On dinner with the kids

There's not all that many restaurants around here where kids can be kids and not be given death stares by the diners of neighboring tables.

But dinner at Rosie O'Shea's Friday night proved to be enjoyable for young and old alike. We went with a couple of friends who are regulars there and sat at a lone table in the back of the restaurant. I've only ever had late-night beers at Rosie's, choosing to save the evenings we have occasion to dine out for establishments known more for their cuisine. However, I was pleasantly surprised by my burger. And what Rosie's may lack in fine cuisine, it makes up for with a totally kid-friendly atmosphere. There was tons of room for the kids to run around unhindered and shortly after dinner, a group of young fiddlers and Irish step-dancers took the stage. Half the fun of the evening - besides the good company, service and drinks - was watching the kids trying to imitate the dancers. They had a blast. And what's more, the waitress thought it was funny when I found my son at the next table over making salt-and-pepper mountains for his matchbox cars to plow through. (Not, of course, that this is behavior I generally approve of.)

But it was probably the most relaxed I've felt out at dinner with my three-year-old....ever. We're going to try and crash the Daigle's friday evening ritual as often as possible now....


Good times.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the cool moms out there I know!



And Happy Birthday to our little man, who officially turned three today.

Some pics from his soiree last week, and the traditional butter on the nose pic from this morning.

(Bouncing in the bouncy house.)

(Checking out his cake.)

(Us opening presents after his party. Rich demonstrating Braedan's new superhero cape.)

(The traditional butter on the nose.)

Little old ladies who do bad things

Yesterday, while grocery shopping at DeMoula's, I was in the pickle/condiment/olive oil/natural food aisle, and there was this little old lady slowly pushing her cart past the olives and scrutinizing everything - little jars of pesto, hot peppers, you name it.

Then I saw her take something off the shelf and examine it with crinkled eyes. After shuffling back to her cart, and leaning against the handle, she proceeded to peel the price tag off and put it on an item already in her cart. While smoothing out the little orange tag over the top of the jar, she caught me looking at her. She held my gaze for just a few seconds, just long enough to say, "So what?" in what I imagine would have been a voice much like Sofia from the Golden Girls.

It made me kind of sad.

Is it bad that I schedule my life around Lost?

Any die-hard Lost fan probably understand this. But many of you also probably are in possession of the latest in tv technology., i.e. Tivo, On Demand.

I think those things ruin the excitement of watching a tv show live. Well, not live, but unrecorded. I like the anticipation, the challenge of making sure my kid is sleeping, the fact that I can't get up during commercials for anything - food, drink, relief - for fear I might miss a millisecond of action.