January with Henry

Well Henry finally got his Dinner with Dad - the wait had been killing him.  For once we actually stuck with Thursday night.  Once again, I got home from work exhausted but as I drove in the driveway, Henry came running out the door to greet me and asked when we were heading out and I said NOW.  Exhaustion gone, adrenaline pumping!

Henry got very creative and put a new twist on Dinner with Dad.  He decided he wanted pizza .... seems ordinary right, but there is a twisst.......wait for it ...... pizza at the bowling alley inbetween bowling games.  Works for me, off to the alleys we went.

First stopped at Paradise Lanes for some open bowling as advertised on their website.  Plus I had a coupon from my Entertainment book.  Well lo' and behold they did not have any open bowling available as advertised, hmmpf.  So we headed to Castle Lanes to see if they wanted to be part of our special night.  Not so much and Henry noted - gee they were not real friendly about it.

Not to be deterred there was one more chance so off ot Elmwood Plaza Bowling Center.  YES, there was room on the lanes for two fine kegglers.  From my point of view, the best part of the night happened driving between bowling alleys.  I was trying to prep Henry for the possible dissapointment of not being able to find open bowling and asked him if just dinner would be ok.  He said "I don't care, the big thing is I am getting a night out and some time with my Dad!"  Got me all verklempt.

Unlike the other Dinners with Dad thus far, this one was not about conversation, it was about knockin' those pins down.  We played three games with bumpers - although they honestly were not used much.  Henry came through with games of 124, 87 and 109.  I had 170, 153 and 138.  So with agreed upon 50 pin handicap, Henry won 2 out of 3 games and he won the total score by 9 pins!  Well done young man.  And yes, we did enjoy a tasty cheese and sausage pizza too.

Pizza and bowling = $37.45.  Time with Henry = Priceless!

January with Brittany

Well once again, we moved the Dinner with Dad night from Thursday night to Tuesday night.  One of those mega busy weeks on my behalf.  However this night worked out perfect because once again this ended up being a fund raiser night for Henry's school, this time at Noodle's and Company.

Dinner was very good.  After contemplating ordering buttered noodles and coming to the revelation that when eating out you can't go THAT plain, Brittany went for the Pesto Cavatappi (which is right in line with what I would normally order) .  I felt like something a bit spicey so I went out of my usual Mediterranean Menu comfot zone and went for Japanese Pan Noodles (with shrimp).  It was very good and only slightly spicey - no sweating bald spot tonight (which happens with REALLY spicey food).

It ended up that we picked a good night to get together.  It was Brittany's first day back to school at MU so it was also kind of a back to school celebration.  Funny how it seems like yesterday when back to school meant back to grade school and now she is all growed up.  Not only was it her first day back at school, but she also just got a promotion at work to Student Nurse which is a great accomplishment and puts her in a great spot for the upcoming two years.  After bouncing around a bit, our conversation gravitated to where it often goes with us and that is our faith.  Basically we had two themes to our discussion tonight.  1) Without faith, small things can seem monumental, with faith, small things are kept in perspective (hopefully) and 2) there is great joy to finding out that somehow you helped to increase someone else's faith and thus had a positive affect on their life.  I have no doubt that Brit does that every day!

As we were just about ready to head out, Lisa and Henry walked in to also contribute to the fund raiser night.  Brit headed out as Vince picked her up and I hung with Henry and Lisa - thankfully they have beer at Noodles, so I had "dessert."

Dinner = $14.50.  Time with Brittany = Priceless!

January with Sara

Once again a slight adjustment to the schedule.  We moved our date to Wednesday because Thursday this week is Cub Scouts and Pinewood Derby car building night.  I also broke my own rule of letting the kids choose the restaurant.  I chose The Chancery because they were doing a fund raiser for Henry's school John Paul Academy II tonight so we had dinner and raised money all in one night :).  It was a rough night for me to go out because our big layoff at work happened today.  I had to walk two people out and watch several others leave - lots of tears and sadness.  However, a date with Sara made me forget about all the work stuff and gave me some good laughs and smiles.

I got home from work about 6 and then Sara showed up at our house shortly thereafter so that Rose (her 5 month old baby) could spend some time with Grandma Lisa and Uncle Henry - we all win :).  It had been a while since I had been at The Chancery and the menu had changed quite a bit.  Sara had an Avocado Burger and I had Fish Taco's.  We both were very happy with our choices for dinner.

Sara just moved into a new apartment on New Year's Eve so we talked about them getting settled in to the new place.  Like usual, a conversation between Sara and I wanders all over the place and we did tonight too - from taxes, to cats, to creepy old friends, to men versus women's abilty to remember things - draw your own conclusions on that one - discuss.  We talked about Sara's job and financial future.  She will be taking CNA classes next month and hopefully that will lead to some good job opportunities.  She also talked about how they are now budgeting their money in a very orderly spreadsheet (just like Daddy taught her :)).  She also made the profound statement that they budget based on 40 hour/week income now versus what they were doing - budgeting assuming overtime.  This now creates a bonus when there is overtime instead of a problem when there was not overtime.  I laughed and told her that would be good advice for the Execs at my company - long story but fitting.

I also came up with the idea of taking a picture of each Dinner but did not think of it until we got home.  So here is a piture of me and Sara back at home after dinner - obviously I ate too much. 

Back to the house we went for Sara to pick up Rose.  Rose was sound asleep in Grandma's arms while they were watching the movie "Mars Needs Moms" - I am thinking that was Uncle Henry's idea.  Sara was on her way by about 9:00 and I am exhausted.

Dinner = $35.36.  Time with Sara = Priceless!

January with Joe

Right off the bat, we had to make a slight adjustment.  As of now, the monthly Dinner with Dad for Joe is going to actually be Lunch with Dad.  Joe woks second shift and thus Dinner is not doable.  The good thing is that Joe lives about 15 minutes from my office so it is a welcome break from my day - especially these days as we are having a tough time at work moving towards a rather large layoff in the near future.

I left the office about Noon to meet up with Joe.  I called Joe as I left and obviously just woke him up.  By the time I got there he was good to go.  He chose Jimmy John's - good with me because I am partial to a good sub.  I had the "Italian Night Club" (or a #9 for those of you that frequent Jimmy John's often) and Joe went with the "Turkey Tom" (or #4).

Joe just passed the 90 day mark at his job which meant getting hired on full time and getting benefits.  This is great news given that Joe has bounced around on jobs over recent years and now seems to have found a good place to work and is doing well.  Next step is to buy a car so we chatted about a possible car from Uncle Roy or possibly him buying our old Suburban - if I can actually pull the trigger on a new one.  Joe also talked about how he once again has lost contact with Melissa (the mother of his daughter Aura) but that is mainly because of Andrew (Melissa's SO) not being real keen on Joe talking to her.  Joe has gotten a good perspective on this situation and actually appreciates the fact that Aura has been raised by Melissa and Andrew and they have since had more kids so she is in a family and that is good.

Well I had to get back to lunch too quick and before you knew it we were on our way.  I dropped Joe off, he was very appreciative of the lunch and I think even more for the company which made my day!

Dinner = $15.46.  Time with Joe = Priceless!