Troy has been gone for more than two weeks now. At first it was no big deal because my mom was here, we were visiting family and hosting birthday parties. But then the parties were over and my mom went home, and Troy was still gone, with two more weeks till he would come home.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy times when it’s just me and Annalie. But when Troy is gone we both miss him. We both tend to be homebodies, so when Troy’s not here we might go two or three days without ever leaving the house except to get the mail or water the plants.

That’s exactly why we met Brenda and Bug for lunch on Monday. Originally I had offered to come up to her house and take Bug to the park with me and Annalie so she could get some work done. Because of the holiday, Bug didn’t have play school, which meant Brenda didn’t have her usual four-hour chunk of time to work. She’d forgotten to work the holiday into her mental schedule and thought she was going to need the work time.

But we ended up deciding that what we all needed more than work was some time to play. We picked a spot midway between our towns and met for lunch! Brenda suggested we eat at Zinc Cafe in Solana Beach, so that’s what we did. It’s a vegetarian cafe with really delicious food. I had the pesto pizza with roasted red peppers, goat cheese (a particular love of mine) and pine nuts and it was yummy. I actually ate the entire thing which is unusual for me. But next time I go there I’ll be getting the Lunch Burrito, which is what Brenda got. She said it was almost like a Mexican pot pie, a big flour tortilla filled with brown rice and slightly spicy black beans, topped with sour cream, salsa fresca and homemade chunky guacamole. She shared a few bites with me and it was even better than my pizza!

When we were done with lunch, we bought ourselves mochas to go and the girls each a soft snickerdoodle and walked around for a while. The cafe is in the design district and there are lots of shops there that are fun to browse…though they’re less fun when you’re with two preschoolers. So we ended up sitting at a little table outside a high-end pet accessories shop and chatting while Annalie and Bug ran around the fenced in garden in front of the shop, ate their cookies, and petted a few dogs who walked through with their owners.

Then, because we were with the aforementioned preschoolers, we had to find a public restroom. We went across the street into a big…I don’t know what to call it. A market? It had a bunch of different stalls selling all different types of merchandise, like an antique market or craft market. It was actually a really cool place. After the potty break we couldn’t resist looking around a little bit. That didn’t last very long, though. It’s just too hard for a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old to remember the “one-finger-only” rule (we’ve always told Annalie in stores that she can touch with one finger only, if she wants to pick something up she has to ask us) in a place with all those colorful, shiny things within easy grabbing reach. So we said good-bye to the market.

We decided to head down the freeway a bit to check out a pottery-painting studio. We’ve been meaning to meet there one of these days, and we decided since we were nearby we’d go take a look. We only peeked in the windows because Annalie and Bug spotted the fountain and begged to play.

It wasn’t a particularly warm day, and there were bigger kids already on the fountain, but it didn’t stop Annalie or Bug. They both had a blast chasing the bursts of water around.

Annalie slipped and fell a couple of times. I reminded her at least 37 times to walk not run, but she just couldn’t make herself slow down. She recovered pretty quickly each time and was never seriously injured, but after the last time we decided it was just time to be done with the fountain.

Both kids were pretty wet by that time anyway. It’s a good thing I’d had Annalie take off the shorts she was wearing under her dress, because the dress was completely soaked. Brenda had extra clothes with her, but all I had was the shorts and a cardigan sweater. We borrowed a slightly-too-small pull-up from Bug and Annalie wore that, the shorts, and the sweater.

We didn’t feel like we were done with the playdate yet, and I thought I had seen a McDonald’s with a playground somewhere in the parking lot of the giant shopping center we were at. We hunted that down (God bless our GPS), figuring it would give the kids another half-hour of burning energy.

The weird thing is that this McDonald’s was fancy! It was called a Bistro Gourmet McDonald’s. They offered the usual fare, but then around the corner from the fast-food counter was another counter where you could order paninis and club sandwiches. They also served hand-dipped ice cream. And the decor was…well, let me put it this way. Brenda said, after we walked in and our jaws dropped open, “It’s like Dracula’s McDonald’s!” It was very opulent for a burger-and-fries joint.

But it was still McDonald’s. We ordered waters and a snack for the kids and a large Diet Coke for me, and went out to the playground where the kids played and played and played for a good hour or more. And Bug only got stuck at the top and cried for her mom once! Every other time she got a little stuck, she let Annalie help her up to the next ledge or over the netting. It was fun for them and for us.

Before we left we used the restroom, which was one of the prettiest public restrooms I’ve ever seen. Annalie said, “It’s like a princess bathroom, Mommy!” And it kind of was! Except for the fact that it needed a good cleaning. But hey, like I said…it was still McDonald’s.

We said our good-byes and drove in opposite directions on the 5, pleasantly tired from our fun afternoon. I need to plan a few more of those before Troy gets home. They really do make the time pass more quickly.