Adventures In Dining

Many of you know that we have had a really bad week...month...few months. So, noticing that my kids are starting to feel the burden of some of our issues I wanted to do something nice for them. I talked to my dad who agreed to take us out to dinner tonight to KJ's favorite place, IHOP. Not sure why she thinks this is her favorite place, since we only go there once every couple of years, but she has it in her head that it is like the bees knees of restaurants. I was reminded tonight why it is not my favorite place, and why we only go there once every couple of years.
To start, how the heck do you decide what to order when it is dinner time but the pancakes look so yummy in the pictures? The kids quickly decided on hot chocolate and the boys wanted chicken and Kendall wanted the funny face pancake. Okay, this is a special treat night, so have whatever you want. Mind you as soon as they lick all the whipped cream off of the hot chocolate I know they won't want to drink it because it will be too hot but that's okay, whatever they want tonight. So after we order, we wait. Usually my kids are good at the dinner table, but for some reason Camden was really antsy tonight. Thankfully, there were not too many other guests at the restaurant. He waited about five minutes before very loudly asking, "Where's my food?" I am sorry dear, not every restaurant is as fast as McDonald's. My poor boy has already been tainted by the speediness of fast food! When our food finally did arrive, we were all a little disappointed. First, the funny face chocolate chip pancake was replaced by a plain pancake with banana slices for a smile. Second, the boys got apple slices with their chicken instead of french fries. When I questioned the waiter he politely explained that they had replaced some of the menu items with healthier options. Hello, I did not come here for healthy food!!! If I wanted that we would have stayed home, we are here to get sugared up feel good food, which is what the menu you gave us offered! He quickly offered to "fix" our order, which meant poor Kendall waiting on her dinner even longer and the boys started to eat hopeful that their fries were coming. Bennett also decided that he might enjoy the healthier fare and asked for the apples, which is when I noticed that the apple bag they gave us was not the crisp preservative filled kind we get at McDonald's, but some "healthier" version that apparently had been sitting around too long because I could tell just from picking up the bag that the apples were slimy and squishy and I knew if I opened it my nose would be filled with the gross stench of sour rotten apple. So, needless to say, we passed on the "healthy" side. Yuck. We finally got everything straightened out, KJ got her meal and the boys got their mouth burning hot from the oil french fries, and we ate our dinner. Once we were done, we tried patiently to wait for our check, which only took about 20 minutes to retrieve. Can you believe it? Could they not see us tapping our fingers, me pulling Camden off of the walls, and Kendall saying she was tired? Finally we gave in and went and got it ourselves, which we probably should have done a lot sooner.
Ending the evening on a high note I took Kendall and Camden to the bathroom, only to get a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I am really hoping that the lighting in there was off because I seriously looked like death on a cracker, pale & pasty and about 50 years old. Not that looking 50 is bad, it's just not something I aim for while I am still in my 30's. And to top it off, when we got in the car Kendall asked if she could have a treat. Seriously? You just downed a chocolate chip pancake with whipped cream and a cup of hot chocolate and now you are asking for a treat? I guess there is no denying that she is her mother's daughter :)