We're Dating!!!!

So... while we were on our zoo adventure, my friend Megan and I came up with a simply wonderful babysitting arrangement--we were both feeling very date-deprived because although our babies are old enough/weaned enough ;) to leave them with a babysitter, we are faced new challenges... namely not wanting to actually pay said babysitter! ;) So, we decided to switch watching each other's kid so we can date! It's the perfect setup, because we're both in the same situation--Megan's son, Maddox, is about Tagg's age, and we each have a husband who can stay home and put our own boy to sleep while we go over to put the other little one to sleep! Bliss!

Jed and I have been on one date so far with this set-up, and switched babysitting with another friend for yet another date, and it has been AWESOME!!! We have the same conversations we'd have just chillin at home in the family room after Tagg goes to sleep, but it's just different when we're actually looking at each other and have each other's undivided attention! I love it!

Here are the relatively complete play-by-plays of our dates so far:

1. We got a coupon in the mail for a free, no-strings-attached dinner for two at Buca di Beppo, so of course we had to do that! How awesome! After that, Jed took me over to Westgate where we just talked while he walked through the shops with his arm around me (thank goodness it was chilly and I was underdressed! ;) ... Then, as we still had a little while, we... drumroll please... went grocery shopping! Yeah! :) Ha-- we had a great time together! It was hilarious, though, because after 2 hours, we were like, "Well, what do you want to do? ... Mind if we go grocery shopping?" ;)

2. I brought some surprises with me and we headed off to the... grocery store... (anyone see a pattern emerging? ;) to grab some sparkling grape juice, which we took (along with a blanket and the surprises) with us to my favorite park in our neighborhood. It was about 8:30pm by this time, so we laid out the blanket on the grass next to the playground and ate the first surprises (homemade chocolate covered strawberries that didn't turn out so hot but that got eaten--by me--anyway ;) by the light of the neighbors' bright-as-heaven and aimed-at-the-park-to-deter-hooligans spotlight. We chatted it up for a while, which was positively delightful (my new favorite word :). Then I had Jed close his eyes while I hid the second surprise (a few Easter eggs) around the playground. This was followed by my sweet hubby cruising around to find the eggs and finally opening them to find coupons for favors such as "A foot massage!" "A backscratch!" and "A kiss!", which was in turn followed by our sneaky idea to hop the fence surrounding the neighborhood high school's baseball field and lay on the field to look up at the stars. I was having a fabulous time listening to Jed tell me stories of his hooligan childhood days (I guess that spotlight was well placed :), which were marked by multiple police chases for fairly benign boy mischief, when what to our wondering eyes did appear, but a Glendale cop's headlights shining quite near! We both popped up, looked at each other and simultaneously uttered the one phrase that says it all to a hooligan: "It's a cop!" Hopping the fence this time was much quicker and much less careful, and hiding behind the dugout with our hearts pounding was definitely much more exciting than another night of watching TV while folding laundry :)