February with Henry

Henry and I had our Dinner with Dad today - the first time Dinner with Dad has been moved to a Saturday and with good reason.

Henry had chosen Stone Fire Pizza as his February destination.  Since this is located about a half hour from home, plus the fact that dinner at Stone Fire Pizza is more than a meal, it's dinner and games, we needed more than a school night's available time.

We arrived a little after 1pm and went right to the buffet.  I had never been to Stone Fire Pizza before and was surprised with the variety of choices in the buffet line.  From fruits and salads to nachos to a build your own baked potato to kids fare (including tots!) and of course several pizzas.  Henry stuck mostly with the pizza, I sampled the salad, nachos and several of the pizza slices - all very good.

Then it was on to the games.  For those of you not familiar with the setup - it is very much like Chuck E. Cheese where you play games, get tickets and then trade in for trash oops I mean treasures. Henry and I each played games and accumulated 266 tickets.  We scored big on skee ball, Deal or No Deal, Trivia and Big Bass Fishing and pop-a-shot basketball.

Henry's treasure include a sword (not real), a tiny basketball ball and hoop (to go along with the two bigger ones in the house), vampire teeth (not real) and a 1:452 scale model of a jet (also not real).

We had a great time and it was a wonderful way to spend a winter Saturday afternoon.  We left at about 3:30 after two hours of food and fun!

Dinner and games = $32.76  Time with Henry = Priceless!

I forgot my phone so we had to take the picture after we got home.

February with Brittany

Well for the first time, a Dinner with Dad was moved to a Friday evening.  After a long complicated week, Brit and I met at Penara's tonight.  We had originally planned on meeting at 6:30, but then we moved it up to 6:15 because Brit had plans after dinner.  Earlier in the week Brit sent me this text "Do you think you could make it to dinner closer to 6:15?  Just have to be in Kenosha about 7:30 and don't want to be rushed!"  I was thrilled by the fact that Brittany made sure not to cut our time short.

I definitely liked the Friday thing.  I think we both were in a different mode than middle of the week and our conversation revolved more around the quarkiness of life versus the details of the events of our lives.  Brittany and I are definitely on the same page when it comes to our world view, grand philosphy, big picture or what every you want to call it and we love to share how sometimes that makes the world seem a bit strange.

Brittany had the soup and salad deal and I had a Cuban Chicken Hot Pannini.  I liked my sammich and recommend it if you are into the chicken, ham, cheese thing - which I can be.

Time flew and before you knew it, Vince was there to wisk Brit off to the rest of their evening.  It was good to see him too and share a couple of quick laughs.  Now its time to call this week done and enjoy a couple of days off.

Dinner = $19.53. Time with Brittany = Priceless!



 

February with Sara

The timing for Dinner with Dad for February with Sara worked out to be perfect timing.  Sara has had a big couple of days and was eager to share.

Sara brought Rose over about 5:30.  Henry had Cub Scouts tonight so Sara and I dropped him off on the way to dinner which left Grandma Lisa all alone with baby Rose so it was a good night for all!

Sara chose Olive Garden for tonight's dinner.  Another fine choice as far as I am concerned.  Sara did the fantastic Soup and Salad deal and I went with the Eggplant Parmigiana.  Both were very good although I have to admit that Olive Garden Eggplant Parmigiana is not even close to how good Eggplant Parmigiana is at Infusino's.

The night started with a strange text from Sara.  She said that she picked Olive Garden as the location and she will drive.  I was not sure why she wanted to drive but started to think that maybe I have already started driving like my Dad and that was Sara's polite way of saying that she would rather take her life into her own hands.  But thankfully I was wrong.  Yesterday Sara bought a new car.  She bought a 2011 Chevy HHR.  Very nice vehicle and it was nice to have her drive (more beer for me).  Sara had a great buying experience and highly recommends Russ Darrow Mazda in Greenfield - ask for Todd.

Today was also Sara's first day in CNA class.  She has entered this 5 week course at Gateway Tech and is going for her CNA certification after that.  She shared with me this hand washing video - very cheeky.  I can tell by Sara's enthusiasm that she is going to do very well in this class and I am very excited to see her so excited about the class.

Dinner = $44.06. Time with Sara = Priceless!

February with Joe

Well January is already in the books and now it is on to month two of Dinner with Dad.  Joe's "Lunch with Dad" was moved back to Friday instead of Thursday.  I took a well needed day off of work today and Lunch with Joe was the only thing on my schedule so it was a chance to actually take some time for lunch rather than rush back to work.

So we walked to a place in downtown Waukesha where Joe had never been but he said he had been curious to try.  The name of the place is People's Park.  It's website describes it as "A charming Civil War era building, in the heart of downtown Waukesha, transformed into an airy urban space."  It was very nice and gave me a different view on downtown Waukesha.

Joe went with the grilled pork tenderloin sandwich with a side of sweet potato fries and I went with the chipoltle grilled chicken with avocado with a side saled of cucuumbers, tomatoes and greek olives.  We both loved the food and ate every last morsel.  Also, since I was on a vacation day, it was nice to have a couple Moon Mans with lunch (New Glarus seasonal brew).

Not much has change with Joe since last month and actually could be summed up with more of the same.  Still working the two jobs and saving some $$.  He is interested in buying the Verstegen's older car so we are going to make that happen next weekend.  Other than that just talked a little politics, Super Bowl and stuff.  Very pleasant and non-rushed conversation.

I think Joe liked the more relaxed pace and suggested moving my dinner with him to a weekend day so it is not so rushed - good idea.

Dinner = $38.49. Time with Joe = Priceless!

The picture is a little dark since we had our backs to the window - but it actually makes it look a bit artsy which fits the feel of the restaurant.