Out for a Treat

We took the family out for a culinary treat tonight - McDonalds followed by Cold Rock Ice Creamery.

Yes yes, I know I know - not exactly a healthy nutritious meal, but after surviving the hairdressing salon where the 4 eldest had their hair cuts with a minimum of screaming, kicking andf fighting, we felt a reward was in order. The Rooster and I really HAD been well behaved, and an evening off cooking and cleaning is about as exciting as a reward gets these days.

The only other kind of "reward" we manage seems to result in yet another child for our family, so McDonalds it was!

Being an evening in the weeks leading up to Christmas, right about when parents across the country are finding ways to wiggle out of preparing and serving the dinner meal - McDonalds was pretty busy. So the Rooster took the kids to the playground area, while I ordered our food.

I learnt about 2 kids ago that the quickest way to order for our family is to write it down on a scrap of paper and hand it over to the person serving me. that way I don't have to repeat things multiple times and end up confusing myself AND the operator. So I gather the trays of food, and find the family who are either playing loudly or sitting at the table waiting, ravenously.

When we're out and about, people tend to notice us. I don't think a family of 7 is all that big or noticeable, but clearly I am in the minority in this thinking. And when we take up most of the party table on our own - well, it looks like there are a lot of us!

So we attracted some attention, sat down to eat, attracted some more attention, and the kids ran off to play.

A little more attention came our way when the Rabbit came hurtling out of the slide with an older child in hot pursuit. Both boys screeched to a halt in front of the Rooster, who paused between mouthfuls of Quarter Pounder and looked questioningly at his son.

"Hey Dad?"

"Yes Rabbit?"

"You do Kung Fu don't you?"

"Yes I do" replied the Rooster, looking somewhat puzzled.

"See?" the Rabbit said, turning to the child behind him "I TOLD you my Dad does Kung Fu.

Now hit 'im Dad! Hit 'im!!"

After a brief chat about how his Dad DOES train in Kung Fu but does not and will not use his skills to beat up the kid who called the Rabbit "Spiderman freak", playing and eating continued and attention began to be drawn away from the super sized family with Spiderman and Kung Fu Panda in their midst.

But not for long.

The Rooster and I were having a quiet and somewhat serious chat when Tubby calls our names. He'd been eating quietly but his voice is quite loud and carries quite clearly and we learnt long ago to acknowledge him the first time he requests, or else he will keep going and going (and going and going and going and going!) until we DO respond!

So we paused our conversation and turn our attention to our eldest - as did most other diners in the restaurant, due to the previously mentioned loud, clear voice this boy has.

And we looked questioningly at him, waiting for him to share a fascinating and obscure piece of trivia he has just remembered, which is something that happens often during mealtimes with Tubby.

"I was just thinking" he announced, in that fore-mentioned loud, clear voice.

"Sometimes I come to talk to you and I see you with Dad, and Dad has his hands on your bottom and sometimes even down your pants. Like this..!" and he stood up to demonstrate.

We finished our meal very quickly and hurried out of the restaurant.

And I have no idea what the other diners were doing after that because I was not prepared to look at a single ONE of them.

Although perhaps Tubby was also aware of the attention and was simply providing the on-lookers with a reasonable and slightly subtle explanation for our family size!!!!

Some things just cannot be explained. We figure he'll work it out in about 10 years time!