Father-daughter date

 

 

 

Tonight N took L on a little date. They had originally planned on attending a local YMCA/military father-daughter dance, but N's travel schedule this week prevented him from getting tickets in time. L wasn't too disappointed, especially when Papa said they could still get dressed up and find a place for dinner and dancing a little closer to home.

L wanted to wear her purple dancing dress (she also wore it to last year's church father-daughter dance in the bottom photo)and she asked me to paint her toenails and fingernails. Then we curled her hair and she was ready to go. For dinner, L chose sushi. For dancing, N took L to the Hotel del Coronado and they snuck into one of the lavish ballrooms, where they danced together with the whole room to themselves, then ice cream by the fireside on the hotel's beachfront deck. They returned home with wide grins--L riding on Papa's shoulders--and they eagerly recounted all of the details for me as we dressed C for bed. It was a magical night for father and daughter.

Meanwhile, back at home C and I had a lengthy and meaningful conversation over pork chops, Kashi rice and coleslaw. We both ate every bite on our plates and sat for about half-an-hour after we finished, making all of the sounds that animals make, pretending to be mama owls looking for their babies and repeatedly toasting with our juice glasses. After dinner C sprawled out on the window seat and scoured books while I scoured dishes. I know it sounds like nothing, but our night was pretty magical, too.