Valentine's Day 2015

In the weeks leading up to Valentine's Day, I kept feeling like we should do something special this year.  I asked the boys for ideas, but their concept of a great time is staying home relaxing.  Not much help!  Then, as it got closer, I kept thinking about some friends we've been wanting to have over.  I was deeply impressed that we should invite them for Valentine's Day, but who does that?  It's a day for couples to be alone, staring into each other's eyes in the dark corner of a restaurant!  (Not that we've ever done that!)  Yet the urge wouldn't leave!  I finally called, and the wife suggested we go on a double date.  LOVED the idea!  Why have I never thought of that?  Their mom was already watching their kids for the day, and a couple of Kylen's friends were able to come hang out with him.  We carpooled from our house around 2 p.m., went to Red Lobster for an early dinner, hung out at the mall for an hour, and headed to Laser Quest to take advantage of a special deal for three games of laser tag.

Aren't we cute?!

Best part of the meal!

The big shocker when we walked into Laser Quest was that the older of my two brothers was there with a bunch of his people.  I hadn't seen him and his wife or kids in over a year, so that was pretty cool.  We all exchanged greetings, and they still had another game to play, so we ended up playing our first game together!  I had an average first game and bad second game. The crowd in our third game was mostly guys in their teens and 20's, so I figured I didn't have a chance.  But things went unusually well, and I came in 5th out of 32 players!  Possibly my best game ever.  I NEVER do better than Greg, and he came in 16th.  It really made my day!  Our friends were Thing 1 and Thing 2, I was Thing 3, and Greg was Thing 4.  (The remaining ranks of 25-32 showed when this screen changed.)

Upon arriving home, I found this on our front door:

A touching card for us and chocolate for Kylen from my other brother!!  Turns out he stopped by while we were gone, and Kylen didn't hear the doorbell because he was out back jumping on the trampoline with his friends!!!

I wanted to do something special with Kylen too, so the following day we went to the fancy brunch buffet at the Coeur d'Alene Resort we sometimes enjoy for special occasions.

A cake in their display case:

View from our seats.

My favorite part of the meal was their chicken masala.  It had a subtle but delicious flavor and lots of mini mushrooms.

After stuffing ourselves, I did a little shopping while Kylen got some driving practice with Greg.

On our way out of town,  I noticed a new art installment.  I'm not sure how long it's been there, but we thought it was awesome!  Gigantic dandelions ready to scatter their metallic seeds.

 

 

Back at home, we exchanged cards, played games, and . . . relaxed, just as the boys like.  It was a great Valentine weekend!