All dressed up with no place to go. How about Kyotos??

Friday night Tim and I drove to Stillwater for OSU's ROTC Dining Out. We had very carefully checked to make sure that everything we needed was in the car. We double checked to make sure that Mike and Connie had everything they needed to watch Brenden and the dogs for the night. We had a hotel room so that we didn't have to drive all the way back home. We even left early enough to give ourselves time to get a few last minute things, like a bow tie and some bobby pins. After checking in I spent a few hours getting ready, most of which was spent doing my hair. (I hate paying to have it done just to take it down a few hours later.) Tim very carefully measured the distance between his buttons, ribbons, nameplate and patches to make sure that everything was in the perfect place.


At 5 minutes to 7 pm we headed out. There is usually a social hour before the food is served and we didn't want to be there too early. The moment we pulled into the parking lot we realized something wasn't right. There were a ton of cars but no one was walking in. We parked and trudged to the door, only to hear the speaker finishing for the night. Apparently it started at 6 pm, not 7 pm. After waiting for the speech to end so that we weren't interrupting we slid back out the door and back to the car. Tim was so upset with himself and was shocked that I wasn't mad as well. (He was doing a pretty good job of beating himself up. I didn't need to help.) Thankfully when I suggested we go out to eat at Kyoto, a hibachi restaurant, he agreed and stopped swearing at the steering wheel.

Even though we had a few strange looks on our way to our table, we were extremely happy with our dinner. We shared an order of Koloci (Japanese potato pancakes) and each picked out a sushi roll. Tim had a veggie roll with shrimp and I had the Kyoto roll. It was filled with avocado, cream cheese, and crab, and topped with tuna and salmon. So yummy! After dinner we had planned on going out to a few bars that we had frequented in college. Unfortunately we have developed habits that center around a toddler and when faced with the choice of going out or going back to the hotel room, drinking beer, and watching movies, we chose to head back to the hotel. Tim ended up falling asleep at 9 pm and after watching the end of The Fifth Element I fell asleep, too.

One might think we would be up and moving around at the crack of dawn. Not so! After lazing around watching TV all morning we drug ourselves out of bed, got ready, and packed the car. I think we made it out of the room just before the check out time at noon. Itching for some cheese fries, we headed to Eskimo Joe's, only to find it packed with people in town for the basketball game. This weekend was not going according to plan at all! Somehow we agreed that Mexico Joe's was the next best thing. After a pretty good lunch we headed back home. Mike and Connie brought Brenden and the dogs back to us, but unfortunately he wasn't his normally sunny self. It seems that he had picked up the bug that everyone is catching, which includes a lovely runny nose, coughing, sneezing and an overall cranky attitude. We are just hoping that it doesn't include an ear infection.

What did we learn this weekend? 1.) Double check the time when heading to an event that takes more than 30 minutes to get ready for. Make that triple check. 2.) Being flexible with our plans can lead to a great time, even better than what we had planned. 3.) Even with a grouchy look and snot, our son's face is the most amazing sight after a night away.