Date Night | Jon Stolpe Stretched

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I’m fairly certain that I’ve blogged about this before, but I think it’s been a while. I just wanted to celebrate the weekly date night that my wife and I try hard to preserve. Last night, we enjoyed some time together and some delicious dessert at a local treasure, Little Ortino’s, in “downtown” Schwenksville. We enjoyed unbelievable coconut creme pie and peanut butter fudge pie, the great music of Jim Brickman, and wonderful company and conversation – with each other!

Monday night is sacred in our house. Our kids know that this is the night that Mom and Dad get away together for an hour or so. We all know not to schedule anything for this night. Sometimes, we go for a walk. Sometimes, we play tennis. And sometimes, we grab dessert somewhere. Whatever it is, we get to spend time together. We get to connect – just the two of us.

If you’re married, I strongly encourage you to set aside a regular time to get away with your spouse. Lock it in and make it sacred.

What is the best date you’ve experienced?

http://beckfarfromhome.blogspot.com/ Beck

That’s such a good habit to cultivate. For years Chris and I have eaten at J. Alexanders on special occasions, we never take the kids there, it’s our place. Last night we celebrated our 13th anniversary at Alexanders; wonderful food, sweet conversation, delicious dessert! When our life becomes more settled and routine I look forward to more regular date nights!
- jonstolpe
  
  Congrats on 13 years! That’s a great reason to celebrate.
http://jalomi@comcast.net Janet L. Lomicka

Great way to connect, Jon and Leanne. This is a must do and we are so happy you are able to connect like this. Keep doing it. Love ya. Mother and Dad L.
- jonstolpe
  
  Thanks for the encouragement and for the childcare from time to time for our longer get-a-ways. We really appreciate it!
http://arnyslight.wordpress.com Arny Sanchez

Oh man, I love date night! we don’t have it every week…but probably 2 or 3 times a month. We love it!

sometimes it’s just sitting on the couch watching a movie. or maybe dinner. Or…my wifes favorite…sushi! lol…

p.s. I so jealous of your background pic! i have a thing for light houses…lol…
- jonstolpe
  
  Good for you, Arny!
  
  Leanne and I love to get out for sushi from time to time. Yumm!
  
  On our vacation to Cape Cod, we saw several light houses. I’ll have to post some more pictures.
http://craigallen.me Craig Allen

Were you able to start this when your kids were young? We are finding it pretty impossible to find the time (let alone energy) to spend any time alone with our 5 and 3 year-olds keeping us busy.
- jonstolpe
  
  I’m sure we weren’t nearly as consistent with this when our kids were younger. For one, we do not have family in the area where we can drop our kids off for an hour or two. Secondly, we didn’t have loads of money sitting around where we could pay babysitters week after week to watch our kids for a couple of hours. Nonetheless, we did whatever we could to make sure we spent time together without the kids. When your kids are younger, you may need to be more creative. You may even consider child-care swapping with some of your friends. I know this worked for us for some of our quick get-a-ways. Regardless, you need to make sure your marriage relationship is given appropriate priority above your kids, church involvement, and other activities. It’s that important!
http://eileenknowles.blogspot.com eileen

My husband and I struggle with this. Every time we have that chance for date night we say we need to make it a routine and then we drop the ball. Thank you for the challenge to revisit this. I know it’s important and we need to make “us” a priority.
- jonstolpe
  
  No problem, Eileen. I know that Leanne and I struggled with this for years – especially when the kids were younger. Keep fighting for this time. It’s important! And check by to let us know how it’s going.
http://www.iloveskippack.com/ Michael Shaw

Hey, Debby and I want to double dare with you guys sometime.
- http://www.iloveskippack.com/ Michael Shaw
  
  dare = date (freudian slip)
  - jonstolpe
    
    We’ll have to set something up for sometime soon.
http://gravatar.com/jasonfountain Jason Fountain

Since my wife and I don’t have kids yet, we have multiple date nights each week. I can’t imagine not having that time to reconnect.
- jonstolpe
  
  Great to hear! Take advantage of this time.
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