A Little Rant...

Hello Everyone!!!

To our family and friends in the States...Happy Memorial Day!!!! To our new friends here in Canada...get to bed, you have to work tomorrow!!!!!

So, now that I got that out of the way, I have a bit of a rant...about non-kid friendly places, especially restaurants.

Okay, here I go...

This morning Craig and I got into a conversation about restaurants we missed from home. One of the places that came up was Chilis...we spent many Friday nights with my parents at the one in Manchester, and I though I don't really miss the food too much from there, I miss the idea that we used to go there with Mom and Dad. So, Craig found out that there was a Chilis nearby, and he decided to take me to lunch. Now, anyone who has children knows that eating out is a luxury and is tough to do often...unless you have a great sitter...which we do not (well, we do, but not for times like this). So, with that said, we decided to brave it and take Hannah.

We get to the place and the hostess is a complete...well, let's put it this way, my meal had more brains than she did. We asked for a table for two and a high chair. You'd think we told her that we wanted a window seat with an ocean view (don't get the joke...look at a map!!!). She walked off (we thought to verify that the table was clean for us...HA!!!) and soon came back to seat us. You could tell that she had no concept of anything "kid" since she wanted to give my one-year-old a pack of crayons. Blue waxy poop anyone??

We get to table and the floor underneath it is disgusting!!! There was food everywhere!!! Then, I look at the highchair that she has provided for us, and it is just as filthy. Apparently they used that table as the "kid" table, and didn't feel the need to clean it between customers. I told her that the seat was filthy, so she grabbed a cloth napkin and wiped it off onto the floor.

So, trying to be positive, I put Hannah in the seat, and soon realized that the buckle was broken. Great, now my child is going to fall on the nasty, food encrusted floor...at least I know that it has a fresh layer of yuck to break her fall. Craig could tell that I was getting into one of my moods, so he quickly went to hunt down the hostess, to get us a new chair. I showed her that the buckle was broken and that it was dangerous for a child to sit in...I wonder how many kids have sat in it since...hmmmmm.

She brought us a new highchair...and guess what? It was broken too!!!! Fortunately this one had the buckle knotted onto the strap, and the last kid that sat in the chair was Hannah's size. Good enough!

Our waitress comes over...my Goodness this lady is about to pop!!! You'd think someone this preggers would understand what you can put in front of a small child...guess again! I spent the first few minutes of our "experience" trying to get silverware and water glasses out of Hannah's reach. (By the way, we found out that she is due on July 19th...great day, don't you think Christen and Fred??)

We went all out with wings as an appetizer (Hannah was mad that we were eating in front of her...thankfully I brought some of her snacks...did I mention that she had already eaten her lunch at home??), then I had a quesadilla, Craig had a burger, and Hannah munched away at her chicken nuggets and fries. She loved them!!! We had never ventured into the nugget realm, but bit the bullet and it was a success. I mean, who doesn't love deep fried chicken with a french fry chaser??

So, to round off my rant, I am the Mom who gets on all fours after a meal to pick up anything that Hannah has spilled. I don't leave empty baby food jars on the table- I take them home with me. I try to provide snacks and toys for Hannah so she stays occupied and doesn't bother other eaters. All in all, I try to be the best customer I can...is it so hard to not treat my daughter like she has the plague?? A splinter in your finger is an inconvenience, waiting in rush hour traffic is an inconvenience, having a colonoscopy is an inconvenience...being polite to my daughter and treating her like a human being...not an inconvenience...at least I don't think so.

Well, if you've stayed with me this long, thank you. My rant is now over. I do ask that the next time you are out to eat and you see a couple with a small child, know that they probably don't get out much, and though that burger that you are eating may mean nothing to you...it might mean a whole lot more to them. That, and if their child acts up, it is probably because being in a restaurant in a new experience for them, since their parents are probably too scared to take them out very often.

I hope you all have a great long weekend!!!! We sign the papers on the house tomorrow and get the keys on Wednesday...I'll post more about that soon!!!

Miss you all!!!

~Sharon~