Date Night

What a concept! It's been awhile, to say the least. He was gone for 3 months and we've spent the last two months PCSing, so we were definitely due for a date night. Luckily, the Child Development Center on our neighboring base has FREE childcare the first Saturday of every month!

We started our date "day" by going for a nice bike ride along the sea wall. We rode out the base gate, over 3 blocks, and hit the sea wall going south for awhile. We rode until we hit the Pirate Ship park on Araha Beach, which I blogged about awhile back. We let him out to play for awhile before heading back. It was a gorgeous day and of course beautiful scenery.

The funniest part about this excursion was that the Japanese were laughing at us as we rode by. We couldn't figure out why until we caught someone pointing at Wyatt in his little buggy. I'm guessing they do not have bike trailers here... or maybe they were laughing at how we had on all our bike helmets and stuff. The Japanese don't even really use car seats so maybe they thought he was funny all strapped into his buggy with a helmet on, I don't know!

After that we took Wyatt to the CDC and headed out to Transit Cafe for dinner.

Our reservation was at 6 p.m., but we went early so we could see the sun set. We sat outside on the outdoor patio on the 2nd floor overlooking the East China Sea and enjoyed a fun drink and some spring rolls (fresh, not fried) and green olives wrapped in bacon for an appetizer while listening to some great music!

The great thing about the culture here is that they never, ever rush you like they do at American restaurants. In fact, you practically have to flag them down to get them to take your order! Many restaurants just have a little button on the table that you push when you are ready. It's very different from what we are used to. I have to teach myself to slow down and savor it. It's hard when you have a 2-year old with you, but on date night it is fabulously relaxing!

We had a delicious dinner - we shared one pasta with clam sauce, salmon and spinach, and another entree of grilled salmon, mashed potatoes, and asparagus, both made with a little Japanese flare.  Then we took a little stroll on the sea wall, watching the group of nighttime scuba divers and then checked out a fun little island shop before we headed back to pick Wyatt up. We had a great time!