Dining Out

Since we used up most of our free crayons from our previous venture out into the big world of family-friendly restaurants (which also happened to be our very first venture out into the big world of family-friendly restaurants), it was high time for a Part II adventure.

Unfortunately there isn't much available in our neighborhood that's family friendly that also isn't fast-food, so we revisited the same restaurant due to it's only-game-in-town proximity.

The restaurant? Swiss Chalet.

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A small caveat: I worked at a Swiss Chalet while going to college. My shifts were for the most part not long enough to get a proper break with a meal, but the couple times they were I found their food landed like lead in my stomach. I've never been a big fan – including the times I've been dragged there by a rabid Swiss Chalet lover as a proper customer.

That said, there are far too many die-hard Swiss Chalet fans to make my dining experience anything other than a personal anecdote. Food preferences aside, I can also say that having worked in a few chain restaurants during my teens and early twenties, no one had it more together regarding food safety than the Chalet. Their standards are impeccable and their food for the most part is simply made and relatively healthy.

There is no accounting for their signature sauce however. I have no idea why people go bananas for it. A customer once commented that it tasted like mothballs and although it was still a few months before I tried it for the first time myself I'd have to agree that his description was fairly spot-on.

It was one of the few items at Swiss Chalet that wasn't made from actual ingredients in the restaurant, but rather came in powdered form in a mysterious bag, which should tell you something.

Seriously, stay away from that stuff.

And thus ends my caveat (which turned out to be not-so-small after all), and on with the dining out experiences...

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The first time I took my boys out was early February when Gamma Rita was still in town. We were fully prepared to exit if the experience was met with tears – and although there was a moment of doubt when it came time to get everyone seated in unfamiliar high-chairs, it turned out to be a better-than-expected venture.

Although I think the crayons were a selling point:

And the space where the tables met that was somehow perfectly positioned to shove said crayons down also had its appeal:

Of course there were other distractions which, at the time, we all assumed had to do with other patrons enjoying their lunch and a curious toddler:

It's hard to believe that was only 8 weeks ago when it was still technically winter here (we didn't really have winter this year, but it was February at the time) and also pre-haircuts. It seems like ages ago and I can't believe how much my boys have grown in such a short span of time.

But I digress.

Last night M. and I revisited Swiss Chalet after a play in the park for supper.

The boys weren't as taken with the crayons this time since we have plenty of crayons at home.

Oh. Crayons.

Still, we kept everyone distracted with a trip to the potty while we waited for our meals to arrive. Of course, once said meals arrived, Seth found a distraction of his own:

And unlike our previous visit where I assumed he was being a looky-loo in general, this time the source of his distraction turned out to be rather obvious:

Some might say a little too obvious. 

Hey cutie! Get back here – I not done with you yet!

*sigh*

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Nate also had a similar reaction to the crayons:

Oh. Crayons.

At least until he discovered the ketchup that was well within his reach:

He admired that bottle as much as it is possible to admire a bottle of ketchup until the food arrived. 

And then he tucked in proper:

I'm fairly certain that his meal was at least 50% ketchup, but since it's technically a vegetable by some standards, we all did our best to look the other way.

- L.

PS. It's been tough on a first-time and last-time Mommy acknowledging that my babies are no longer babies.

Still, when I catch a moment like this it's impossible not to wax nostalgic: 

I'm not entirely sure that there won't always be moments like these that take me back in an instant to when they were barely born. A casual sweep of the eye and I'm right there all over again.

*sniffle*