For a great stress free date night, try a dinner and a movie. The finest and newest place to see a movie in Naperville is the Kerasotes Show Place 16 on Route 59. This fine theater offers stadium seating, which allows for cuddling and great legroom for those people that are taller than 6 feet. Their concession stand also offers value packs for the budget conscious with free refills on popcorn and soda. Plan to pay around $33.00 per couple for the popcorn, soda and a movie.

As for Dinner, I highly recommend Kostas' Mediterranean Café that is almost directly across the street from Kerasotes Show Place 16. This intimate little restaurant is tucked into a strip mall. The Kostas' exterior fools the average diner into expecting a fast food type of restaurant. However, as you walk in you will notice fine linen on the table and an intimate environment set to relax the diner. The food is considered Mediterranean, but has a strong Greek influence.

The food at Kostas' is as good if not better than some restaurants found in Chicago's Greektown. They have a very comprehensive menu that includes both cold and hot appetizers, soups, salads, and full meals from sandwiches to full entrees. The fare is well seasoned without being over powering.

The Dolmades were especially good and not over spiced. The Lemon dill sauce was perfectly balanced and did not have an over powering lemon taste. My only caveat was that I though the sauce could have had a smoother consistency it was a bit too lumpy.

A good entrée on the menu is The Greek Style Rotisserie Chicken that is moist and not greasy. This entrée also comes with vegetables and has a portion size that is enough for two people.

Kostas' is a nice little restaurant with very reasonable prices that start at $5.00.

For the budget conscious finding quality, babysitting at a reasonable price is always difficult. One way of defraying the costs is to create a babysitting co-op with your friends and neighbors. Setting up a babysitting co-op is quite easy each person offers five hours of free babysitting in exchange for the same consideration. So for every additional hours you spend babysitting you get one additional hour of babysitting for yourself. By setting up a babysitting co-op, you and your spouse will have the time and money to go out on the town!

Have a romantic night and take pleasure in the sites around route 59 and 95th street in Naperville. You won't regret spending time with the one you love.

The starting person says the first initial of every letter in a movie title. For instance, if the movie is “The Incredibles,” you would say, “T,I.” The first person to guess gets to go next. In most cases you will have to ask for clues after a couple of wrong guesses. This game could go on for hours in my family and my four year old always says, “E” for “ET” which we all get quite a laugh out of.

Play an Alphabet Game

Pretend you are going on a trip and each person says what they will bring in alphabetical order till you reach Z. Say, “I'm going on a trip and I'm bringing an Animal.” The next person would say, “I'm going on a trip and I'm bringing a Book” etc.

For older kids make it harder and have what they're bringing go with the theme of a trip. For instance you would bring an Antenna (to hear the radio), a Book (to read since there's no TV) and a Canoe etc.

Count the Cars

Pick a color and every one can count how many cars of that color they see. Make it a competition. Assign each child a different color and the child who has seen the most cars of their color wins.

Count the Animals

If you live in a rural area, count the animals you see en route.

Tell a Story One Sentence at a Time

Taking turns, each person tells one sentence of a story. For instance, you could start with, “Once upon a time there was a dog on a roof.” Then the next person would tell what happens next. Your kids won't be able to wait till it's their turn to contribute and will be thinking of what to say next.

Be Creative

Make up a new game with your own rules. Better yet, let your kids take turns making up new car games.

Playing car games will not only get you all there in peace, it will provide some quality and fun rides.

This last weekend, my son, my husband, and I went to Iowa, and, no, there was no corn to be seen. The initial reaction of everyone I encountered, and told I was going to Iowa was “why?” which, honestly, was my reaction as well. The answer is simply that we have family there, which seems to be the only reason why anyone goes there.

The last time I flew with my son he was 14 months old. Now he is 23 months old, and believe me, the nine months in between have made a huge difference in how we travel. The difference between a child who is contented to look at everything that is new, to one that insists on exploring everything that he can reach, which included under, between and sometimes over the seat.

On the almost four hour flight out to Iowa, my son slept until 20 minutes before we landed. During the flight back, he slept for about 35 minutes, then woke up ready to explore. Explore he did, and the floor was the place of choice. Nine months ago I wouldn't have dreamed of letting him get anywhere near the floor of an airplane, but, now that he is a toddler, anything that will keep him from kicking the seat in front of us is a very good idea.

So, the floor it was. He crept happily down into the Netherlands that is the under seat world of the airplane for just a little while, when I heard it, the deadly silence that inevitably accompanies something that he knows he shouldn't be doing, like climbing to the top of his changing table so he can dance a jig. I looked down just as two brown eyes furtively glanced up, “Burr,” he said, which is the closest approximation to bear that he can come up with at the moment.

I thought this was a little a strange because I had his “Burr” on my lap. As I lent down to see what he was referring to, which by the way, he thought was the funniest thing and sent him into gales of giggles, he showed me his new “Burr.” A small white teddy bear with a pink ribbon tied around its neck was clutched in his hand, apparently he had been foraging through the carry-on bag of the children behind us.

So began the game of, “Burr” and “put it back” that entertained him for the remainder of the three-hour journey. To say nothing of keeping me on my toes, because who knew what else might accompany the small white bear?

When the flight finally landed, and the white bear had been safely stowed where it had originally been pilfered from, we made our way off the airplane so he could see his Granddad. Granddad had figured heavily into conversations that went something like this, “Your Granddad will be waiting for you at the airport.” Look. “What are we going to tell him about how you behaved on the plane?” “Bad,” which was usually accompanied by the quick temporary displacement of all the reading material left for the passenger's enjoyment by the airline.

As we disembarked, the older couple who had been sitting in front of us, and had no doubt heard the “Burr” game, and the subsequent conversations about Granddad, told us what a good boy he had been throughout the flight, which made the whole experience that much better.

A word to the wise, the foolish, or whoever else may decide that they too want to travel with a toddler, it's not an easy undertaking, but, you might be rewarded with a small kiss from a little traveler sitting on the floor of an airplane. Not to mention the fact, that it may be the only time you are actually be complimented for your I-am-the-boss-of-me-and-I-will-do-everything-on-my-own toddler's behavior.