Adventures in Eating Part 2398429729

Let me preface this by saying, it's ALWAYS an adventure when eating at a restaurant with Tommy with his milk, egg and peanut allergies.  But we found a new restaurant that's near us that has an allergy menu.  Whoo hoo! It's TGI Fridays.  I read online that they have an allergy menu available inside so I went in and asked to see it.  I looked through every single damn menu item to see what Tommy could have.  He could have TWO things in the entire restaurant.  Spaghetti from the kid's menu and a half rack of ribs.  YAY! It's something! So we decided to eat there.  Tommy loved the "flair" on the walls.

 Once he got bored with the crayons and the kids menu, he asked to use my phone to take pictures.  I'm not kidding when I say the kid took 30 pictures... of himself.  Mostly just his forehead.  Maybe it's bad that the iPhone 5 has a way faster shutter. :) (Heehee, look at that little smirk smile.  Cute.)

Then he wanted me to take pictures of him.  I took a few but the flash is out of control bright.  None of those turned out.  

 Then the spaghetti came.  Holy moly, it was a complete and total MESS. But he LOVED it.  He also loved the fresh fruit.  YUM.

Awww, little spaghetti man. Such a cutie pie.

So now our restaurant list for Tommy (places that have allergy menus) is:
TGI Fridays
McAlisters
Burger King
Firehouse Subs
Chipotle
Chick-fil-a 

Places we haven't been to yet that do have menus:
Red Lobster
Ruby Tuesdays (this menu sucks because it's separated by allergen. What if someone has more than one? Too much work. Plus we don't have one here.)
Culvers

I just found this link to tons of restaurants links.  Looks like we have lots more to try! Sweet! Can't wait!

A Friday Night at Steak 'n Shake

You ready to hear about one of the most exciting Friday nights EVER?? Well then you should probably go read someone else's blog because it really wasn't THAT exciting.  But it was fun. The T-burgs went to the grocery and then stopped at Steak n Shake for dinner. Why was this exciting? Because Steak n Shake has an allergy menu!! Whee! 

 They also have cool kids stuff.  They set down this little cardboard car, a Steak n Shake hat, a kid's menu and crayons.  Nice work, Steak n Shake!

Tommy Hawk was not a big fan of the hat.  As soon as I put it on, he would rip it off.  

 This was actually the best picture I got of him with that dang hat on.  Hilarious.

We made the mistake of choosing the booster seat over the high chair.  Bad move, dudes.  Once you have the freedom and movement of the booster seat, you never go back. We tried to put him in a high chair later and he screamed like we were trying to stuff him in a cat carrier.  Everyone in the restaurant was looking so we conceded and put him back in that terrible wobbly booster seat (after he got some QT with dada).

 Tommy is actually yelling "WINNING" Charlie Sheen style here.  :-) He is a boy that knows how to get what he wants!

 So what do we order for the boy with the food allergies? Steakburger Minis and Fries! (No cheese of course)  With lots o' ketchup!! (Isn't that the coolest little cardboard car?)

 He liked it.  He's not used to fast food so he didn't eat much of it.  (I'm surprised he didn't ask for broccoli and prunes.)

 Annddd that's what his plate looked like when we left.  Darn.  It's still cool to be able to take him out to eat and not have to bring his food.  But I checked Steak n Shake's website today (to link the allergy menu) and guess who eats free on Saturdays and Sundays?? Crap! One day too early.  Oh well.  Now we know. Better go back today. HA!

Say "Without CHEESE!"  Get it?  Instead of Say 'Cheese'? What?  No?  Ok whatever, I tried.  Shut it. :)

Tommy's First Roadtrip: Day 1

We realized in undertaking this trip to Nashville, that Tommy has never been out of the state of Indiana.  Well here we go then! So Friday, we got Tommy up and sent him off to a half day of school.  

He got a new backpack since his new class requires one.  Yay frogs! 

 While Tommy was at school, we packed up our stuff and got ready for the trip.  I had read on a few different sites to wrap up "new" toys for toddlers to unwrap on the trip.  I figured I would give it a try.  I had some leftover wrapping paper from Andrew's birthday.  I bought a few new toys and books and wrapped them up. I also got some Cars stickers from the dollar store.

 When we picked up Tommy, it was nap time. So the first part of the trip, he spent napping.  That helped a lot.

 Then it came time for presents.  Or as Tommy sees it, something to do!

A new animal book! That kept him busy for awhile.

 We crossed the Ohio River and Tommy was in his first new state! Welcome to Kentucky, Tommy T!

 We stopped in a scary Louisville Burger King for a snack.  Burger King has an allergy menu! He  can have the chicken nuggets but not the chicken strips.  What's the difference? I have no clue.  Probably shouldn't be eating either of them. ;)

 For about a half hour in Kentucky, Tommy played the "Where's Tommy?" game.  He was loving it.  Look at that smile!

 Welcome to Tennessee, Tommy T!!

 Nashville came up quite quick! You can see the skyline here.

 We got to our Aloft hotel. Tommy enjoyed sitting on the desk so he could view the... parking lot. :)
I'm glad we chose the "allergy free" room.  They allow dogs in the hotel on a regular basis.  There was even dog hair in front of the elevators on our floor.

Tommy LOVED his new home for the weekend.

Glovers got into town around the same time so we went out to dinner with them at Jonathan's.   Thank goodness it was loud in there (it's a sports bar).  Our boys had been in the car too long and they were ROWDY! We had to take them outside for a little bit.

 They were SO CUTE together.  Jack and Tommy, best of friends!

Boy was it hard catching a still shot! This is what most of my pictures looked like.

 They were so funny running around the parking lot.  They had a lot of pent up energy.

 When we got back, Tommy decided to chill a little bit and watch TV.

 Then it was time to SWIM! We had the hotel pool all to ourselves.

 Tommy jumped in like a big boy! Or maybe he just squatted and scooted in.  Still a big boy though!

He LOVED dada tossing him in the air.  

 After swimming, it was time for GIRLS NIGHT! Meeghan came and met us at the hotel bar.  We did a shot for my birthday.  It was chocolate covered pretzel.  It was actually very tasty! The bartender suggested it.

 So after lots of mixed drinks and a shot, Raymond came and picked up Meeghan up (took this pic of the 3 M's) and we all went back to our rooms to get ready for the next day.  This all happened before 1 am.

The first day of our road trip was a huge success! Day 2 and 3 are still to come! (Don't worry, there will be plenty of pictures.  I only took 250.  Jeez, Morgan.)