Sunday

Talk about starting early-- The Wife got up with Dylan and they went to his 8am game followed by CCD. At 10 am the whole family piled into the family transport and headed off to Shannon's Florist. They had a blow up castle and a grumpy ol man who just would not get out of the way. Ten minutes and a $19 pumpkin later we sped off to the Cortelyou farmers market. An hour of play made for some very hungry kids. Since we were within sight of San Remo's we pikced up a sausage roll, two slices and veggie pizza. We headed home where Dylan started his book report, Alexander got his fix, and Ryan and I played in the backyard. Eventually Dylan scored a playdate with the kid from around the block. This evening it is off to Dylan's "new girlfriends" house for dinner/ bbq. Thank god the weekend is almost over I am getting tired.

Ikea - Friday Night!

Patricia told the wife that she was going to IKEA since they have free dinner for the kids. Since we are in the market for a new couch for the family room we thought we would check it out. After all, they also have 45 minutes of free babysitting. So, we headed down to Red Hook for a quick visit that quickly turned into three hours.

We dropped the kids off at Ikea babysitting. Alexander opted out for 10 minutes then wanted to go and we obliged. We were able to check out the empty IKEA, scope out leather (or pleather) couches, and didn't have to entertain the kids for almost an hour.

The store is like every other IKEA in the world, but there is something about the experience when the store is virtually empty. We bought a couple of new beer mugs and new beer glasses. Checked out some sofas. Decided on some throwaway silverware. All I can say is 45 minutes goes by fast.

Dinner at Ikea is ... lets just say stick with the meatballs. I got pasta, sauce, and meatballs. The meatballs were good but the pasta sucked and the sauce was ketchup with oregano. The kids said the Mac and Cheese was gross and concurred on the pasta. The apple juice and chocolate milk passed muster. We ended up buying 2 hot dogs and a pretzel to fill up their empty stomachs. The wife liked her meatballs and mashed potatoes.

We then went through the store again with the kids doing all the things kids do:

- Jump on all furniture

- Touch everything that is fragile

- not listen

- Ask multiple times when we are going home and then running away before you can answer

At the end of the night I was impressed that we burned through 3 hours painlessly, the kids did not watch TV or play video games, and the wife and I were relatively calm. I think I found a place to go on cold winter nights.

Dylan of the Apes

Model Student

Dylan doing homework

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