Chicken Dinner

I love going out to eat. It was something Carl and I enjoyed before having kids, something we still do when we have a babysitter, and I've found ways to take the twins out with us.

Taking four-year-old twins out to eat takes a little bit of planning. 

1. If it's dinner, we try to go early when it's not crowded and we're not as likely to disturb others
2. We try to find kid-friendly places
3. I pack a backpack of supplies for each kid with:
• Personal water bottle with lid and straw (so you don't have to count on the restaurant for drinks with lids)
• Coloring book and colors
• Small snacks (in case it takes a bit to get our food)
• Individual iPods with games, movies, and music
• Headphones for the iPods

With this we're usually in good shape, but if someone ends up having a tantrum or meltdown, we go ahead and leave.

When we were in New Orleans a few weeks ago, part of the trip was trying new restaurants and visiting old favorites. One evening we headed to a great place called Sainte Marie. Although we called ahead to see if it was OK to bring kids, when we walked in we knew we wouldn't have brought the twins if we'd seen the place first.

Sainte Marie on Poydras, New Orleans

To their credit, the staff was incredibly nice and sat us in a cozy booth away from other tables. They didn't have anything on the menu appropriate for kids but the chef made a pasta with grilled shrimp that the twins loved. 

We had a lovely dinner and the kids were really great. They quietly colored, ate their dinner, and played on their iPods. Things were going so well we ordered sorbet desserts for the kids and after dinner drinks for ourselves. Right about the time these final items were brought to the table, Chloe had a complete meltdown. 

Apparently she'd asked Carl to draw her a chicken and he told her he didn't think he could do it. Wrong answer. She started crying so much Carl had to take her outside. Our booth was at the front window of the restaurant, so poor Carl stood outside in chilly weather watching as Connor and I waited for the check. The waiter asked me what had happen and I told him Carl couldn't draw a chicken. This is what came in our check:

Chloe loved it. She carried it in her hand all the way back and when we got home she asked me to draw a baby chicken next to it. She colored it and hung on to the drawing for the rest of the trip.

So what's the morale of the story. Learn to draw chickens on demand? Probably more like, learn to roll with it. Not exactly what they meant by Laissez les bond temps roulez, but I like to think it has many interpretations.