Lunch at a Restaurant!

Yesterday, we went to the library and got tons of books (okay, 20) about airplanes, trains, tunnels, Spiderman, and ready-to-read books for Ethan. We spent over an hour there. I would love the library, if I could have it all to myself. I must not have realized that today was a special play/reading day at the library because there must have been 40 kids there. I don't do well in groups like that. But I bided my time for my kids' sake.

Then, I took the kids to Panchero's Mexican Grill for lunch. I had a coupon for a free quesadilla, and it's always exciting to feed three people for under five bucks. We got two quesadillas, one chicken and one steak. Aidan picked the steak out of his though, so now I know not to bother paying for the meat next time. Oh yeah, let me back up. I told the kids Thursday night that we would be going to a restaurant Friday afternoon. All morning Aidan said, "Restaurant? Going to restaurant?" We only go to restaurants maybe once every 6-8 weeks, so for my kids it is an extra special treat. When we finally got there, my kids chose a booth and waited for me to order. When I brought the food to them, they each wanted a salsa, and they both wanted to try the corn mixture it comes with. For those of you who don't know what a quesadilla is, it is a tortilla with a little bit of cheese and a few pieces of meat, folded in half and cut into triangles. It took my kids 45 minutes to eat theirs. And I had to coerce Ethan to eat almost every bite he took. It's not that he wasn't hungry; it's that he was so interested in the people in line ordering, making blowfish on the window, playing with his straw, and talking about -- no insisting -- on going into the men's bathroom alone (because he wanted to use the urinal, I suppose). And Aidan was eating and playing with all of the ice in his water. He would push each ice cube around on the table until it slid out from underneath his finger and went under the table. Then he would say, "Uh-oh!" and I would insist on not going under there to get it, and then he would get another piece of ice. It's amazing how something that would take me literally 5 minutes to eat can take them 45 minutes. But that just shows me how I don't stop to smell the flowers enough. They were so excited by everything else around them that eating was at the bottom of the list. Oh, and when we got in the car, Aidan said, "Restaurant?" I said, "We just left the restaurant." And he said, "Another restaurant?" Um, no.

And while we're talking about fake Mexican restaurants, can I just say how much I miss Cafe Rio? I dream about the pork barbacoa salad with pinto beans, no cilantro, and the house dressing. If anyone out there loves me, you'll overnight me one. I think it'll ship well, don't you?