Children get older...

and one of the joys of children getting older is having one that's old enough to babysit, but young enough to still have the time.  Last night, after our fabulous family dinner of steak & asparagus (brought to us by Price Chopper's sales),  the kids played their Wii rental game with Dad (Mario Olympics 2012).   Then we wrangled them into pajamas,stories, and beds.   It's kind of nice when they get old enough to know once they're in bed they'll stay there.
     Mr. Man & I decided we were due for a date.   Boy Child #1 has a later bedtime, and we allowed him to stay up until we returned.   It's a pretty good gig from his point of view, staying up late, getting his DVD player for the evening on a school night, and some unknown bribe upon our return.
    But where to go?  There are some rules to dates on Valentine's Day.
1) No restaurants running specials.
2) No movies.
3) No Plaza, where those poor carriage horses are being worked to death.
4) No other kitchy destination spot.

So we settled on Barnes & Noble.  Being the nerds we are, a book store fit the bill perfectly.  We arrived around 9ish.  First round was magazines.  We picked up a Games for Mr. Man, although I'll get to help with the word puzzles.   He's more in it for the math & logic.  It's an easy magazine for us to share.  Then we hit the math/science section.  He browsed math topics I had no hope of understanding.  I coveted a set of pictorial element cards and browsed through a few biology and chemistry books.  Then we headed upstairs.  First up was cookbooks, and talking to a random person in a chair, who was looking for gluten free advice.  (See, they find me!  I swear.)  Then we rounded to the teen books.  That's where I picked up my gift,  Here, There Be Dragons by James A. Owen.  So far it's fabulous.  This book will also serve as #1's babysitting payment after I'm done reading it.  Finally, we hit the fantasy section, made a couple of "wish list" items, but did not add further to our purchase.  All in all, a fantastic hour alone with my spouse, that highlighted why we're so fond of each other in the first place.