Britt and I are going through the Family ID workshop with
some other couples from our LifeGroup, and part of our homework this week was
to go on a date night. And to make sure it
happened for everyone, our leaders had us do a “babysitting exchange” before we
left group Sunday night. That way,
everyone got a chance to go out, everyone got free babysitting, AND it was already on the calendar! NO EXCUSES! NO BACKING OUT! So, last night, we packed up our 4 kids and
took them to another family’s home while we went out on our date for a “Private
Drive In” experience.
I am pretty proud of my creative date night idea, which
really turned out to be a lot of fun! We
don’t have money to spend on a date night like a dinner and a movie right now,
but we also knew just going to our house to watch a rented movie would mean we
would get engrossed in our phones or laptops or tablets, get up 100 times to do
this or that, and generally be distracted by our surroundings. So, I came up with a fun little (cheap) idea
for a date night – a “Private Drive In.”
I rented a movie from Red Box, grabbed my laptop, told my husband to pick
a to go dinner for us to eat, and we set out for our adventure. While trying to
decide the perfect spot to watch our movie as it was super-hot outside (103
hot!), we decided we needed a place with some built in shade. After
a Sonic stop, we decided the best place to have our drive in move was on a
middle level of a parking garage on campus.
That way it would be shaded enough to see the screen, and hopefully a
little cooler! We found a good spot
where the sun wasn’t going to obstruct our view on the highest covered level of
the structure, parked, put the movie in, and dove in to our food. About 1/3 of
the way through our movie, the REAL entertainment for the night began…
We had finished eating, the story was well under way (we
were watching Joyful Noise), and we were having a very nice time. When, we heard some very loud rumbling from
behind us. Earlier in the evening, we
had seen 2 pick-ups loaded with “stuff” in the back head up to the top level of
the garage. I had wondered what they
were up to – even thought it might be a cookout. But, we were about to find out just who and
what they were doing. As the rumbling
got louder, we were both turning our heads trying to see what it was and where
it was coming from. When they came into
view coming down the ramp from the top level of the garage… 6 – 8 of them… College Students… On various wheeled apparatuses… Dressed in full
costumes from Mario Brothers! It was
truly a sight to behold! Mario and Luigi
were in rolling office chairs. Toad
riding the back of a grocery cart.
Princess Peach – in a full length pink tutu - on a small red Radio Flyer
tricycle. Donkey Kong (in a full gorilla
costume with a neck tie. In this 103
degree heat!) in a yellow garden cart with big wheels. And Yoshi perched atop a Little Tykes Cozy
Coupe car! They even had a red box with
a question mark painted on it that they were aiming for! The first time we were simply shocked and
amused. We watched them push their carts
back up the parking garage ramp, and ready themselves to do it again. The second time, we really laughed with them –
this was hilarious! Somewhere around the
3rd, 4th or 5th trip down, we got out our
phones to film it and a camera to take pictures. We were trying to remain a bit inconspicuous,
although they probably didn’t care one way or the other if we documented
it! One girl’s sole job was to capture it
all on film! So, here is what we got:
We retold the story when we went back to our friends’ house
to pick up our children. The wife said, “This
kind of thing would only happen to you guys!”
So true! If you are scouring
youtube and come across more footage, please be sure to share it with us. We had a blast living vicariously through
them, and it made for a date night we will never forget! And, we will probably try the private drive
in thing again. It worked out really
well – once Mario and his friends quit rumbling down the ramp! And aside from
the noise pigeons who call the garage home…
Later in the week we take on all the other kids from the
group in our home so the other couples can get a date night in. We think we’ll have about 13 kids in our house. Should be LOUD!
Edited to add: I made a follow up post - WITH VIDEO PROOF!
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