Why didn't we just get takeout?

I was reading Marguerite Kelly's Family Almanac column the other day and there was a question from a woman contemplating having a third child and she wondered if she was crazy.  My initial reaction was YES CRAZY!  Especially since her first two kids are only 2.5 and 1 year old!!!!  Of course the answer was "Go for it" - Ms. Kelly reasoned that when you have two kids you're able to be razor-focused on them and they don't always get the benign neglect they need (she's a big fan of benign neglect and so am I).  She also said that you're more organized with three kids because you have to be (ba-lo-ney). 

So anyway, I was telling Greg about this and his response was pretty funny.  "You know, when Lorelei was little every time I took her out in public I felt like I was presenting a gift to the world.  Now that we have three, every time I go out in public with them I just hope we can get in and out without breaking anything."  I know exactly what he means.  Lorelei was an awesome kid in public.  She always behaved in restaurants - it was amazing really, she was quiet and didn't throw food (which was not the case at home, of course).  And now, with the three restaurants are exhausting, although the experience seems to fall into the category of "not so terrible that I remember it was terrible until we're out there again."

Last night Greg was working late and I didn't feel like cooking, so I had the brilliant idea to take the girls to "Red Robinsons" (as Violet calls it).  Bad idea so on many levels - Red Robin at 6pm on a Friday VERY crowded, going alone and really just going at all.  The waiting area was packed, but I'm sure the people around us didn't mind being smacked in the face with balloons as Zoey yelled "BOP!"  The older two were actually pretty easy to manage - Zoey was the handful.  She kept escaping from me so she could go sit on the TV embedded in the floor.  I don't know why she took so much joy in sitting there stomping on the TV.  Our wait was so long that Greg was able to join us - so that was nice, except that it made me relax my vigilance in keeping track of Zoey since there were two of us to do it. 

Suddenly Greg yells "Stop her!"  I look over and Zoey is climbing inside the prize shoot for one of those claw games!!  I grabbed her after she was all the way in but before the little door was able to slam shut.  Greg said, "Thank goodness - I really did not want to end up on You Tube tonight."

So, no more restaurants.  At least until the next time.