Chew Chew Train

We have a family email address that we use for school and bills. When he set up the account, Bryan was prompted to add a birthday. Instead of using his own, he used our wedding anniversary. That means on Tuesday he got a Google notification for our family's birthday. I told the kids and they thought "family's birthday" sounded way cooler than "anniversary." Instead of baking cakes and decorating the entire house (Phoebe's suggestions), we decided to go out for a family birthday dinner celebration.

Someone in the ward told me about a local diner that caters not only to kids, but to kids with peanut and tree nut allergies. Peter felt an unfamiliar yet welcome sense of ease at being in a restaurant that was safe for him. And the whole place was decked out in train paraphernalia, so all the kids were happily engaged throughout the meal.

Ignore the goofy look on my face (but do notice my favorite shirt) and focus instead on Cooper's face. That's a look of joy right there.

Notice the two tracks? One is on the wall and runs the perimeter of the room. A train traveled continuously on that track, a train which Sophie watched with great fascination. Every time it disappeared into the birthday party room Sophie would shrug her shoulder, raise one hand, palm up fingers out, and say "Dair di di doe?" That's Sophie-speak for "Where did it go?"

Now for track number two. This train delivered our food. See those baskets? They drove by each time someone's food was ready. Cupcakes and ice cream (cleverly) rode by several times. The kids thought it was awesome. And they all wanted cupcakes ($2.99) and ice cream ($2.99) afterward. We told them we would enjoy watching the train, then have our own ice cream party at home.

This was a very fun experience. The food was pretty good, but, other than the guarantee of being nut-free, was not really the focus of the diner. Rather, the atmosphere and decor were the big attractions here. This train table sits in the front window of the restaurant. While we waited for our food, the three big kids stood, rapt, watching the trains run.

As much as I would have enjoyed a quiet dinner with Bryan, I kind of loved turning our anniversary celebration into a family event. I think I'd like to make this a new tradition and celebrate our family's birthday every year.