Pizza party

After spending several weeks without going to a restaurant in order to save up for gear bags for the older boys' taekwondo lessons, we treated ourselves to lunch out. We had intended on going to Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe. They have a location near the Birmingham Zoo that we had visited before. As we were walking to the Cafe, we passed Bob's Victory Grille. We changed our minds and decided Americana sounded better. 

The staff were very attentive. They seemed intent on making this our favorite restaurant. They fried up some dough and covered it with cinnamon and caramel for a dessert to share. No charge! The little ones had coloring pages with a little container of fruit loops cereal or something similar. Several people came by to see if we needed anything.

The most memorable part was the older boys getting to play with dough at the counter. They played and played. Their food came. They wolfed it down. Then went back to playing with their dough. Once they were done, a staff member baked their dough and then covered it with olive oil and Parmesan (or something similar) cheese. The boys were tickled and exclaimed that this was the best restaurant ever. 

Now we need to try to get some swim lessons this year so we need to eat at home as much as possible. Last night, I decided to make pizza. I converted a recipe to make three crusts. I made two for the little ones, my husband and I. I divided the third and let the boys make their own. The rising time of the dough allowed us to gather all the ingredients to let them customize it to their tastes. 

James said, "I'm so excited I could burst!"

With this week that we have had with illness and not being able to get out to do anything fun, it was a great activity to counteract the blahs.