When we go out to eat

When we have family time, their are so many options of things to do. Sometimes the kids just like to wrestle daddy and get reminded that he is the almighty hulk of the house (and hunk too ;)), and sometimes they like to show off their princess and knight gear and put on a show for us. If there are no tornadoes, we go to the local pond and fish or just walk around it and throw a million acorns into it. One of our favorite things to do is get out of the house.

We are the "get up and go" type of people. If we have a whole day to just "be" with each other, we usually go somewhere. A lot of times we end up at the mall. We usually go there hungry, so the first thing we do is eat. Now I am not a short order cook. I cook, they eat. Eating at the mall though, is quite the process for us. It actually begins before we even get there. We have to stop at the fast food place across the street from the mall. Spiderman has food allergies and that is the only safe place for him to eat. We get his meal and usually baby princess's meal, because chicken nuggets is one of the cleanest meals for her to eat.

We then head right for a table after making it through the grand central parking lot with all four kids, and hopefully not spilling any of the pop that they are helping us hold. Next, we go for Princess and Batman's food, which is always cheese pizza. Since Spiderman is allergic to dairy products, we rarely go out for pizza. When pizza is an option, the older 2 always order it. After all the kids are happily eating, dearest hubby then goes to the sub sandwich place to order ours. I always make him go, because 1) they don't speak very much English, and 2) he has double the ingredients on his sandwich and I always forget what he wants, not to mention trying to translate it all!

After about 10 minutes, we are all together eating our sandwiches. We are usually getting smiles and looks from strangers. It is not everyday that you see a family with 4 kids eating out. I think it is normal. It's not like we have 6 or 7 kids. By the time husband and I are half way done eating our sandwiches the kids are running circles around our table asking to go play at the play center. We tell them, " in a second" and scarf down the rest of our food and load up on our caffeinated drinks. They then go and play for an hour and come out with sweat filled bodies.

It is fun. Dear husband and I get to talk to each other the whole time and the kids get to see and play with other kids. Since we home school, this is kind of their playground. It is one of our favorite family outings.