Flip-flopping dates

Usually, Bobby takes Gia out on a date every Friday morning.  They have a sweet routine, and she looks forward to their time together all week.  However, since Trey is getting older and really wanting to spend more time with Daddy, we decided to flip-flop our dates today.  Bobby took Trey on a father-son date and I took Gia on a girl's-morning out.  

Up until December of 2014, because I spend so much time with the kids everyday, I hadn't taken Gia out on a date.  But I decided to take her out for some special "Christmas time" with me in December, and after that, I have been longing to spend that one-on-one time with her outside of our house.  Today on our dates, we both took the kids to feed the ducks at different parks.  Gia absolutely loved it!  We had a great 10 minutes of talking and sitting on the grass feeding the ducks, and then the geese came... they are scary, man!  Gia was a bit freaked out by them, and I had to swing my bag at a couple of them to keep them away.  So, we walked around the beautiful property, held hands, talked, paused to feed more ducks, ran from more geese, and just enjoyed spending time together.

I love this girl!

This was Gia's face when the geese started coming...

I wanted to get some pretty pictures of her.  I asked her to think of something funny so that she would give a real smile, and she said, "A joke would be funny... ha ha ha!"

After taking these pictures, Gia had to go potty, so we walked up to the student union building on campus and took care of that.  I told her about college and how great it was, and that the "big kids" were here to learn how to be teachers, doctors, and other things.  After that, we sat on the steps by the lake and she ate Doc McStuffins fruit snacks while she told me all about wanting to be a doctor for Halloween.  I told her that she would make a really great doctor because she's smart (and doctor's have to be smart) and she cares about people & how they feel.  We also talked about how excited she is for her birthday party to be here and the fact that her buddy, Lexi, is back in town and they can play soon.  It was so sweet to be able to take the time to just let her talk and be completely focused on what was on her mind.  My whole goal in that moment was to encourage her and make her feel important to me.  

After our one-on-one time with the kids, we all met up at a local ice cream store (which I had a gift card to... thanks Mom and Dad!) and ate "lunch" together.  I loved trading stories and pictures with Bobby about our time with the kids.  Gia was so affectionate towards me the whole time, just wanting to hug me and share my hot fudge and tell Bobby all about our time together.  I let her get a lot of ice cream and toppings, and she ate it ALL (and then said her belly hurt).  I think she had an awesome morning.

 We've decided, because of today, that we are going to switch the kids every-other week and have dates with them.  I'm really glad I get to have this time with her twice a month, and I hope that she will be just as excited as I am!