friday night dinner

Eating out with a loud-ish almost toddler usually looks like- let's eat as quickly as we can and get out of here. And we have been known to eat separately- I'll stand outside with E while D eats and vice versa (but that was only on one really unfortunate occasion  We picked a small nice-ish type place and E was so loud every one was watching him!)   Though, not every time.  Some times E will sit and munch on cheerios quietly... but we haven't figured out the pattern.  It's hit or miss.  So- last night, we decided to do one of my favorites!  We picked up our favorite Chikfila and took it out to a spot on the Res that we like to go to.  No trying to keep the little guy quiet and he can throw as much food on the floor as he wants!   It wasn't too crowded, the sun was going down, and a table was open for us... and we settled down for a nice dinner.

Until the birds came.
Now, they obviously know to go from table to table to get scraps.  They aren't dumb.  People eat around there all the time.  No big deal.
But, I hate birds.  Big time.  Almost as much as I hate butterflies.  They just creep me out and seem gross.
And E-man... he loves the sound that ducks make.  My bro has been playing duck calls on his iphone since E was little... and he thinks it's funny.  So to see ducks in real life was definitely cool to him.  Not so much for me.

The little family of toddler ducks (above) were following around their mom duck... and it was kinda cute.  They weren't very big or threatening.  Just hungry.  (But I wouldn't let D feed them.)  E just watched them calmly.  He really didn't say much... but he grinned and grinned.

And then the geese came.  This is what I may have freaked about.  And the incredible mom I am, I jumped behind E's stroller and put my kid between me and those birds.  

D stepped in, being the manly man he is, and tried to stomp at them and get them to go away.  He was big and bad.... until the daddy goose (there was a momma and 2 babies with him) starting hissing at him.  That's right.  Talk about creepy.  (if you look in D's back pocket, that's a ketchup packet that he was going to throw at it... pretty sure we would have gotten in trouble for that one).

So there it was.. D the dad, and the goose dad- staring each other down in efforts to protect their families.

And E-man sat back and calmly watched as his mom freaked about her baby getting the bird flu from some nasty birds, and his dad stomped around....

And then they all moved to the next picnic table and we grinned, relaxed and finished our dinner as we watched another young mom  hide her toddler from the birds, and another young dad try to shoo the birds away.

...funny back story... as D was stomping at the birds, he was saying "I have dominion..."  (see below.) ha.

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” from Gen. 1