During a recent vacation, my wife and I received a rare and much needed break from our parental duties when family members helped look after our sons. But once we returned home, the challenges of 24/7 parenting left us feeling homesick and exhausted. There was only one remedy: hire a sitter and enjoy a night out together.

We headed to the Del Ray neighborhood in Alexandria to find outdoor seating where we could sip some drinks, enjoy a meal and relax. Mount Vernon Avenue is lined with interesting shops and restaurants, and it’s very pedestrianfriendly. Our first stop was Fireflies, where we nibbled on fried stuffed olives in marinara sauce on the patio. Storms had blown through earlier and billowing thunderheads, glowing orange from the setting sun, pulsed with flashes of lightning like a celestial strobe light in the distance.

Fireflies’ prodigious list of microbrews tempted me to stay like a siren’s song, but we had our sights set on Del Ray Pizzeria, where the pizza may not have stood out, but the wellbehaved kid at the table next to ours did. We were both awed at how the young boy stayed in his seat, spoke quietly and acted civilized. We noted how ironic it is that our date night conversations always come back to the kids. What else is there, really? Everything revolves around those boys. We just wanted three or four hours to reconnect, but the kids still dominated the dialogue.

Not wanting to arrive home before the bedtime battles had been fought, we stopped for a nightcap at Las Colinas, a non-descript Mexican restaurant in Lorton. Neon lights glowed against curtain-covered windows, concealing the party waiting inside. The faceless façade was just like any other storefront in Northern Virginia’s sea of soulless strip malls, but the food, clientele and atmosphere were authentic. The vibe was foreign and festive – exactly what we had been looking for.

As we were seated in a booth, spinning lights projected from above spread a rainbow of swirling colors around the restaurant. A man in scuffed cowboy boots leaned over a nearby pool table, lined up a shot and jabbed his stick at the cue ball with a smooth yet powerful stroke. But the crack of the balls was drowned out by deafening Spanish karaoke music. Men in plaid shirts hunched over the bar, bottles of beer grasped in their thick, gnarled hands. Heavily made-up waitresses in short shorts flirted with a table of younger guys. DJs roamed the floor singing Mexican ballads and folk songs as highlighted words scrolled by on two large screens.

My bottle of Modelo was cold and crisp, and the salsa was so fresh it was still warm. Crystals of salt clung to my smiling wife’s lips as she sipped her massive margarita. Embracing the exotic setting, we laughed easily and enjoyed each other’s company. Our children were tucked into bed a mere three miles away, but it felt like three thousand as the fiesta roared around us.

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MATTHEW KAISER shares humorous stories about the light side of life on his blog, deliberatelyunintentional.blogspot.com. He lives in Springfield, VA with his beautiful wife and two young sons. You can reach him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .