First Day of School

 How did it sneak up on me?  

Somehow I have a Junior, an 8th grader, and a 4th grader.  

They don't listen, I say stop growing, and they don't listen and obey.  They keep growing.  They are so excited about school this year.  They are all among the oldest in the school, so the maturity level has kicked up. 

Jacob is the only one with new shoes, and of course they had to be the brightest yellow we could find, but only Jacob, because we decided a. the big boys' school shoes from last year were in ok shape, and because b. they'll KILL them in Marching Band.  So maybe new shoes for them for Christmas.

Jacob picked the 1st Day of School shirts for everyone this year, he liked the sailboat icon, which is Nautica brand. He chose everyone's favorite colors.  They look pretty nice. 

Chris's bus stop is now down the street and around the corner, because there aren't that many juniors that don't drive, so he has to go where the underclassmen are. It wasn't too long ago when I hated him walking out of my site, the bus stop was 5 doors down, and I called Transportation to move it.  

That's not necessary now. 

Sam meets out front. Whew! 

Jacob car rode today, on the 1st Day because they slated the bus stop to be an hour before school starts. That's a Nope. He'd get in fights right away. So we decided to drive him. I'm hoping it changes to a more reasonable time. 

There are perks to having to drive Jacob to school. 

Eric joined me and we got to go out on a date. 

We visited a new place, Brown Skin Coffee and Tea, a place that is minority owned, and new. 

I got a lovely latte, and it was cool enough outside, we opted to sit outside. 

On a date with my hunny booboo!  

Cheers! 

I love this new tradition we've begun, to go out for coffee, and enjoy each other. We try to go on one date a month, but it's harder to do that in the summer.  

I'll miss the boys not being home. But with Band, they hardly were home. 

I'll miss them being around, Jacob especially.  

But they need the routine of school.  And I will get used to the quiet. 

Happy 1st Day of School! 

Taco Tuesday

 280/366

I did a dumb thing today.  

I kidnapped Jacob from school, and brought his knitting in the car so he and could knit in the dr's office. 

Only we didn't get to knit together.  Because I'm a nut. But Jacob is Precious.

I've been waiting for Jacob's appointment with the GI for three months, to rule out any issues. 

I saw that I'd written ROC in my calendar, and thought that meant Riley Outpatient Center at IU North.  No idea how I made that connection, I guess because we haven't been Downtown to the original ROC in a while.  So we showed up for our appointment today only to learn our doctor was downtown, and fully booked up.  And now we get to wait until the very end of December to see her.  I cried.  

Jacob was perfectly content missing the appointment, because it meant that I got to take him back to school, and he wouldn't miss Lunch or Recess.  More importantly, apparently it's Ice Cream Tuesday. 

I miss him.  So it made me sad that a. I messed up. 2. I wasn't going to get Quality Time with him. d. No fun Lunch with my Jakers. 

I've had Appointments at Riley for almost 15 years (in 3 months!) and I've never done this. 

But he was happy I took him Back to School. 

So by the time I got home, I was in a funk. 

Eric and I both had hoped we'd get some Quality Time with just Jacob today.  

Instead we chose to do Quality Time with each other. 

Time to go out on a date. 

He chose Roscoe's Tacos.  

They used to have a shop in Avon, but it closed, and now in order to get yummy taco and nacho goodness we have to drive to Greenwood.  And we don't often get the opportunity to go that far.  

Today we lucked out!  

E had a good chunk of time with no meetings, allowing for a 2 hour lunch! 

Chili Beef Nachos, for us to Share. 

There's just something deliciously simple about their combo of fresh onion, tomato, and olives. 

The chips are nothing to write home about, yet it goes PERFECTLY. 

This is my chicken taco.  

So deliciously Fresh! 

The thing is, it's all pretty mild food, a simple menu.  My kids even liked it, the last time we went.

The secret is in the Sauce!  They make homemade sauces to add to their stuff.  The most mild is Cincinnati City Slicker, kind of barbecue like.  I'm also a fan of the Texas Brushfire.  Sounds like it is, a bit more Texas.  I'd say their cuisine is Tex Mex style, but with a decent Midwestern influence. Comfort food tex mex.  Over Quarantine, I actually drove all the way down here just for a few bottles of sauce, so that they didn't go out of business.  We've been making our own nachos at home. It's not quite the same, though,  there's magic in the fresh ingredients when combined with the sauce.  Still, it worked for us during Quarantine. We liked having the sauces on hand, so we picked up a couple more while we were down there today.  So Yummy. 

And my Date.  

I've sucked him into the world of photographing our food.  He likes to post his pics on Google. Sometimes we take the exact same picture.  One more reason we're good together. 

A serious guy, for some serious food!  

If you haven't been to Roscoe's Tacos, I highly recommend you go! 

Eagle Creek and Rick's

I'd been sick.  And I wanted to go on a date with Eric. 

But my cold was so annoying I couldn't taste much. 

I didn't want to be that person coughing in public, the Covid 19 novel coronavirus is going around, and while I don't think I have it.  I don't want to be stared at because I was coughing on people.  I started coughing on Feb 29, and I really haven't stopped.  .  The coronavirus has a fever, and shortness of breath, which I don't have either of those. I have had to cough so hard I had to pee.  I do think I got some viral crud, but I'm doing the good things, drinking my Ningxia and taking my Catalyn, so I am not succumbing. This week was the first week I actually felt like doing things

Eagle Creek Park on a sunny day.

I saw the signs. 

Monday, Avon closed the schools.  Tuesday, I went to Costco. Wednesday, I went to visit Aunt Jan, pick up some stuff from her, and today, Thursday, Eric and I finally got our date lunch. 

He had been reading that along with the price of gas dropping, the price of lobster was going down. 

So I suggested we go somewhere where we could get lobster for cheaps.  

According to the interwebs, Rick's Cafe Boatyard had lobster for 'market price'. 

So off we went. 

It was a Beautiful Day. 

Filet mignon topped with crabcake and shrimp etoufee. 

After much debate about lobster, which wasn't on sale actually, I got beef. 

I love this dish. I get it every time I come here.  

So, since the lobster wasn't on sale after all. I got the old reliable, amazing filet and etoufee. 

My handsome date.  Me and my etoufee, and he got scallops and asparagus.  We started with salmon nachos, which were so weird, they were awesomely delicious. 

All good choices. Really

Don't forget to sometimes Date Your Spouse. 

It's nice to sit down and just talk to each other. 

We discussed the virus, what was happening, we could feel things were about to change. 

I'm glad we got to talk about it today, before we got the news. 

My honey and me! 

OK, so it's a lot of silhouette, and not the best shot. 

However, we look happy. 

We'd seen a blip of a basketball game while we were there. They cancelled it at half time. 

The cancelled the Basketball tournments. Things are changing.

Our lunch was Excellent.  And we had quiet adult conversation. 

I think this will be vitally important in the coming days. 

When the kids were at Kumon, we got a call from the School. 

Our schools are now closed too, we're closed for the next week, and through Spring Break.  

School's out until April 5.  At least.  

I'm glad I got a date with my husband. 

Cheesy

8/366

Sushi Date with my Honey! 

Now that the boys have been back in school after just over two weeks, it was time for Eric and I to get away on our own.  We have found the best time is to go out for a Nice Lunch. 

One of our favorite places to go on a date lunch is Sushi Club.  We did it for our 20 Dates for 20 years, and we decided to keep it on the list for last year and this year. We just decided to simply keep Sushi Club and all our other favorite date spots on the list. 

Sushi club is one of our favorites!  All we can eat for $20 a person, and it's worth it.  

I shouldn't post it here, because word will get out, and it won't be the quiet place anymore. 

Oh well too bad. 

Anyway, we ate well on a lunch date, and got to talk like grownups.  

It's hard to keep this time in our schedule, to purposefully get out once a month and have a nice meal and talk, but it's so easy to get stuck in the quagmire that is a houseful of young boys. 

Dating my Spouse helps keep me on the same page of parenthood, and he makes me laugh everyday.

We didn't feel like eating much for dinner when the time came. 

So I had fresh raspberries and yogurt for dinner, and Eric had a hunk of Cheese. 

Cheesy.