Date Night

Sal just turned 7 months old.

This means, it's been 7 months since NZ and I have eaten warm dinners at the same time.

Tonight, we went on a date.

Just me and my sunshine.

We dropped Sal off at Mrs. Georgia's house and headed out on foot towards our favorite dumpling joint. I wore one of my favorite "dressy" shirts and felt pretty cute considering I've been living in the same three outfits the past three months. Bringing only one suitcase of clothes was a fantastic idea, but I miss my dresses. I really do. All 23 dresses ( remember, I had 27?) that I proudly parted ways with??? I take it back.  I miss every single one of them. Even the ones I dubbed as ugly.

Anyways, back to our "date"...NZ and I, in my cute shirt, started walking towards the main drag, and wouldn't you know.... the skies opened up and just dumped rain on us...and I'm not talking a light romantic rainfall, I'm talking from cute hair to drowned rat in 0.6 seconds.

And of course, no umbrella.

Do we keep walking and hope it passes, or head across the complex towards our apartment, grab the umbrella and change our clothes real quick?

We chose option 2. Back to the apartment, changed clothes and grabbed the umbrella--and back out the door.

Minor detour, but dinner was on the horizon.

Then we had a problem. Our umbrella only had room for one. Being the gentleman that he is, NZ gave me the umbrella and withstood the pouring rain. We laughed about how wet we were getting, because there was really no way around it. Even with an umbrella, I was getting a good dose of rain.

Oh, and by the way--flip flops--not the best choice in footwear when walking through rainy China streets. Disgusting actually. By time we arrived at the dumpling place, I had road stripe up the back of my legs from walking in my flops.

The dumplings were awesome. The beer was good. The company was even better. I sure love date night with my ol man. We got to talk. It was nice. We got to eat with both hands instead of trying to manage chopsticks with one hand, while clearing the circle of death( any items within Sal's reach)with the other. I actually got to taste the food instead of shoveling it in my mouth. It was a much needed date.

Total cost for 2 adults to eat gyoza and a couple beers?

5 RMB ($8 USD).

 Insanely cheap local fare is one of our favorite things about living here.

We headed back towards our apartment and experienced a spectacular thunder and lightening storm. It was so loud and beautiful. Of course, with the lightening and thunder came a torrential downpour, which, even with an umbrella, drenched us. We took shelter for a few minutes in the plaza ( and enjoyed ice cream!) before running to Mrs. Georgia's to pick up Sal.

Although NZ and I really enjoyed our date night, it was evident upon opening the door that someone did not like being away from us for that long. The smiling boy we left just two hours earlier was screaming to the high Heavens when we picked him up. I jokingly asked Mrs. Georgia if he did that the whole time, and she so sweetly said, " Well, not the whole time."

Separation issues, anyone?

As soon as I took Sal in my arms, he calmed down and just nuzzled in for the rainy run home. I may be naieve, but I didn't think he'd miss us. Afterall, we play at the Georgia's house all the time. I feel guilty having left him if he wasn't "ready", but are children of stay at home mom's ever ready for their first time away from mom?

Guess our next date will require a table for 3.

I've got room for two men in my life.

My sunshine, and my baby.