The Callie and Charlie Show

You know it has been an interesting evening when, at the end of it, you say "This deserves its own blog post."

You know that controversy that was happening a few months ago about restaurants wanting to be able to choose to be kid-free zones? Tonight, our children were the very poster-children for why people think that is a good idea.

Let me back up.  Callie and I met Jenna and Charlie for a dinner/ice cream date.  The daddies were indisposed (*cough...video games...cough*).

Jenna and I both have an affinity for Mexican food and Coldstone, so meeting at El Loro and heading for ice cream after sounded like a great plan.  Until they sat us at the table by the kitchen- the table with the most traffic back in forth in front of the table.  The table where the waitstaff walked by countless times carrying very hot plates of food.  Nothing disasterous happened, but you can probably imagine why that was a problem.

We started out well...2 toddlers in high chairs eating their weight in tortilla chips.  Pretty soon Charlie had to be out of his high chair (making good friends with one of the waiters) and Callie had to be drinking her water without the straw- only through the little slits where the straw goes.  So while Jenna was trying to wrangle Charlie, and I was trying to make a very stubborn Callie understand why drinking through a straw was the way to go, we managed to order and have some adult conversation. 

The food came quickly, but neither kid would eat very much, or stay in their high chairs.  So...out came the cheddar bunnies and fruit, and the double-toddler wrangling began.

Notice the water glass- no straw?

The rest of the meal is kind of a blur.  We managed to sort of eat in between the times we had to get up to make sure Callie/Charlie didn't get run over by waitstaff or crawl on the ground eating discarded chips or pour water all over themselves, or laugh hysterically because the situation was so ridiculous.  We also got to enjoy the looks of pity from the other diners.  They were all very patient with us.

In the midst of the chaos, somehow the cry of "Kiss! Kiss" escaped Callie's lips.  She tossed her passy to Jenna, and Charlie went for it.  We're going to have to watch out for those two in 15 years or so.



The calm moment ended as soon as the passy went back in.  We were somehow ignored for awhile and had to wait for our bill (we assumed they would want us out ASAP).  Then we had to wait in line to pay. 

After the chaos that had been the past 58 minutes (was it ONLY 58 minutes???!?!?!?!?!), you'd think we would have called it a night.  But no, like any other ice-cream-loving women would do, we headed to Coldstone, where the children continued their rampage by climbing up and down on the chairs (and tables), and enjoying a little not-needed-by-any-means sugar.

So there you have it. A rundown of the 85 minutes of The Callie and Charlie Show. Here's to hoping that Charlie crashed when they got home like Callie did when we got home, because both Jenna and I need a nap.