Date Night With My Son

Josiah has been begging to take me on a date for awhile now. Things have been so crazy with Michael being gone for military schools that it took awhile for it to happen. By the end of the evening, I realized just how important it is for me to take time and just have fun with Josiah, apart from being his mom and his teacher. We had THE MOST delightful time! 

We've been working on our table manners as well as how to treat a lady. I had him open all doors for me and hold out my chair and them push it in. I'm so glad I brought my camera because I will treasure this date forever in my heart.

We went to a new restaurant call, Magnoni's at Hot Lake Resort. It has recently be restored and is absolutely gorgeous. See here for pictures of all the rooms. Just a few years ago, this place was literally inhabited by nothing but bats, birds and rodents and now it is a beautiful bed and breakfast with a salon, theater, museum, hot springs baths, gift shop and bronze foundry. 

As soon as we pulled up, Josiah spotted some eggs laid by one of the many geese and ducks that live in the parking lot area. I told him to be careful, but he had to get closer to examine it. Sure enough, he got chased by a big goose. It was hilarious! Josiah is pointing to the peacocks in the above picture. He was absolutely fascinated by them.

Josiah, just after he seated me. Such a little man.

I let him uncork the sparkling cider and do all the pouring of the  beverages. He managed to not spill a drop. I could tell he loved being the "man". I really hope his future wife will benefit from all this "tutoring".

Cheers!

Josiah has such personality! I was able to snap this picture of him as he received the relish tray. He was pretty excited until he took a bite and realized they were sweet pickles, LOL. He loved the green olives though.

This was our the only mistake of the evening. When he was reaching for a pickle and bringing it back to his plate, it slipped out of his fingers and dropped right into his water glass. He fished it out with his hand. We were both giggling pretty hard over this incident. Slippery little things!

God blessed us by bringing a peacock right next to the window. Then a female arrived and he displayed all his beautiful feathers. Josiah was in awe! I grew up with peacocks on our ranch, so peacocks don't really do a lot for me, but that night, I saw them again through Josiah's eyes and really appreciated their beauty. It also generated a little "birds and the bees" talk since he was wanting to know why the male peacock was showing off for the female. Thank goodness, they didn't actually start mating, or that would have been a whole different discussion! I was able to recollect the names of many wild birds outside the window, too. Josiah is so much like me. He loves to know the names of things - birds, rocks, animals and plants. It gives us a connection to those things by just knowing what they are called.

We had a delicious all-you-can-eat lasagna dinner with the must amazing garlic,cheesy bread sticks, topped off with a beautiful dessert. Josiah actually ate more than I did, and I was practically waddling out of there.

Josiah wanted me to take his picture by the buffalo. He made it an hour and half through the meal and did just fine. The birds outside the window kept him quite entertained.

A complimentary movie and popcorn were part of the price, so Josiah and I settled down in the theater and watched "Night at the Museum". We laughed and talked through the whole thing as we had the place to ourselves almost the whole time. Josiah even managed to eat some popcorn. Where does that kid put it all? He's just like his dad. I can't believe how much that kid can eat!

When we came home that night, Josiah declared our date "a success" and the second best day of his life. Wow, what a compliment! I realized I really need to do this more often. One on one time with him is his love language. 

Not to be left out, Michael took Hailey out for dinner and ice cream that same night. He treated her like a lady and worked with her on her table manners. She was so excited to have some daddy time. Michael isn't one to take a lot of pictures, so alas, this is the only one we have them. 

If you want to delight your children and help build your relationship with them, take them out for a date! Now, Michael and I need to find time for a date night! We are planning on an anniversary overnight trip to the bed and breakfast in the tiny town of Flora next month. It is a good motorcycle trip. Can't wait!

Hope you all enjoy the week and you are getting awesome weather like we are finally enjoying in Eastern Oregon!