April 29th, 2011

It was Friday and mother nature decided to finally be kind to the St. Louis area.  She’s sure been in a mood this spring.  Puts a new spin on the saying “If momma ain’t happy, nobody is happy.”  Well today both Mother Nature and I were happy.  I couldn’t wait for Lauren to get off the bus, lunch done, and head out.  Destination: Botanical Gardens.  I wanted to spend as much time as the girls would let me in the home garden display, check out the herb sale, feed the fish, and explore the new extreme treehouse exhibit.  It was a fantastic afternoon!  The girls ran around so much we stopped at Sassafras Cafe and enjoyed brownies and juice on their patio to refuel. 

After our fun outing, I needed to stop at Di Gregorio's Market for some polenta.  When we got there, I decided to get a couple items at the deli.  Then I decided to grab a basket and shop the aisles.  They were giving out samples of sharp asiago cheese and Lauren loved it, so got some of that too.  20 minutes later we were in the car with a bag of goodies…..but I completely forgot to get the polenta. 

We had reservations at Roberto's Trattoria.  It’s our family favorite “fancy” neighborhood restaurant.

The girls picked out their dresses.  Sydney’s dress is actually a hand me down from their cousin, Elizabeth.  Lauren wore it the last 2 years and now it’s Sydney’s.  At the Storklady Spring Consignment Sale I found the exact dress in 5T for Lauren.  I couldn’t believe it since Elizabeth is 10 and it’s a 4T, so the dress is at least 6 years old. 

Lauren photography!

At Roberto’s the girls split the Bolognese pasta and Trent and I each get a salad, then split their filet with a porchini sauce.  The girls love their bread and Trent, Lauren, and I love their calamari to start.

So, for the first time, Lauren asked what calamari was made out of.  The question had me flash back to when I was a server at the Wolfgang Puck’s at the St. Louis Art Museum.  I had a table come in and it was a mom, her 3 kids, her elderly mother, and her elderly mother’s even more elderly sister.  She pulled me aside when she got her group settled at the table and looked frazzled.  She said “Look, make sure I get the bill, when I order the calamari I’m going to call it “french fries,” and when I order a coke, bring me jack and coke.”  She had three “cokes” and left not looking as frazzled.  So I was debating how to answer Lauren’s question because I wanted her to still like calamari.  While I was debating if I was going to go the “french fry” route, Trent immediately said “Octopus, no wait, squid, which is a tiny octopus.”  Lauren said “oh” and kept on eating.  Crisis avoided.

So far best Friday of the year!