Trinity's dinner Adventure

Last Sunday Trinity decided we should go out to eat dinner instead of staying here and keeping it simple. Greg casually asked her, "if we were to go out to eat, where would you want to go?". And there begins our Sunday evening adventure.

Trinity started by saying, "I want to go to that restaurant where the doors look like a barn, you know where they have those metal crosses on them. It's by Northpark mall." We thought and thought and came up completely blank, so we followed with the obvious questions:
mom and dad: What did you eat when we went there?
Trinity: Maybe soup, yeah probably soup. (for those of you who don't know, that's what she gets at almost every restaurant)
Mom and Dad: What did we get to eat?
Trinity: I have no idea
Mom and Dad: Who all was with us?
Trinity: We haven't been there since before Addison was born.
Mom and Dad: Was it just us, or was someone else with us?
Trinity: It was just us...or maybe Pappy and Gommy were with us...
Trinity: They had those things on the window and a roof that goes like this (showing us a flat roof with her hands) Here, let me draw you a picture...
Trinity: It might have been a restaurant where you go through and serve yourself, or maybe it wasn't...um, it either was or it wasn't

By now we have brainstormed on every single restaurant we have ever been to and asked her questions about each of them, and ever question has been shot down. We're completely lost and feel so helpless.

The questions continued, I guess in an effort to prove her wrong, because it just HAD to be one of the restaurants we had already asked about.

Mom and Dad: It was by Northpark?
Trinity: Yeah, you just drive down the street to Northpark, and it's just right there.
Mom and Dad: Um, okay, was it in a building all by itself, or were there other stores there with it? (of course a five year old wouldn't understand the term strip-center)
Trinity: I think it was in a strit-center thing (um...never mind, she is once again proving us wrong on her intelligence)

So at this point we are completely intrigued and decide to go out to eat after all. We get everyone cleaned up, grab Trinity's drawing and jump in the car for Trinity to take us to this restaurant. We drove to every single restaurant we could think of we had ever been to that she doesn't know by name. We ended up coming up on Northpark from the back side, so we circle around the mall and when we're pulling up to Northwest Highway, she yells, "There it is!!! It's right there! It's there in front of us!" So we look up and in front of us is a grocery store. After we tell her that I got a sinking feeling in my stomach...next to the grocery store is none other than Cheesecake Factory. Granted this is probably my favorite restaurant, but not exactly what we were planning on for this impromptu dinner. We drive through the parking lot and discuss this as an option, but there are no parking spots open and the line is out the door!

So now comes the hard part of breaking Trinity's heart (and my sudden craving for Cheesecake Factory's Orange Chicken), we decided it just wasn't the night to go there. Not only was their line long and their prices high, but we have never gotten out of there in under two and a half hours and there was no way Addison was going to sit for that!

So we ended up at one of many Mexican restaurants in the area with a sulking five year old, and still got home in time for baths and bed.

What a fun adventure that was! I can't wait to go on another! I also can't wait to go to Cheesecake Factory (Mmmmm...I'm suddenly craving their Orange Chicken again!)!