Last night we took the fam to Macaroni Grill. This was our first family out to eat experience in quite a while. We usually are only brave enough to hit the local Mexican restaurant or the mall's food court with our 4 kiddos. We were given a very generous gift certificate to MG, so we figured it would be cheaper to take the kids with us than to pay for a baby sitter! And the kidlets did not disappoint! All of the boys chose the kid's pizza, which was a HUGE pizza for a little child! Honestly, the four of them could have very comfortably shared two pizzas with leftovers. But, since we had the certificates, we just let them gorge themselves. :)
It was also a great chance to see their personalities in action. Jim asked Evan for a bite, not a whole slice but just a bite. At first Evan said, no. Then he relented, tore off a slice then cut a bit off the end for Jim. Toby yanked a slice off and said, "you can have a piece of my pizza, Daddy". When Aidan saw the praise flowing for Toby sharing he tore off a slice for Avery and me to share. Toby continued to offer a slice of pizza to everyone who walked by. Customers and waitstaff were offered a piece of Toby's pizza! Even the manager who was strolling around the restaurant was offered a piece of Toby Pizza!
In the end, we all waddled away appropriately stuffed and with three boxes of leftovers. Avery even ate almost two slices of pizza along with her dish of mush from home. Jim and Evan took their leftovers to school (Evan with emphatic warnings not to microwave the aluminum leftover container at school!) and Aidan and Toby will share Aidan's leftovers. With all of his generosity Toby wasn't left with more than a plateful of crusts. :)
So, did the kids behave at this "fancy-ish" restaurant WITH REAL CLOTH NAPKINS? Oh you bet. Evan was shocked that for only $4.99 he was able to have a huge pizza, a drink AND DESSERT!!! WOAH, WHAT A GREAT DEAL THIS PLACE HAS!!! THE DRINK IS FREE??? THE ICE CREAM IS FREE??? He was shocked. Aidan and Toby sat nicely and ate their dinner. Avery was the loudest, but that's only because I wasn't able to shovel food into her as fast as she thought I ought. Heaven forbid that I actually get a bite into myself once in a while!!!
Overall I can say that I was proud of my kids. They ate well, used their nice words and didn't spill anything. :) They shared their dinners with the family and didn't make any rude comments about anyone! We just might be able to take them out in public again. :)
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2 comments:
That is so great. I remember taking our brood to restaurants. Since David was minister of music in the "early kid days", we ate out almost every Sunday. No where very formal, though. Those are great memories--I hope you get a chance to make many, many more!
That's impressive! I'm scared to take my entourage out to a "nice" place.... We have been known to "practice" at a Taco Bell. I figure, if we can conquer that, we can conquer the whole culinary world!
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