Looky-Looky and Our Big Date

Yesterday was our 9 YEAR ANNIVERSARY! Sometimes it feels like another life ago that we got married in Savannah. Many many good things have happened to us since then, most importantly being these two beautiful babes we call our own.

Last night we went out on a date. Normally we don't get out much during the week, but John said he'd rather celebrate on the real day rather than the weekend, and I agree, it was much more special celebrating ON our anniversary.

John recommended that we eat at the place we stumbled upon on our first date (out alone) in Japan, which happened to be an Italian restaurant in Sannomiya near the train station, called Gnocchi. That first night out was frustrating, we were out for our first night alone (without friends or kids) and wanted to try something new. Unfortunately, without recommendations, sometimes it's hard to find restaurants that have English menus, and often times we end up eating at the same five places over and over and over again.

Anyhow, Lola goes down like a dream at 6:00, the babysitter arrives for Maximo and we head out for our big night out. We arrive at Gnocchi and ask for the English menu, WHICH THEY NO LONGER HAVE- Yikes! We both look at each other, with that "Oh, crap" look in our eyes. There were no pictures nor fake food displays, either (which are helpful and are in most restaurants) and one of the few things I can say is, "Kore wo kudasai" (That, please), so we can usually survive with these visuals. I know. After two years, our Japanese is pathetic.

BUT, our waitress was very sweet and spoke relatively good English and translated the set menu for us - but had to quack for the duck entree because she couldn't remember the word. We shared fish carpaccio, a bacon and onion pizza, gnocchi, we both ordered the duck, which was delicious and had apple tart for dessert. What we thought was going to be a rough meal was excellent and just what we needed. AND they had a (all-you-can-drink-for 90-minutes- wine bar) special, which we took advantage of too.

On a side note, it's quite humbling living somewhere where we are almost completely illiterate. It really gives us perspective. Both in Peru and Japan, people have ALWAYS been super accommodating and helpful. Unfortunately, that is almost NEVER the case in the US. We've both seen instances where people have been extremely rude to people who do not speak English fluently and many Americans often have the mentality, "If you live in/visit the US, you should speak English". Thankfully, people have always been nice to us, especially on evenings like last night, where our anniversary could have turned into a disaster.

After a wonderful dinner, John pulls out a little box and gives me a BEAUTIFUL necklace that I had been spying. I was so excited - and even got a little teary-eyed at the restaurant.

We ended up having a great night out and realized that we need to try to do it more often, especially since I'm at home with the kids and don't feel guilty about leaving them for a few hours at night if I'm with them all day.

Also, Spring looks like it has arrived here... so life is good.