Eight is Enough

Since Rand and Leslie were celebrating their 18th wedding anniversary tonight, the rest of us, sans TGL, did a bit of celebrating ourselves.

Time: 6:15 pm
Place: Pearl Street Mall
what: dinner at the Cheesecake Factory

Mom, Carrie and I got to the restaurant first and approached the hostess.

Carrie: "we have a party of 13, 5 adults, 8 kids two highchairs".

Hostesses [looking skeptical to say the least]: "Okay, let me look around and talk to the manager to let you know how long the wait will be

Manager: "The wait will be at least a 1 to 1 1/2 hours" [She wanted to scare us away but we were committed]

Me: "Sounds great, we'll just go out and play on the rocks".

I got the bright idea to get menus so we could all order right away. Luck was on our side and we were seated within 45 minutes; in the bar area [nothing dumb about that manager] I figure the waitpeople were drawing straws in back to see who would serve us.

Everyone ordered and when it came to mom she looked panicked and said "where is my menu?". Now if any of you know my mom, she suffers from ordering anxiety and usually looks at one of us and says "what are you getting? what do I usually order here? I need more time"

The waiter went to get drinks and brought bread which disappeared faster than a plate of cookies at a LDS Youth Fireside. We waited, and waited, and you guessed it, waited. Sara pulled out Crosby's gluten free dinner and was soon handing rice cakes to Sydney and Kix to Brig. The 2nd round of bread was brought and we realized it was Tanner's Flatiron Steak that was probably holding things up. We moved to the Dora portion of the evening as Sara whipped out her laptop in an attempt to entertain Sydney [who was crawling around under the table] and Crosby who was actually very well behaved.

The food finally arrived. Mason took one bite, or so he claims, of his Nonkraft mac 'n cheese and declared it inedible. At that point Dave made an announcement that if there was any food that wasn't going to be eaten, he was a willing recipient. The waiter disappeard for a while, probably out back doing shots, and we decided against Cheesecake opting for Oreo shakes at Nana's house instead.

We had all parked in the parking garage where I have a pass. I swiped my card as Dave in his car, Carrie in her car, and Sara in the minivan, drove to freedom. At that point a parking security guard [who knew they existed] informed me in Spanish that my actions were not to be tolerated. I jumped in my car and swiped my card one more time.

We arrived at 655 Emporia Rd and I went into Oreo Shake Mode. Crosby and Sydney [and Christian] were entertained by baby einstein and sara went down to chat with Dad. At 10 pm Sara realized Rand and Leslie might be wanting their kids in bed to arise for 9am church so she rallied the troops. She was in the car ready to go when we realized some were missing. Mom called downstairs and Scout, Tanner and finally Mason came up. "Sara's in the car ready to go guys". said mom.

Mason was the last up the stairs: "Hey Nana I'm hungry!!!"

I hope Rand and Leslie had a nice relaxing dinner because we had a BLAST!!!