Out to eat with los ninos

I love going out to eat, but almost every time we decide to go out with the kids I'm suddenly hit with amnesia about the last time we ate out. I forget the screaming, the standing in the booths staring at the visibly annoyed child-free couple behind us, the spilt milk, the refusal to eat a $10 plate of mac and cheese, as Tim and I wolf down our meal and gulp down a glass of wine, trying to eat as quickly as possible so we could pay the $50+ bill (ugh) and get the hell out of there. Whose idea was that anyway?

Each weekend the cycle continues. I forget last weekend's dining nightmare and decide to go out again. It's quite similar to deciding to have another kid, or run another marathon.

The cycle was broken last weekend when we tried Margarita's in Everett. You usually can't go wrong with a chain, and I knew we were in luck as we sat down and Cam immediately spotted the large sculpture of the sun and moon hanging across from our table. He is completely obsessed over all things lunar, so that kept him occupied for a good 5 minutes. The ambiance is fun, loud and family friendly. They have other colorful sculptures like painted giraffes, purple ceramic pigs and Mexican Day of the Dead paper mache skeletons scattered throughout which makes for fun distractions for the toddler set.

Of course Tim and I had margaritas (that is the name of the restaurant, after all), and they did not disappoint. The kids' quesadillas  and our tasting platter with tacos, burritos and enchiladas were also very good. My one complaint was the food took a little longer to come out than I would like. The kids did get antsy, but with the free chips and salsa at the table and the dressed up skeletons we were able to hold off a mutiny. Now where should we go this weekend?