Old times..

Last night we went out for a family dinner. We also had Tomas' best mate and my friend ,who is like a mum to me, with us. I booked the table a day earlier for a 6pm sitting. Then, yesterday afternoon, I changed the booking to 6:30pm and added an extra seat. "No problems", the girl said, "Do you still want to be near the children's play area? We do also have a clown that comes at 7pm to entertain the kids". "Yes please and thankyou", I say.

We walked to the club as it is close to our house and we arrived at 6:30pm. The girl who was to escort us to our seats says, "Oh, your booking was for 6pm". "No, I called and spoke to a girl by the name of Sally and asked for a later booking and she said no problems and that we would be in the same area". They then escorted us to our table...miles away from where it was initially arranged. I was annoyed at this. The reason was simple... I cannot stand lack of communication, and the fact that we do not go out to dinner as a family often and we were looking forward to going out. I also like to make sure the kids are safe and in the right area, aka, not going off to try play the poker machines! So, from the back of the sitting area I could not keep tabs on the kids... unlike other parents who let their children run absolutely wild!

I ordered a prawn linguine and it was lovely. The waitress was also very efficient and she was very nice! The clown came through and rounded up the children, actually, he was a wizard not a clown last night. He performed magic tricks, made his rabbit appear from a hat and doves appear from under a table or somewhere. He is a brave wizard to let all those children handle his animals! He also painted the children's faces and they all loved it. The older children played games in the games room.

After dinner we moved to where I could monitor the children. A duet, I suspect were mother and son of Islander appearance, were singing in the lounge area. A keyboard and two microphones, they sang/mimed some Elvis songs, some rock n roll and some Neil Diamond and Tom Jones. It was good, and people got up to dance. It was, for me, reminiscent of the old days when I was a kid. We used to go to the Commercial Hotel on a Saturday night and enjoy dinner, then dance to a band. They'd let mum and dad stay there with us four kids. On condition that if we were good and if danced..... So we did. Mum would always get the band to play Sweet Caroline for yours truly... I could have just became invisible right then and there!

So, last night we stayed until the wizard packed up his paints and his menagerie. It was a good night in the end. I spoke to the manager who served me the drinks I ordered and said what a good evening it had turned out to be. He commented that my children were well behaved, then he served them some free lemonade. Admittedly, he was right, there were some children there who were not being supervised and getting up to no good. I know it would be annoying to other patrons. We left after the lemonade was consumed, we arrived home, happy, at 9:30pm.

Added note, 11:30am and Mia's first tooth has fallen out. Actually, she was brushing her teeth and it came out...yayyy :)