Mid-February Lull

It seems like when we hit mid-February (or mid-winter) every year, we're in this lull where we're sick of being inside and going to the same indoor places over and over again.  Hopefully only another month or so until we can start playing outside on a somewhat regular basis.  I had to work on Friday (a few of my other coworkers were either off already or at meetings) so unfortunately, we didn't do anything exciting that day.  The only thing worth noting is the girls got to decorate their Valentine's Day cookies we got for them.  The lady I typically order cookies from wasn't delivering to my area on a day I could pick up so I used a different local woman, Nanny & Weebs, who had a special Valentine's Day cookie kit which included 2 cookies, icing, and sprinkles.  

Hard at work decorating their cookies

 So proud of her final product 

Lucy showing off her heart cookie

Since I was subbing a TRX class on Saturday morning and Todd had a beer & girl scout cookies tasting with friends early in the afternoon, we had to come up with something to get the girls out of the house for a few hours around lunch time.  We decided to head downtown for a trip to the main library (something I always loved doing when I was kid because they had so many books!) and then have lunch at the North Market.  Todd & I also had our monthly date night planned for that evening so once our high school sitter came over, we headed to two new local places (they both just opened 2 weeks ago) for drinks, Huli Huli Tiki Lounge and Nocterra Brewing Company, before heading down to Grandview for our 8:30 PM dinner reservation at Third & Hollywood.  Both of the new local places were packed which is always nice to see especially since we enjoyed them and hope to return to them again soon. 

We happened to get to the library at the tail end of their story time which was dinosaur themed--Cece was scared and refused to go in until the dino left

Lucy driving the school bus

 They were pretty entertained by the fish tank for awhile

Hanging out after picking out a bunch of books to check out

Whenever we eat at the North Market, Todd always gets a rice & noodle dish from a Korean restaurant

 I always get a pretzel from Brezel and the girls get pretzel sticks (we usually pack the rest of their lunch) with a container of cream cheese for dipping; Cece ended up dipping everything in her lunch into the cream cheese (raisins, grapes, goldfish crackers...) and I could hardly pry it away from her.  Ironically, she doesn't like bagels with cream cheese that much but apparently if it's presented in just dip form, she loves it

Finally used up the last of our gift cards to Jeni's Ice Cream; Cece got chocolate...

and Lucy got gooey butter cake (my favorite!)

 Date night started at Huli Huli with some fun tropical drinks; I got a Painkiller and Todd got a Dark & Stormy

My drink was delicious and I would've ordered another one if I hadn't been drinking on an empty stomach

I was very intrigued by their Zombie drink which I think they put dry ice into because it was smoking

Our next stop was a block away at Nocterra so Todd could try their beer

He wasn't super impressed with the beer but we loved the space and atmosphere of the brewery; it'll be great in the warmer months because they have a big outdoor space/beer garden with firepits

They only serve beer but have local food trucks on rotation on the weekends 

This moth is their logo

We had late dinner reservations at Third & Hollywood (one of our favorite restaurants that we only get to once every couple years now) so once we were seated, we immediately ordered a pan of their garlic cheese biscuits which literally melt in your mouth and are delicious

Todd ordered a burger & I got the Mexicali Steak Salad; both were very good although the dressing on my salad was little spicy for me (which means it wouldn't seem spicy to anyone else; I can hardly handle the chicken at Chipotle because of the spices they use)

Our bill was given to us alongside a plate of warm mini chocolate chip sea salt cookies--perfect ending to our night

Another date night in the books

As is the theme with most Sundays, we didn't really do much.  By the time I got home from church and the grocery store with the girls (Todd stayed home to work on a project for school that was due yesterday), it was already almost lunch time and then we stayed home the rest of the day.  Highlights for the upcoming week include Cece's 1st dentist appointment, parent teacher conferences for Lucy, and Todd & Lucy going to our high school's father daughter dance on Saturday.

Pretty sure the girls are in costumes more than their regular clothes when we're at home