Proof that we live in an urban area

On Saturday night my husband and I decided to attempt to take our girls out to a *nice* dinner. And by nice I mean not McDonald's, not Perkins, a place where the expectations for manners and behavior are a bit higher.

Lindsey's first question when we said we would be going to a restaurant for dinner was, "Are we going to eat in at Leann Chin's?" (If you don't know, Leann Chin's is a chain of Asian fast food -- it's where we usually get our take-out on Friday nights.)



I decided a hibachi place would be best -- entertainment during the meal would ensure the best possible behavior. We decided to go to a place called Kobe in Plymouth, a place 14 miles from our home, 22 minutes by Mapquest. We had reservations for 5:30, and left the house a little after 5:00. All four of us were dressed, sparkly shoes and all by Miss Lindsey, and excited for our evening out.

As we got farther into the 'burbs, the landscape began to change. There were open areas of land with "for sale or lease" signs on them, retail outlets in various modes of development, and lots of space. For those of you who don't know the Twin Cities, Plymouth is not what I would consider an outer-ring suburb -- it's mostly developed and people now live much further out and still consider themselves part of the Twin Cities.

We finally turned off the highway to a secondary road and Lindsey asked, "Just how far out in the country is this place?"

Oh, how perspective is everything!

We had a fabulous dinner. The chef was very entertaining, the food was delicious, and the girls were quite well-behaved. Marissa got scared when the chef began the meal by setting the entire grill on fire, and she sat on my lap the entire time he was cooking. He was very observant and clearly steered some of the action away from Marissa's seat, so as to not frighten her. I appreciated his tact.

I think we are feeling a bit more brave now about taking our girls out more often. Perhaps we'll visit the country again soon!