Week Seventeen: Komet's Hockey Game

Last night, I decided to change the pace of the last few of my weeks and go with a pre-packaged, paid event. So, I bought a pair of tickets to Game 6 of our CHL Conference Finals as the Fort Wayne Komets hosted the Missouri Mavericks. The Komets were down 3-2 in the best of seven game series, so if they lost, the season was over. Now, it would have been more exciting to watch a game seven of the finals, but there's no way to guarantee that could happen.

So, after dinner at home, we left the kids with my mom and we took the quick drive to the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum to take in a Komets hockey game. I had already bought a pair of tickets, online, setting me back about $60 total, but since we don't splurge like this often, it was well worth the money. Amy ended up getting some snacks in the third period, so when all was said and done, I'm figuring the night ended up costing $80, but we had a lot of fun.

The Komets have been around in Fort Wayne for 60 years and we have gone to games over the years and always had a great time and last night was no different.  We had really good seats and the Komets won handily. Coincidentally, we found ourselves sitting next to Amy's dad's best friend, so we chatted with during breaks in the action.

Things I Learned:

• Sometimes, money can buy a fun experience, so its okay to spend a little from time to time.


• The community has a lot to offer in the way of entertainment, you just have to go find it.

Week Sixteen: Machine Knitting, Socks

Week Fifteen: Nature Walk

A lot of times, I start out with a grand idea and then as it rolls around in my head for a few weeks, it gets watered down to a more realistic event, like this one did. At first, I was thinking how cool it could be to strap a pair of backpacks on and hike up a mountain, set down for camping and have only what we could carry on our backs for the night.

This imagined scene is probably due to to many movies, books and survival shows, plus some seed of adventure inside of me. The logistics were just not there to make this a reality. For one, there are no mountains in Indiana!

So, my planned date changed to doing a nature walk at a local nature preserve, something like an hour and a half to two hours, as we try to keep all of these events inside a four hour window. Unfortunately, but luckily, I checked the hours of the nature preserve earlier in the day. It closed at 6pm and my mom wasn't coming over to babysit until 6:30.

Plan B ensued. In Fort Wayne, we have a ton of nice bike trails and there was one nearby. A few years back we rollerbladed part of it, but found it wasn't finished and didn't connect all the way to the downtown trail. So, I was curious to see if it was finished and thought it would be a nice walk. Granted, the trail was paved, but it would work.

We parked at a trail head, set my alarm for 45 minutes and we were off. The weather was a bit chilly, but as we walked, it didn't feel bad at all. I would venture to say it was a perfect evening for a walk. We got passed the part that the trail ended last time and got just over two and a half miles. At that point, we turned around and walked back.

It was fun to get out and be active, plus we basically talked the entire way, which was nice. By the time we got back to the trailhead, we were both a little tired (but in a good way).

Since it was 8:30pm and we hadn't eaten dinner, we drove into a neighboring town and had dinner at a restaurant neither of us had ever been before (but I had heard was pretty good). And it was. We ate, drank, talked, relaxed and then called it a night and went home.

Things I Learned:

• Locking in a babysitter early makes planning so much easier.


• Even the most mundane of activities can be fun and fulfilling.


• Pairing exercise with an activity works out quite nicely.

Week Fourteen: The Hunger Games

For this weeks p-52 night I decided that I would kill two birds with one stone. In fact the timing actually worked out really well. I had read The Hunger Games trilogy several months earlier and have been anxiously awaiting the release of the first movie. Well, when it was finally released I didn't really have time to go see it with my friends, so instead I took Dan to see the week after it was released! It seemed like a movie that Dan would actually enjoy and I was looking forward to seeing what he thought of it and discussing it with him after!

After we were done eating we headed across the street to the theater and were once again able to get right in with perfect timing for the movie. I thought the movie was great and it actually lived up to the book. There didn't seem to be a lot that they left out or changed for the movie and the imagery was fabulous! I can't wait to see the next two movies! Dan said that it pretty much lived up to what he was expecting.

So while it wasn't a super creative date night, I think we both enjoyed ourselves and proved that dates don't always have to be elaborate to be enjoyable!