Cookies and Caffeine with Wonder Woman and SWAT
Usually when Sara and I visit Amarillo, we usually stay for about a week because it is such a long drive up to the Texas Panhandle. Since we are there during the week, I usually have to work part of the time remotely. The last time we were in town I decided to actually take a day off to spend time with family and friends. Sara, my wife, was going to go watch the new Star Wars movie with her dad and some of our friends. I have never seen any of the Star Wars movies, and honestly, I have no desire to see any of them. I decided to go hang out with my niece Katherine and nephew Ryan instead. My mother-in-law normally watches them while their parents are at work so she was incredibly grateful for the distraction and help that I provided (under the condition that I didn’t have to change any diapers!).
When we are in town Katherine always asks, “where is Uncle Joe?” The answer is almost always, “the Palace Coffee Co. working.” I prefer to work from this awesome coffee shop because it is quiet, and I can get plenty of work done without the distractions of my wife and puppy. When I spent the day with Ryan and Katherine, I told them that they could pick what we did all day. This could have been a scary proposition since they are two and four, but it turned out to be a whole lot of fun!
The first item on the agenda was pictures. I had them dress up in their costumes that they had received for Christmas, and then we had some fun. Well, as you know, sometimes kids get attached to things, ideas, stuff, etc. I tried to get them to change clothes before we left the house, but they weren’t having any of it. So…everywhere we went during the day Katherine was dressed as Wonder Woman, and Ryan had on a SWAT vest.
After pictures and playing for a little bit, I asked Katherine what she would like to do, and she said to go to the coffee shop! So I took them to the Palace and got them “hot” chocolate, which was actually just chocolate milk. (They don’t actually like anything hot…kids…) While we were there we also ate chocolate chip cookies and cupcakes. Who cares if it was before lunch (well other than their parents of course)? I mean, what good is it being an uncle if you can’t do things with them that their parents wouldn’t allow?
So after our awesome coffee shop date, we decided to go to Pizza Planet and throw down on some delicious pizza. Ryan is into dipping his food into “sauce” so we had to get him his own ranch. That kid seriously loves his ranch! We also called Julia, their mother, and she told me that I couldn’t just give them chocolate milk, cookies, and pizza…too late! After lunch we took the little ones back to their house so Ryan could take a nap (not that he was going to after being filled up on cookies and ranch, but I was handing them back off to Grandma so it was ok with me!).
All in all I had an awesome time on my date with my niece and nephew and can’t wait to do it again! If you’re a workaholic or just stuck in your routine, be sure to take time to spend with those you love and care about. I mean, honestly, how often do you get to hang out with Wonder Woman and a SWAT member all day?