It was his idea!

Kyle called on the way home from his golf tournament on Sunday... "Let's go out to eat. Grab the kids. You, me, the kids, Mike and his wife, can all go out!". Kyle was thrilled.

"Are you kidding me?", I said. "You would have to be on drugs to suggest that!"

Kyle got frustrated, tried to plead his case, and eventually ended up hanging up on me, mostly because after Kyle knows he's defeated, he usually quickly gets frustrated. He KNEW that it would not be easy to go out to eat. He only had no idea...

I quickly decided "fine, if he wants to go, we'll go." He arrived home, and I had the kids ready to go, and we jumped in the car and headed to eat. I informed Kyle that I would happily go - but if anyone needed to be chased down, disciplined, or removed from the restaurant, it was going to be his job - to which he happily accepted. Kyle's friend Mike went along (withOUT his wife), and his buddy Doug that also golfed with him that day, and his young wife, Kate. (Doug and his wife do not yet have kids).

Here is a snippet of me and Kate's conversation at dinner:

Me: So where do you work?
Kate: At a dental office in Cedar Rapids
Me: Really, I work right down the street from there
Kate: Where do you work?
Me: At Ro...TYLER, TYLER, stop, STOP, Kyle, can you get Tyler, he's going into the women's bathroom.
Me: (forgetting the conversation): So, how did you guys meet? TYLER - SIT DOWN!
Kate: In the Quad Cities.
Me: Kyle, can you grab that fork for Connor. Connor, here - eat with your fork.
Kate: I worked at an ice cream store and Doug kept coming in.
Me: Aw, that's cute. OUCH! Connor - you're stepping on me!!! Kyle - Tyler needs more money for the machine. (Tyler was playing the touchscreen game at the bar).
Mike: Here, I'll go help Tyler
Me: So how long have you been together? Kyle, KYLE, can you grab Tyler's pop, he's going to spill it all over the floor.

You get the point. Continue this conversation for about a 1/2 hour. I think we got about 5 minutes of substance to it - but we did it. We went out to eat, and Kyle got his wish, and I proved my point.

Although I don't like to sit at home and stare at the four walls, there are certain things that I won't do - and one of them is submit myself to torture (I'm sure this is a certified torture method in some obscure country!).

Next time, I'd prefer a picnic in the park!