Girls Day + Family Night = Happy Me.

There are some days when everything goes right.  In a house with teenagers, this is the rare occurrence--ask any parent of teenagers and they'll tell you the truth in this statement.  But yesterday, ahh...yesterday, was the perfect Saturday.  Truth be told, it began with quite the wonderful week.

I woke up bright and early yesterday morning, and not because I wanted to but because my son needed a ride to work (and yes, he did pay his five dollars to get to and from work yesterday...).  We left the house at 6:30 am, and I gave my daughter a quick wake up warning before I left--letting her know she'd have about 30 minutes to get ready for the day once I got home.  On the way to Fuzzy's work, I stopped at Mc-A-Ds for him where he got his breakfast fill-up.  I don't know where the child puts it all.  He downed his 350 calorie Ensure before ordering 2 burritos, hash browns, and a Dr. Pepper.  Seriously--the breakfast of champions.

Once I got home, I nudged my daughter again to let her know she had 30 minutes or so before we needed to leave.  Then into the shower for me.  She was ready before I was done and we jumped in the car--without me realizing it was only 7:45.  We didn't have our hair appointments until 9, but decided we'd hit up a Starbucks and have breakfast before our appointment at the salon.  It was so nice sitting sipping coffee and eating some treats with my daughter.  I love listening to her chat up a storm--her voice filled with excitement about different things.  This week it's her dreams of being either a lawyer (first time for this dream) or a CSI agent or a detective.  Recently she received offers of summer youth leadership programs for law/CSI work at Stanford, Columbia, and George Mason.  Her excitement is contagious and we chatted about fundraisers and what she'll need to do to get to George Mason for the summer program.

 

Soon we were off to the salon, where one of my co-workers from Sky Vista is also a miracle worker with hair.  She did her magic and Rissa and I left feeling gorgeous, happy, and kept running our fingers through the silk on our heads.  We hit Park Meadows and had the best time shopping, having some lunch, and having fun.  Just the perfect afternoon with my daughter.  Love days like yesterday!

From there we zoomed over to Safeway in Denver to pick up Fuzz from work.  We headed into the store to surprise him, and he came strolling on over.  I had some extra Nuggets tickets and he gave them to his boss.  He was happy to do so, as he wanted to brown nose just a bit.  I thought it was cute as he showed Marissa and I the areas he's responsible for keeping "perfect" in the store.  When Marissa picked up some Easter treats and put them down, he was quick to tell her to face them forward--telling us the time he spent earlier "fixing" the aisle.  We walked around, bought a couple of things, and finally left.

The sun was still shining and we were all craving something sweet, so we stopped at DQ on the way home.  No counting calories for me on Saturdays!  Fuzz was be-bopping the entire way home--perhaps it was the sugar, perhaps he was just happy to be out of work.  Regardless I love the times when there is no arguing and instead laughter and silliness in its place.  I relish these moments.  We cranked the music and watched him dance the entire way home.

From there we picked up Kent and headed over to Dave and Buster's.  I love this place--mostly because of how good they were to me in 1997, when I opened the store as the accountant.  At the time I was a single mom, going to school, and they took such great care of me.  From the hours I worked to sending me home with stuffed animals for the kids on a weekly basis--they were simply kind.  The kids have been going there from the time they were little.  We have memories of Brandon and I beating the Jurassic Park game, and little Marissa rolling up those wooden balls on the SkeeBall game.  We have shot a million basketballs for tickets and raced many horses with
the water gun.  And while it's not a cheap place to spend the afternoon, never did they let me pay in those early years when I was a single mom.  Seriously.  They would pay for our Power Cards, our meals, our drinks.  And when the kids didn't have enough tickets to get the "cool" gifts, my manager would give us the hook-up.  Things have changed a bit in the sense where I now pay for their Power Cards, and yes we pay for our meal, but one of my old managers still works there and still hooks the kids up.  Last night it was adding another 250 points to each of their cards--Kent and I purchased 375 points on each of their cards, so they were off and running.  Two hours laters, with a crapload of tickets, we headed into the SWAG area--it used to be called the Winner's Circle back in the day...  Marissa came out on top with 5714 tickets and Brandon had 5280--almost 11,000 tickets between the two of them.  Ridiculous!  They walked out of the place with Apple headphones, a remote control car, and a plasma ball--no wonder they love the place.

Kent and I love the place too.  It was here where on date #3, he finally planted one on me.  It's where we are able to sit and chat for a few hours, drinking a cold one, and relaxing--all the while knowing the kids are having a great time.  It's where we can compete against one another, should we choose to, or join forces.  We've come here with friends, with the kids, and just by ourselves.  It's where I plan on throwing his 50th birthday party this November.

It was just a great day--from beginning to end.  As the kids are getting older, the times we get to spend together seem to be getting fewer and further between.  There's always something going on, someone working, or just something that gets in the way of spending time all together.  So I cherish these moments and love when the days, like Saturday, are simply perfect.