Why the Day Date Wins

The day date trumps the night date right now for our family. Why? Well by the time 7:30pm rolls around for Wes and I to attempt to leave the house we are exhausted. We have either worked all day or played with kids or both….AND just endured the 4-7pm crazy time of dinner, bath and bedtime routine. After all that we are ready to sit in peace on the couch and read or watch TV while the kids are sleeping instead of mustering up energy to pull ourselves together presentable enough to leave the house.

So we decided after a few sleepy date nights with zone-out conversations (aka too tired to talk and we both wear a blank stare) we decided lets date when we are still in our prime of the day. What part of the day is that? Probably post-breakfast but that is not really feasible. So to be easiest on the babysitters we decided to give up our precious downtime where we sometimes nap to go out on our date. The first time we did this we spent too much money on a late lunch and dessert and bought a house plant. So we decided from now on… we would rather spend our money doing something fun that we couldn't do with kids. Eating we can do. So today my friend Lonnie came over, we put the girls down, I left way too many instructions for her (not because I don't trust her but because I am me and want it easy on her and easy on the girls), and we left. We left super pumped to be driving about a mile from our house to do something we see people doing daily as we stroll the girls on the sidewalk by Lake Union. We rented a double kayak and paddled our way around the lake for an hour. It was so fun to do a shared experience with Wes. We were only out on water for a little over an hour but it was my first time kayaking, the sun was out, the houseboats looked cute, the other boaters and paddle boarders were friendly (not giving the normal Seattle freeze), and Wes did most of the work as I got to enjoy just gliding along a lot of the time :)

We grabbed some ice cream and we were back in about 2 hours total…sad I know... (before Leighton even woke up from her nap). Maybe in the future we can stretch out the time we are away and know the girls will be fine and the sitters won't be burdened. We are already thinking of somethings we can do next time that aren't kid-friendly or we just want to do alone. If you are a parent and only consider evening time the date time, re-think the day date. It worked for us, granted I know that we went on a Monday because we both work/have obligations on Sat and Sundays but you could do a mid-day Saturday date if you work M-F normally!

Cheers to kayaking! And cheers to spending quality time (because we spend quantity time together all the time parenting) with the spouse!