Weekend of Fun for Couples
My husband Travis’ birthday is in January. This year, it fell on a Thursday, a day when our schedule forced us to divide and conquer, driving one child to dance class and picking up another from basketball practice.
Not the most fun way to spend a birthday, but Travis didn’t complain. He’s such a trooper.
Did I mention that I’m his number one fan?
Miraculously, the weekend following his birthday we had no obligations with the kids. I don’t know how this happened, but from the moment I realized it, the wheels in my head started to spin. We had an entire weekend of free time, and I wanted to plan special activities that I thought Travis would like, things that he normally doesn’t get to do in a household of all females.
You know, guy things.
I came up with a jam-packed itinerary, and thanks to offers from the grandparents to watch the kids for us, we were ready to kick off our Weekend of Fun to celebrate Travis’ birthday.
Friday
Sunshine and unseasonably warm temperatures greeted us on this January morning. “Nice day,” Travis commented, looking longingly out the window of our home office.
I grabbed his shoes and placed them at his feet. “Put these on. We’ve got a tee-off time in 20 minutes,” I said.
He raised his eyebrows. “Really?” He looked at his computer screen, then out the window. Then he clicked the keyboard feverishly as he typed a message to his business partner, reached for his shoes and said, “Let’s go!”
All epic birthday weekends start off with playing hooky from work on Friday, right?
This one started off at Schifferdecker Golf Course. “It feels great to be outside,” said Travis, placing this ball on his tee. “Golfing was a great idea.”
“Aw, thanks,” I said. Then he swung his driver, whacking the ball and sending it straight down the fairway.
“Your turn,” he said, gesturing for me to tee off. I lined up my driver, took a deep breath, then swung. But the only thing that went flying through the air was a piece of turf. “I guess I’m a bit rusty,” I said tamping down the grass to fix the divot that I’d made in the ground.
Over the next couple of hours, my game didn’t improve, and on the eighth hole, Travis said, “Why don’t we stop after the next hole? I’m not feeling up to doing all 18 today.”
I sighed in relief, grateful to him for granting me mercy.
“Let’s go home and rest up,” I told him. “You’ll need your ninja reflexes for laser tag this afternoon.”
A few hours later, we were refreshed and ready to do battle at Lazer Force. Placed on opposing teams, we mentally prepared for our game of indoor hide and seek with laser guns.
The last time we’d played here, I scored over a hundred points more than Travis. Today, he beat me by 300 points. But that’s okay because he’s the birthday boy.
We emerged from the laser tag darkness and into the still-mild winter afternoon. “Let’s not let this gorgeous afternoon go to waste,” I said. “Let’s go to Tropicana.”
Tropicana is a two-story bar and grill with outdoor seating and over 20 beers on tap. We sat on the patio and drank our beer until the sun disappeared behind the horizon and the air grew chilly.
We found a table inside near the warm fire and placed our dinner order: Fish tacos for Travis and the Buddha Gouda Burger (with Tropicana’s signature sauce) for me.
While we waited for our food to arrive, we watched as a local band warmed up for a show. Tropicana often has live music on the weekends, and tonight happened to be one of those times.
It was great timing for us: dinner and entertainment. Today’s schedule had worked out well.
When the server brought us fresh drinks, I raised my glass. “Happy birthday, Travis.”
Saturday
With nowhere to be Saturday morning, we slept in. When we finally got up and dressed for the day, I told Travis that I needed to go to the mall to return a shirt.
Travis groaned. “I thought this was supposed to be a fun weekend.”
“It will be. I promise.”
I knew we’d be eating out the rest of the day so I got two breakfast bars out of the pantry for us to snack on during our drive to Northpark Mall. After we got out of the car at the mall, Travis looked at my empty hands and asked, “Where’s the shirt you need to return?”
“About that…” I began. By that time, we had made it to the entrance of Tilt Studio.
Then it hit him.
“You don’t have anything to return, do you?” he asked. “You just brought me here to challenge me at air hockey, didn’t you?” he asked.
I grinned sheepishly. “Come on!” I said, pulling on his arm. “It’ll be fun!”
He rolled his eyes. “You just can’t stand the fact that I beat you last time, can you?”
I hated to admit it, but the man was right.
We played two games of air hockey, each of us winning one.
Then came the tiebreaker.
Guess what?
I won.
And everything was right in the world again.
To prove that there were no hard feelings, I took Travis downtown to one of his favorite restaurants: Hackett Hot Wings.
While I don’t care for chicken wings, I do love Hackett’s homemade sauce, so I ordered a salad with sauce-covered grilled chicken breast on top. It was like eating a boneless version of Hackett’s well-known wings.
Afterward, we wanted to get outdoors and enjoy yet another mild January day, so we drove a few blocks to the trailhead for the Frisco Trail to take a hike.
“Hey, let’s see if we can find a cache on the trail,” I suggested. Sometimes Travis and I like to combine our hikes with geocaching, which is like an outdoor scavenger hunt where you use GPS coordinates to find caches. There were several located on the Frisco Trail, and we ended up finding one close to the trail head.
Worn out from our day of play, we went home to rest for a few hours (this involved some Netflix binge watching, of course). Then we freshened up for our night out with friends.
We met two couples for dinner at Blackthorn Pizza & Pub, a cozy place to chill out with friends. Blackthorn offers a variety of beer on tap, and each of us ordered something different.
And what tastes great with beer? Pizza. We ordered The Iconica, which was topped with blackened chicken, Italian sausage, bacon, garlic, and jalapenos. It was mildly spicy and very tasty.
As it neared eight o’clock, I announced, “Couple’s therapy is about to start.” Travis looked puzzled, but the rest of our friends were in on the plan. I reached for Travis’ hand and looked him in the eyes, “It’s time to bury the hatchet,” I said, suppressing a smile. The poor birthday boy was utterly confused.
We gathered our things and walked a few doors down to El Guapo’s House of Axe, located on the second floor of El Guapo’s Cigar & Pipe Lounge. When Travis saw people hurling axes at wooden targets in front of them, it all became clear to him. “So you’re suggesting that throwing sharp objects in a safe environment prevents us from throwing things at each other, right?” he said with a laugh.
“That’s the general idea,” I said.
We checked in with the floor monitor who walked us through the safety guidelines and showed us a couple of throwing techniques. Then it was time to throw. I’d envisioned myself whipping the axe deftly into the board with the grace and precision of a warrior. I did bury the axe into the wood – a couple of inches from the floor.
Travis, on the other hand, effortlessly embedded his axe in the center of the target…on his first try.
Game on.
I channeled my frustration into the remainder of my throws. While my aim didn’t improve much, my stress level did.
When our hour of axe throwing was finished, we played a few rounds of cornhole and darts, then meandered downstairs to check out the arcade games, pool table, and golf simulator.
With so many activities to engage in, Travis was as excited as, well, a kid on his birthday!
Mission accomplished.
Sunday
After the late night out with our friends, we were moving rather slowly on Sunday morning. The rhythmic pounding of the rain on the roof didn’t exactly help motivate us get up, either. But once the grumbling from our stomachs started, we were dressed and out the door within ten minutes.
“The last meal of your birthday weekend,” I said wistfully, as we pulled up to the tiny brick building which houses The Bruncheonette. I had to admit that this weekend’s break from cooking was just as much a gift for me as eating out at his favorite restaurants was for Travis.
And eating at The Bruncheonette is always a treat. Serving breakfast, brunch, and lunch items, this restaurant combines locally sourced ingredients in wildly inventive ways. Today, both Travis and I ordered different variations of Eggs Benedict. Travis had the Cuban B, with tender pulled pork, ham, and gruyere, and I ordered the Garden Benny, topped with fresh asparagus, tomatoes, avocados, local micro greens beet Hollandaise.
As I swirled the last bite of my poached egg in the creamy sauce, I looked out the window and saw people dashing from their cars to the door of The Bruncheonette with their coats over their heads, protecting themselves from the sudden torrential downpour. “We’ll have to take a raincheck on paintball today,” I said. Playing paintball had been our last activity in our birthday weekend schedule.
Travis pushed away his empty plate and leaned back in his chair. “That’s no big deal. I already had a great weekend,” he said.
“There’s just one bad thing about it, though,” he added.
My heart dropped. “What?”
“I’m going to expect this much fun every birthday from now on,” he said playfully.
“Done,” I promised.
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This article was commissioned by the Joplin CVB, however the opinions expressed are purely my own. The purpose of Joplin MO Life is to highlight all the best that our area has to offer, and when an article is written about a restaurant, business, attraction, or event, it is because I have had an enjoyable experience and want to share it with others. Click here to visit the Joplin CVB’s Facebook page.
Living Life to The Fullest!
I love seeking out new experiences and finding places off the beaten path. I started Joplin MO Life in August 2013 as a way to share my discoveries with others in the Joplin community so that they can learn about the resources that exist right in their own backyards.I have worked in education and event planning, and have always loved to write. I hold a master's degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma and a bachelor's degree in marketing from Tulane University.
