Mom had the day off so I took the kids to her place for the later morning and most of the afternoon. There we could visit while Jack finally had some time to go focus on NCLEX studying.
We decided to take the girls outside before it go too warm to be bearable. The great thing about being at a grandparent's house is they already have a lot of toys and kid-friendly activities and ideas. Mom had sidewalk chalk and bubbles and soccor balls, etc. She pulled the shade down to block the sun from the carport and spread out colorful quilts so Jane could crawl around without being directly on the hot, hard cement. We gave them gluten free potato chips and juice with ice cubes. Eventually Mom put her sprinkler on to water the tree in her backyard. Clara was very interested in examining the sprinkler but was not at all sure about running through it. Eventually Mom ran through the sprinkler and laughed and made a deal of it, so Clara followed suit, but once she went through she turned to me and said, slightly desperately, "Towel??" Haha. She wasn't upset but she didn't want to run in the sprinkler anymore.
Eventually it was too warm so Mom took the girls back inside and kept them busy while I packed up everything we had set up outside for them. It took me five trips back and forth inside the house to gather everything, haha. We hung out with the girls in Mom's room and Jane played intently with Mom's phone, which Mom thought was hilarious.
After a few hours Jack returned from studying to pick us up. We dropped the girls off with Don & Merlene and then we headed out to The Pasta House for a date night. The Pasta House was where I had my first real job, which I started in early 2004 as a hostess for $6 per hour. (Not long after I became a server and made fairly decent money for that time and place.) I hadn't been back there since perhaps 2005, but it looked very much as I remembered it, and one of the managers from when I worked there is now the owner of that location. And the manager on site when we were there for dinner looked very much like one we had when I worked there, so perhaps at least two of them have stayed on all this time.
It was an enjoyable date because the memories of Pasta House inspired Jack and me to talk about that time period and particularly the various blue collar jobs he worked before moving to California. Jack has had quite a few jobs, actually. In general it was pleasant to talk about in the sense of seeing how far we've come and feeling glad we've moved past that phase. I do not miss being a waitress. And in a broader sense I don't much miss being in my late teens/early twenties and still having so much to figure out. That was daunting. Dating, college, all of it was looming and confusing. I'm glad to be past it.
Anyway dinner was tasty in a "this is terrible for you" kind of way. I ordered the same meal I used to order when I got a complimentary meal for working a double: eggplant paremsan with a side of pasta in a cream sauce. We also had a bunch of dinner rolls and the famous Pasta House salad. We were both super full by the end and neither of us finished our food, so once we left we dropped by Mom's and gave Everett our leftovers. Lucky him.
Then we went to visit the Bairds. We basically sat on their living room couch for about 2-2.5 hours (and then stood in the foyer/front door area for another 20-30 minutes) just talking and laughing about all sorts of things. Also Eddie told us about his Keto diet and made us a pretty tasty chocolate whipped cream type dessert with raspberries. We got to briefly meet their nephews, including Blaine, who is about to be a sophomore and who lives with Eddie & Elisabeth full time now. He was well mannered.
When we got home Jane was in bed, Clara was ready for bed, and they had both been on walks and had baths. So not only did Don & Merlene free Jack and I up to enjoy a childless evening together, they also took care of our kids' needs such that there was a lot less we needed to take care of once we returned. It was a welcome relief.
After putting Clara to bed, all four of us stayed up and watched some of Black Panther because we knew we'd never get through all of it. Sure enough about 30 minutes in I was falling asleep, so we gave up. In fact I then spent a ridiuclously long amount of time typing out the bullet points of this trip so I would have them to seed the full blog post later. It took forever because I kept falling asleep while typing. So exhausted.
But overall it was a very enjoyable day getting to spend plenty of time with my kids and then going on a date with my husband and seeing old friends. A+ day.
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