We had some mom+dad+DD2 special time last night. We scheduled a babysitter for the boys, and persuaded DD1 to stay home.

We were planning to see the new Smurfs movie in town. We live in a very small town, surrounded by other very small towns. So, there's not much else to do other than see a movie, or go bowling. So, we parked at the theater, and the marquee lights were shining brightly. We were met by Dick, the guy that has owned and operated the theater my whole life, plus probably five or ten years. He informed us that nobody else was there, since school had just started, and he couldn't run the movie with just three patrons.

I think DW and I were more disappointed than DD2 was. She probably figured that surely mom and dad would figure something out. DW had already looked at the neighboring small town theaters, and nothing else appropriate was showing. There are two larger towns about 40-50 minutes west of us where there are multi screen theaters, but no kid movies were starting that late. So, I stopped by the next small town west of us, and we got some ice cream at Dairy Queen. DD2 got a banana split for the first time in her life. We called the bowling alley, and it was league night - no open lanes.

After the ice cream was finished, we offered DD2 the opportunity to go to the toy store (aka Walmart), and told her she could pick out any toy for $15. She was OK with that offer. I don't think we've ever given our children the opportunity to go to a toy store, and pick out anything that they wanted. She took full advantage. She looked at, touched, smelled, and absorbed *everything*. Twice. She even made sure that we were aware of the availability of the Disney Princess Castle. "No, that's $50". You can't blame the kid for trying.

She ended up picking out a doll from the Barbie line. The doll has red hair, just like DD2, and wears a purple outfit, just like DD2 would wear. She was happy, and we ended up spending about the same on a doll and ice cream that we would have at the movie theater. Evening salvaged.