The Perfect Valentine

Yesterday was absolutely perfect. I couldn't have asked for a better Valentine's Day or a better Valentine.

Throughout the week I had been giving Chris his Valentine's Presents (a Pittsburgh Steelers Terrible Towel, Steelers Pajama Pants and Tapatio Sauce, which is hard to find around here). So when Chris woke up on Valentine's morning he had pretty much everything. I had planned our babysitter coming to watch Bradley at 4:30 and we would go to dinner at The Outback Steakhouse in Syracuse, followed by a game of laser tag with some friends.

I have never seen Chris so happy and giddy as he woke up. I was in the nursery with Bradley, trying to get him to go to sleep. Chris came to the door and had a childlike smile on his face. His eyes looked pure and jolly. He smiled, crouched his shoulders in together and rubbed his hands. Then his smile got bigger and then he said, "Hold on a second," and left running down the hall like an excited child.

When he returned a few seconds later, his eyes still twinkling, he asked if I was ready to have my Valentine. I of course said yes and then he handed me a white index card that said, "Girls are made of spice and everything nice." I ran downstairs and looked in the spice cupboard. There was another index card, "Bradley got one before you and I did." This was a little confusing at first. I asked Chris if I complained about it and he said yes. His walker is a jeep, Chris and I both wanted a jeep for years. I ran to the jeep and under the steering wheel there was another one...."Bathroom Burritos." What the heck are bathroom burritos? I looked downstairs. Chris told me to think about it.....the only thing I could think of is burritos give people gas, or make them poop. I looked in the toilet....nothing....I kept looking. I ran upstairs to that bathroom....the towels!!! I roll them up in a basket, they look like burritos! The next clue..."Keys to information." This one was easy, under the keyboard in the office. Then the last one..."My standing night light gloating ore, never more." A line from Shakespeare? What the heck. I checked by the baby's night light. I then went to our bedroom. Chris and I sat on the bed. He said it was tough. I checked by his nightstand.

"Is it in here?"

"Yes."

I just started opening the drawer to my nightstand. Nothing. I opened the drawer to his and there was a bag from a jewelery store. Inside it was a box. I opened up the velvet box and there was a beautiful Open Heart Shaped necklace. I put it on immediately. Chris LOVED making the treasure hunt and I loved searching.

Later that night we went to Outback and it was about an hour and a half before we were seated, but we sat at the bar, Chris tried Australian beer, I had a coke and we had some grilled shrimp appetizers. After being seated, I ordered crab legs with a steak cooked medium (it came with a baked potato too) and Chris ordered a rack of lamb with cesaer salad and mashed potatoes. We polished dinner off with a pecan brownie dessert with ice cream and headed to the mall. We bought ourselves our bathing suits for the summer and then headed to The Fun Junction in Cicero to play laser tag. Chris and I took pictures in a photo booth, bowled, raced Jared several times in a race car game, shot at wild buffalo and then played laser tag. It was a ton of fun and we talked about it the entire night!

Finally we went home, paid the babysitter, watched a little TV to unwind and headed upstairs. Needless to say it was a perfect Valentine's Day and it had been a long time since I have had that much fun goofing around and overall just having such a great day. I hope I never forget it.