1 Valentines Day... 3 Dates... one lucky guy

A few weeks ago I was trying to plan Valentines Day with Sarah and I got the idea to do an individual date with each of the 3 special ladies in my life. So I set up a breakfast date with Raquel, a lunch date with Sierra and a dinner date with Sarah. On my way home from work Friday I picked up flowers for all three and then on Saturday I started off with Raquel and we went to breakfast at her favorite restaurant Farmer Boy. She was dressed so cute in her pink heart shirt and brown courduroy pants. She loved her yellow rose, and her card with monkey heart stickers but the big hit was the chocolates in the Dora and Diego heart box especially when I let her eat one after her pancakes and eggs. She was the hit of the restaurant with her big grin and incessant chatter. I got a few "you're the best daddy ever" and that always make my day.




Then I managed to get in a 45 minute, 3 mile walk for my 1/2 marathon training and got cleaned up and dressed up in a tie to take Sierra on a special date to a fancy Restaurant which she was very excited about. The restaurant we wanted to go to wasn't open for lunch so we settled on a slightly less fancy restaurant but she was none the wiser. On the way there she broke my heart because we were listening to "I loved her first" by Heartland (great song by the way if you have daughters) and she's singing along and then all of the sudden she starts tearing up and crying and I asked her what was wrong and she said "I don't want to leave when I grow up" (you have to listen to the song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXhJ3oCg3K8) Of course this got me going, I practically cry every time I hear that song anyway. I asked her to not think about that right now and to enjoy all the time we get together but she wouldn't stop so I had to promise that she didn't have to leave until she was ready and that I wouldn't let her go unless we found the right guy for her... then she says, "if we find the right guy for me he'll probably let me come visit anytime I want" Anyhow, I was all emotional after that but we went to lunch and she was especially excited to have me "escort" her in by the arm and take her coat. We enjoyed a nice meal and she too loved her rose, card and chocolate. I finally have women figure out, flowers, cards and chocolate:-)





Then it was time to relax a little in the afternoon before going to pick up the babysitter so Sarah and I could go out. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the Wooster Inn even though I was disappointed that they took the appetizer (elk sausage and cheese platter) and entree (duck) I wanted to order off the menu for Valentines Day because "they take too long to prepare" so I settled for a Baked Camembert Cheese with honey and chutney for appetizer and a huge Ribeye. I also had 1/2 of a chocolate strawberry that they brought with the bill which was the first sweet I had partaken of since January 1st. I didn't feel too bad because I have lost about 16 lbs in that time frame. Afterwards we were going to go to a movie but bagged it and drove 25 minutes to Target just for the heck of it and enjoyed some time out by ourselves (in our defense there's not much to do around her besides the movies) Anyhow it was a good time of just being together.

I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to share the special day with all my girls