Our Journey to Carson

Trying to Step Outside of Our Box...

...and loving it! Those who know Kevin know that, wherever we travel, he ALWAYS wants to eat at Outback Steakhouse. Yes, it is his favorite restaurant. But, darling, we can have Outback AT HOME!! So, on this trip, we made a pact to step outside of our box and try restaurants we can't visit in our home state. More on that in a bit.

The weather is mostly cooperating...a little cloudy and ominous looking today, but it never rained. Here are a couple of pics of the boys having lunch out on the balcony yesterday:
After lunch, they headed to the Lazy River. (Carson LOVES being in the pool!) Instead of taking his fish inner tube, Carson decided he wanted to try the boogie board. As you can see from these pics, he changed his mind quickly...
...poor guy, he was holding on for dear life!! He eventually got the hang of it, but has never asked for the boogie board again!

Back to the "stepping out of the box" portion, last night we headed to dinner at...
...the Hard Rock Cafe! Sadly, Carson was in a crabby mood, the service was terribly slow, Meggie was forced to eat off the adult menu (she always orders chicken fingers off the kids' menu, but they wouldn't LET her and she was QUITE displeased about it!), and the music was unbearably loud! We ate as quickly as we could and got out of there! Daddy seemed to enjoy the music, but the rest of us were truly dying in there! (Carson kept saying, "Mommy, is TOO LOUD!!") Well, we tried.

Today for lunch (without Meggie, who was shopping with her friends) we decided to try a restaurant we saw last night...
...can't go wrong with an Irish pub, right?! As we approached the door, I saw why Daddy was so interested in trying this restaurant...
...when they promise feasting, imbibery, and debauchery on a sign over the entrance!?!?! Uh-oh, we have a KID with us!

As we entered, I noticed a few dollar bills tacked on the walls that people had signed. I thought that was kind of a cute idea -- much like Fudpucker's, where they let you sign the walls -- but then I looked up and saw this:
It was CRAZY! There were dollar bills covering every inch of the ceiling! Carson was amazed at all the money in the room!!

They headed us to a table in what can only be described as a shrine to Notre Dame football!! Daddy was in utter and absolute HEAVEN!!! (He could easily be described as one of the biggest Notre Dame football fans ever!) Carson sat next to Daddy in the booth, but look who I got to sit next to...
...Lou Holtz!! (If you're not a Notre Dame fan, this means nothing. However, if you're not a Notre Dame fan, SHAME ON YOU!! Lou Holtz was a GREAT coach!!) Not to be outdone, the boys got to share their side of the booth with...
...the Four Horsemen! There were National Championship banners and Notre Dame paraphernalia everywhere in this restaurant!!

It took a while to get our food, so the boys spent some time...
...talking on their cell phones! Actually, Carson was using the crayon box and let Daddy use his Spiderman phone. (It's so funny what parents will do to amuse a bored child and not care who's looking!)

After lunch of corned beef and cabbage (Daddy), Yankee pot roast (me), and mac 'n cheese (Carson), we told our waitress we wanted to add a dollar to the wall collection. She said there was about $750,000 in money hanging on the walls and ceiling of that restaurant. WOW! She supplied a marker and a staple gun and we left our mark: Meggie's team danced two of their three numbers tonight and did great! (High Gold rating...way to go, girls!) They still dance one more number tomorrow...yikes, our week is winding to an end.

Stepping outside of our box is truly creating some fun memories! Can't wait to see where we eat tomorrow...