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For a little while now our friend Leah and I have been trying to plan a time for she and Scott and Jen & I to have a fun food extravaganza as a sort of “last hurrah” before they move to Maryland. Many obstacles have delayed the outing, and even made it seem impossible. But yesterday… we finally made it happen!! It was tons of fun! And tons of FOOD!

I shall henceforth refer it to as the Big Fun Food Day. 🙂

See, it all started with an idea in my head. We thought it would be fun to get babysitters for all our kids and go out on a “double date” with Scott & Leah before they leave, and I was trying to think of a fun place that they like to make it extra special. Well, the first one that came to mind is one that Leah likes, but Scott… hates. 🙂 (Funnier still, I also am a fan, but Jen is really not.) So, that wouldn’t work… unless…

I thought we could try a “progressive dinner” style outing. Leah and I could eat our fill at the Indian buffet, and then we’d go straight to a place that Scott (& Jen) like to eat. I ran the idea by Jen, and she thought it was fun, and then by Leah, and she too thought it a fun plan… She ran it by Scott, who added his consent and then Leah added Coldstone to the mix for dessert! Ha! Three places in one outing! Fun stuff!

After a few failed attempts at finding a day that worked for all (schedule conflicts) and then finding willing babysitters for our four and their three kids, we finally made it work yesterday!

It all started at about 12:45pm or so. We met up at Willowbrook where we dropped our van and carpooled with them in their (very tiny!) car to the India House buffet. (Photo below… Jen took it, so … she’s not in it.) 🙂

We had a crazy waiter here named Dave. He hit it off with Scott as they are both UFC (Ultimate Fight Challenge?) fans. He also introduced himself as Ravi and said he hates Indian food, music, and Indian people. That was awesome. 🙂 (We learned that the first thing he said was always false.) 🙂

The food was awesome, and as I didn’t plan on eating Indian food again for quite some time… I ate… three plates full. 🙂

I was full.

Next we decided to head to a town about 20 minutes west where Scott’s favorite restaurant resides. We had never been, so I made sure to sample some stuff, but MAN there was VERY little room for the samples! Scott & Jen feasted here. Leah did “sample” as well, of course… 🙂

Funny story was… we got out there about 2:40 or so… and they didn’t open till three!! So we went to Land’s End next door for a bathroom for the pregnant lady and some clothes shopping for Leah (and Jen enjoyed looking at the kids stuff as well) 🙂

Our waiter at Carrabba’s was very good as well. And strangely reminded us of a friend of ours (all of us). They have different names though, so we think they are different people… 🙂

It was super late when we left Carrabba’s (we were having a great time!) so we didn’t get to stay and eat at Coldstone, but we did swing by there on the way home, and three of us got SMALL ice creams. 🙂 (Actually, Leah got a medium sized one…) 🙂

It was fantastic, but at that point, there was very little room for any more food, no matter how good it was! 🙂

We finally got back to our kids at 6pm, and once we collected them and all their stuff, we went over to the Vs house for a little extra hang out (and our kids all got to see each other and play then, too). That actually ended with Jen making a quick run to McDonald’s to round out the Big Fun Food Day (at least for the kids) with some burgers, fries, chicken nuggets and a snack wrap or two. 🙂

It was certainly a memory, and a great, big, fun, day of food! 🙂

More photos here.