Date Night - Pointfest and Cedar Point

Date Night! Woohoooooo!!!

Thank you to www.itickets.com for sponsoring a fabulous date with my hubby! 

 On Wednesday I received a call that I had won tickets to Cedar Point and PointFest on Saturday.  I then jumped on the phone and called Grandpa and Grandma and asked if they want 4 little visitors! 

It was fun to watch Royal Taylor, Franscesca Battistelli, Skillet, Jaimie Grace and more. We rode rides, or should I say I rode rides for my husband!  

 My feet like to stay on the ground, unless I am in an airplane. My hubby has jumped out of an airplane.

Of course he wanted to ride the biggest fastest Roller Coasters.  

A little Dramamine and lots of praying helped me stay calm!

 My highlight of the day (well, besides me time with the hubs) was Francesca Battistelli!  When ever we hear "I lost my keys", the volume knob cranks and 4 little singers and dancers belt it out as if they were on stage! Click below and picture my 4 kids singing like crazy to this song!

 Look...no kids...okay, we did miss them...but, look no kids!

 What a job it would be to build Roller Coasters! It sure does look neat from below!

 This was the ride that my hubby said he wanted to ride all day.  I thought...no problem...I can sit in a swing.  It really doesn't go fast.  I'll be fine. The lady that got out of my swing before me said she has never been so terrified.  I thought she was exaggerating.  Let's just say that when I got off my knuckles were white and I wanted to fall on the ground and kiss it! Never again.  Been there, done that. I rode everything my hubby wanted to and I got my Elephant Ear on the way out of the gate. I'm not sure if it was worth all of the riding to get my Elephant Ear but I couldn't leave without one.  My Dad used to get us one when we went to Cedar Point when I was little so I had to get one!

Great Date!  It was nice to spend time just the two of us.  It has been too long.

Thanks Love for helping me to do something that caused me to step out of my Mommy Box! 

...and caused me to soar to new heights (literally) 

that I would not do on my own (and may never do again! ha!). 

Anything for you!

I Love you!

Project: Valentine's Day Can 'O Dates

The blog Dating Diva's is fabulous if you need date night ideas. You can find them by clicking HERE!  I found them a few years ago and it is a blog that is a go to when I need some ideas on a creative date night!  I got the following idea at their blog for my man (I guess it is for me, too!).  My husband is so incredibly busy.  He is in school full time and working whenever possible.  We have cut back in a lot of areas while we are in this season.  We coupon, eat in, enjoy family nights at home, etc.  When it comes to gifts we also try to come up with something that is usable, made if possible, and fun!  

Here is the perfect thing for us this Valentine's Day!

The paint can can be bought at Home Depot for a few bucks.  

My hubby had one that he used for school last semester so I repurposed it for him!

 You can find this with free printables HERE!

How cute!  

Glimpse Into Motherhood: Week of 8/14/11 - 8/21/11

This week we went to Marblehead, Ohio and camped with Grandma! We had a great time! We  played hard, swam hard, visited hard and enjoyed every minute!

First stop....Visit Daddy at work!  It was the "funest" time ever!

How many somersaults can you do at a time???? "Wish we had a big house so we could do this all day" Middle Sis said.

How'd Lil Bro get up there?

Next stop....a party to help celebrate Uncle Bob and Aunt Caroline's anniversary/birthday! Behave Daddy!

Now we are behaving :)

Uncle Piper is that you in the background???

I think it is Uncle Piper :)  Smile!

On to our week of camping!

The kids had a great time playing at the playground that I played at while visiting my Great Grandparents!  The equiptment changed a bit but it still brings back a lot of great memories!

We visited Grandma Beadles house. No one was home, which was a good thing since we took LOTS of pictures on their steps and around the house!  I wish I could have opened the squeaky back door, smelled the Molasses cookies wafting through the air, and sat on her vintage metal chairs.

We ate THE BEST ice cream ever!  The Dairy Dock knows how to do it right!  We always stop here when we are in town.  I have had a lot of other orange/vanilla twists but nothing compares to this. You might as well pick up a chicken sandwich while you are here, too!

When Daddy wasn't working we got to see him a little and throw rocks into the pond!

Here is an outfit I bought before my oldest was born.  I thought she was a he and dreamed of how cute it would be for baby to wear this and work with his Daddy.  Well, Big Sis came out and was a girl with 2 more sisters to follow.  This outfit finally got to make it's debut!  Congrats little Buddy!  You are so cute in this outfit!  It was bought 7 years before you!

Here are a few hotshots at the pool....watch out New York Fashion week here we come!

Congrats Daddy!  You got A's in your sumer classes!  Let's CELEBRATE!

We are SO proud of you Daddy!

Great Grandpa Rofkar (aka: Grandpa Rocker!) is getting fitted for an original piece of jewelry made by Miss Lil Sis!

And Great Grandma gets one too!

It's always sad when they leave....hope to see them really soon!

Project 52 - 5 - Dinner with Chef Robert Irvine

Project 52 - 5 - Dinner with Chef Robert Irvine

Our date night this week took us to Hilton Head Island where my husband and I got away from the kids for a few hours and we had an unforgettable night out!  We decided to celebrate our 10 year anniversary splurging on dinner at Eat! a restaurant owned by the chef on Food Networks Dinner Impossible.  This is one of our favorite shows and we were so excited when we found out that Chef Robert had a restaurant on Hilton Head Island! We walked in and were seated in the bar area.  There was the actual bar and then a room full of neat little tables with ottomans and benches covered in throw pillows.  The lighting was dark with accent lights all around.  I did try to take some inconspicuous pics but it was too dark.

Let's just say that even the detail from the food to the dishes was unbelievable!  We went on a Tuesday night so that we could order off the Tapa's menu at half price.  With all our research we found that a lot of people go Tuesday nights and order drinks and Tapa's and no entree.  That is what we decided to do!  We wanted to get a little taste of everything since we had previously seen him make these dishes on the show. We sat at one the the neat little tables surrounded by 2 small square ottomans and the end of an L shaped couch.  We sat close at the L  and began what was a nice long conversation. We started off with drinks.  My husband ordered a glass of wine and I ordered the black dragonberry drink (a combo of lime, mint, blackberries, crushed ice, and sprite if you want the non-alcoholic version).  We then ordered several Tapa's that they brought out individually.  Up first were the Carolina Shrimp (pecan crusted huge shrimp with an orange creole sauce) followed by the Paneed Blue Crab Cakes (accompanied by roasted corn relish and sizzled chard), Beef Short Ribs (with a Hoisen demi glaze and sweet goat cheese butter), and Prime Beef Sliders (with brie, pickles and blue cheese tossed romaine).  We had to order one more menu item that we have wanted to try since we saw it....Lobster Mac and Cheese!  Once we finished everything we couldn't leave without desert.  My hubby ordered the Chocolate Ridiculous Cake and I ordered the Creme Brulee.  I had made Creme Brulee before but have never tried it as it is supposed to be made!  The cake was 10 layers of chocolaty goodness, which was absolutely ridiculous!  The Creme Brulee had a top crispy sugar layer that hid the delicious creamy under layer.  Everything was exceptional.  It was perfectly cooked.  The shrimp...just right...actually better than just right with a marmalade that was perfect.  The crab cakes....no filler there...succulent.  Beef Sliders...I was not a fan of Brie and Blue Cheese until I took a bite of these! Lobster Mac...everything I dreamed of.  When dinner was finished we sat and sipped our drinks and I looked up and there was Chef Robert, himself.  He came over and sat down and talked with us.  We talked about his show. How he flew in the night before and was leaving the following day for tapings.  We talked about our kids and his kids.  He pulled out a Sharpie and signed my menu.

He even signed a Food Network Promo card!

I then asked if we could get our picture with him!

A Food Network Junkies Dream! What a night to remember! 

Bonus we got out of there for $30 and some change per person...not too bad for drinks, dinner and desert at a high end eatery! I am sold on Eat!

http://www.eathhi.com/

Check out Project 52 here and sign up yourself!

Project 52 - 4 - Movie and Popcorn

I know renting a movie may be something people commonly do but for us to rent something we can see without children and something that is an adult type of movie is very rare here.  First part of the night ~ Feed the kids, bathe the kids, and put those kids to bed!  A success!  We popped some popcorn and hit play.  We started with Couples Retreat because it was recommended by friends.

It was okay but not one I'd buy or watch again. Oh wait....Our 3 year old woke up, ate popcorn with me as my hubby slept on the couch, and we finished the movie together.  I guess popcorn has the same effect as Folgers does on the Christmas commercials!  Date disqualified!  Note to self: Popcorn wakes kids up and only plan a movie if you and the hubster aren't exhausted!

Project 52 - 3 - Night under the Stars

Date Night # 3: Star Light Star Bright, First Star I See Tonight, I Wish I May I Wish I Might Get the Wish I Make Tonight....

How romantic, to sit under the stars and try to guess if it is a planet or a star or try to find constellations....well, times have changed and technology has taken over.  I LOVE my new DROID!  We put the kids to bed and we went out to the drive way with my phone and used the Google Sky Map application and spent a good half an hour gazing at stars and planets and knowing what was what.

 Coolest part is that if you hold the phone towards the ground you can see what stars are on the other side of the world.  We saw all of the planets or at least saw where they were located.  We have always tried guessing where certain constellations were but never knew and now we know what is what.  How Cool!  Super fun way to view the stars but nothing is better than viewing them the old fashioned way as well!

Check out Project 52 here and sign up yourself!

Project 52 - 2 - Is a nap really a date?

So, some may say that a nap is not spending quality time with your spouse.  I beg to differ!  Now that we have 4 munchkins running around (or I guess I should say 3 running and 1 just laying there) any time without the 4 qualifies as quality time with your mate.

We started looking for a movie to rent on PayPerView but nothing started soon enough in order that we could watch it and be done with it before the nappers awoke.  So after the thought of vegging out to a movie we decided that spending time on the couch sleeping was good enough for us!  Thanks to the kids sleeping extra long, we got a 4 hour nap in!  That was definitely better than we could have ever dreamed...or did we?

Project 52 - 1 - Olive Garden and Shopping

My wonderful hubby surprised me with a much needed night out.  Since I haven't been out of the house over the past several months, excepts for doctors appointments and for the hospital, I was excited to go out.  Not knowing how much walking I could do we decided to spend our evening, with only baby in tow, returning items, dinner, and walking through Target. I spent the returns part of the evening sitting in the car while I watched my hubby run in and out of a few stores in the torrential down pour.  

We then went to Olive Garden ~ a place that has a quieter atmosphere and never disappoints.  

The salad and bread sticks were a wonderful start to dinner.  We both ordered off of the new menu and loved every bite. Who knew Fonduta could be so good!  We sat and talked while the baby slept in his car seat. The waiter apologized that it took 24 minutes for our dinner to come out.  Believe me, we did not realize it took that long because we were without kids! There were no spills to clean up, mouths to wipe, kids to remind to be quieter, etc.  It was wonderful!  

After we were done we went to Target and enjoyed looking around while we picked up a few needed items. It was nice to get out of the house and spend time with my husband.  I had him all to myself. 

Project 52 ~ And so it begins!

Is life too crazy to take on another challenge?  Do you ever feel like if you add one more thing to your plate you will be pushed over the edge?  Just breathe....We have taken our own oath the slow down.  To create family once again.  Up until a few months ago we constantly ran and ran.  We couldn't say no to people and we drove ourselves crazy because of it.  We were tired, our kids were tired and our house was a mess because all we would do is load up, unload, reload and it was a constant cycle.   We love our family and want to create wonderful memories.  And so it began.  Yes, I do have to admit that doctors orders of very strict restrictions before our baby was born showed us what life could be like if we could just make things and keep things simple.  So on to our challenge.  Now that we have vowed to not take anything new into our lives a new project/challenge entered our lives.  Project 52.  I ordinarily would not suggest 52 things to my husband but this is different.  We spend our days loving God and our children with all we are, working, and going to church.  Something is missing.  Yes it is the husband/wife part.  I told my husband about Project 52 nd we decided to jump on the bandwagon and commit.  Yes, I did say COMMIT.  We have signed on.  We are going to do this...and love every minute of it.   We just have to get used to this blogging thing! 10 years ago we made another commitment and this will be an extension of it. I love my husband and he loves me and so it begins...

 This is how it works:     
Project 52: Date Nights with us! Whether you are in a relationship, engaged or married, I want you to commit to having weekly date nights with your special someone. I want the both of you to take this pledge. Read it, fill it out, sign it and post it somewhere you can see frequently. A little hesitant? Don’t worry, you can join Project 52: Date Nights any time.

Take the Project 52: Date Nights Pledge

Then check in with us every Tuesday for ideas, comments, feedbacks from our Project 52: Date Nights and yours. We want to hear from you and what creative ideas you came up with for date nights. Make comments and report how your date nights went each week. By the way, this is a family friendly site. So all dates and ideas will be appropriate for all ages. And please keep your comments family friendly too.
The pledge. Here is the Project 52: Date Nights pledge in PDF form for you to print out. Print one out for yourself. And maybe a few extras for your friends or family members to get them in on the fun. Discuss the project with your special someone. Talk about what is feasible for the two of you. Set a date and time to help you pencil that date in your calendars. Come up with a few criteria of your own. If you don’t want to do in house date nights, then plan going out date nights. The two important points here are be creative and keep it simple.
So… are you in or not? Make sure to involve your friends and families. Get them to take the pledge with their special someone. The more couples we get to do this, the more ideas and motivations we get to support each other in Project 52: Date Nights. While doing Project 52: Date Nights with us, if you come up with great ideas let me know so I can feature you on SMM! Come on! It’s only once a week. Only 52 dates to last you the whole year. Let’s do this!
http://www.simplymodernmom.com/category/project-52/