was simultaneously nostalgic and sweet to know it's over, because that's kind of a rough age.

We got some pizza and soda and sat and watched the skaters for awhile. Then we actually went on the rink. I was a little nervous because I probably haven't skated in 15 years or so, but it came back to me immediately. They had the main lights off and fun colorful spotlights going, and the music wasn't bad at all. Mostly stuff I don't know--I never listen to the radio--but still enjoyable. I loved the feeling of the air rushing past me as I went, and it was fun to watch the really little kids walk-skate around. Jack skated in circles around everyone for awhile, but he got tired after maybe 40 mins or so, not sure, so we decided to go. It was so inexpensive to get in, it didn't really matter if we left early.

On the way home we stopped by an ice cream parlor we'd never noticed before. It really reminded me of Disneyland. It had white lights flashing in different patterns along the edges of the windows, and old-timey piano music playing. All the staff had cool, old-timey uniforms with black vests, and hats like Bert from Mary Poppins:

We got to sit in a booth perfectly placed to view a large part of the (very large) restaurant, and watch all the customers and servers go by. The decor was cool--stained glass lamps and velvety (?!) wallpaper and the menus were newspapers! We ordered malt milkshakes and the "fake chicken dinner" - which includes basically the insides of Butterfingers that look like chicken pieces, vanilla ice cream with caramel, which looks like potatoes and gravy, and these green mints that look like peas.

At one point the ice cream was running behind for some tables, so the waitress came out and entertained with some really corny jokes while the customers waited. ("What's the difference between me and a calendar?...A calendar has dates!") yuk yuk! As we were finally leaving (into a beautiful, warm spring night, I might add) Jack wanted to swing dance with me outside for a little while, because the music was perfect for it. So that was pretty adorable.