January Date Days

 So I'm getting back into making sure we have family date days and 1:1 dates with the kids. This month was my choice for the family date day and Lucy's 1:1 date.

For the family date day, I chose the Butterfly Biosphere. We went once when it opened back when Gwen was a little baby, but I knew it would be a great winter activity since it's so warm there. Also, one of Cara's school friend's mom's was antsy to get out of the house so I invited them along. We had a lot of fun with them AND she was able to get us in to it for free (plus the Dinosaur Museum as well). Cara even got to hold a butterfly for a second (I do wish we had spent a little more time there, so we will definitely have to do this one again). 

Since the activities were free I decided we should try the new Olive Garden by our house for dinner. I don't love Olive Garden, but it actually ended up being really delicious. The only issues is the kids were crazy so being OUT at dinner was a bit insane. Plus it took a while for our food to get to us. I told Larry I was okay with that being out last actual dinner out for a while haha.

For Lucy's 1:1 date I took her to Build-A-Bear. I was SO excited for this. My mom wanted to do some mall walking so I invited her along (which I do feel kind of bad about, but since Lucy is so young and she LOVES her Nana I knew it would be okay). I let her pick her own bear, we filled it up and then picked out an outfit. She was SO happy with it and kept cuddling it and then untying the shoes and pretending to put them back on haha. We had lunch at the Panda Express in the mall, which she gobbled up. I had wanted to get her a cookie as well. I was going to just grab one at the Corner Bakery at the mall, but decided picking up Crumbl on the way home would be even better (they had great flavors for the week).

Overall I love doing family activities and I LOVE doing 1:1 dates, I always feel like it really helps the bond with that kid. The other girls saw her bear and became obsessed and now want one of their own as well haha. I'm looking forward to more of these this year!