Table for 9

We don't take the whole family out to eat in a restaurant (fast food does not count) very often. It's not so much the expense, although it is not cheap, it's really just the logistics of it all. A few months ago we tried going to Golden Corral, it was super crowded. The manager sent us to one side of the restaurant because supposedly there was a big enough table over there for all of us. Wrong! There was nothing available so we hike across to the other side where they try to squeeze us all around a table for 6. It's bad enough that we get a lot of attention when we go out just because of the size of our family but when we are left standing in the middle of the restaurant with nowhere to go, that's even worse! After that we swore off ever going out again. Well, Saturday I decided that we have not been together much as a family and we needed to do something. We thought about where to go very carefully, someplace rather noisy, with large tables, possibly call ahead seating, and good service. Most of our kids are old enough to know how to behave so it's just the littles that we have to worry about. I think it is important for kids to learn how to act in public, and certain social manners that go along with eating out. We finally decided on On the Border, it was still early enough that it wouldn't be too crowded and Randy called ahead to make sure they knew we were coming and they could be prepared. When we got there they had already seated another party in our optimal booth so they pushed some tables together-exactly what we wanted to avoid-and tried to squeeze us in only to discover we were short a chair and not going to fit here! Now it turns into a big scene with the manager and hostess adding an extension to the table, getting another chair and getting us all seated again. In the meantime we are all standing around in the middle of the restaurant drawing yet more attention to ourselves. Ugh! I wanted to take a picture to post but decided it was best just to lay low and get through dinner. I have to say that the kids were so well behaved, our dinner was great, the kids were great, minus them forgetting Ryan's food which we ended up getting for free plus a card for another free kids meal when we come back. I find it funny that we cause such a commotion when we go places, I guess we must overwhelm people when they are not used to dealing with such a big family. I think it's neat for people to see that we are a family and were not afraid of going out. Well we are afraid but we do it anyways!