Happy Hallmark Day

This guy looks like a perv.

I loathe to even acknowledge this one, but - queue fanfare - today is Valentine's Day.

Also known as the shittiest day of the school year.

Usually, we don't celebrate this one.  Fortunately Kris is one of those rare females that doesn't buy into the whole Valentine's Day thing - we're both in the mindset that it's little more than a Hallmark Holiday anyway.

And, to be honest, when you're married to Brian J. Hough, everyday is like Valentine's Day, ladies.

Alayna and Abby tear into a Valentine's Day care package from the Grandma and Papa John. . .

Personally, I always take Valentine's Day off of work, as it is - without a doubt - the shittiest day of the school year.  Teenagers really don't want to hear about the Persian Wars when they're distracted by chocolates, stuffed animals, and heaps and heaps of overblown drama.

No thanks.

80's babysitting ruled.

So besides a glorious day off of work, this year we said 'what the hell,' and decided to go to dinner.  Not necessarily to mark the occasion, of course, but rather because it happened to be a Friday, and on Fridays Sunchild holds it's weekly Parents Night Out.  For $25, we can drop off both kids from 7 - 11pm.


That's, like, 1980s babysitting prices, people.

This place is awesome.

Initially we were going to splurge and go out to a nice steakhouse, but we opted against this since Valentine's Day is one of the busiest nights of the year for restaurants, and service was bound to be terrible at larger venues.  And with paying $25 for a steak, I want that shit perfect.

With that in mind, we opted instead for our usual sushi joint - Shiso Sushi - which is never at half-capacity anyway.

Tonight, though, it was packed (not surprisingly), but we ended up getting a table after about ten minutes and the service - and sushi - was excellent.

Afterwards, we got Kris her usual Boba tea fix from that joint down on Osceola Parkway and swung out to Stogies so I could sit outside and have a cigar while Kris enjoyed her tea.  After a meal, we fancy ourselves some good ol' fashioned people-watching, and down in the Hunter's Creek Villages - where all the date-friendly restaurants and bars are located - there's always idiots to gaze upon.

We picked up the kids around 10pm, just as they were mowing into bowls of ice cream. . . 

So yeah, that was basically our Hallmark Holiday.  I'd wish you and yours a happy one in return, but that'd just be buying into a horrible tradition that really shouldn't exist in the first place.

So, instead, Happy Parents Night Out, America.

- Brian