Gordy's!

Isn't it funny how you take a restaurant for granted if it's open year-round, but if it closes for five months over the winter, you can't wait to eat there again when April rolls around?

Gordy's Hi-Hat re-opened for the season this past week, so Saturday night we headed there for our standard meal: Cheeseburger for me, fish for AJ, hot dog for Sydney, and Mushroom Swiss (and whatever fish AJ can't finish) for Jeff.

Of course, no trip to Gordy's would be complete without a trek across the parking lot for ice cream and to climb on the playground. AJ didn't even have to check out the 32 flavors (though he did) to remember that Superman ice cream - some brightly colored concoction that I should sample sometime to find out how it tastes - is his favorite.

Sydney - big surprise - wanted pink ice cream, and of course there were three options for that. Strawberry won out over cherry nut and cotton candy. Knowing how much (little) she actually eats, I split the scoops and ordered my favorite for the other half - Mackinac Island fudge. (I had a buy one, get one free coupon for the Betty Boop cones)

AJ snarfed down most of his, with the exception of a few licks he shared with Daddy, and a few licks that didn't quite get into his own mouth.

As expected, Sydney was "done" with her ice cream long before it was gone. She happily ran off to play on the playground...

Until she spotted Jeff sampling a little of what she'd left behind.

"Daddy!"

Ultimately she did share, but it sure was funny to see the look on her face as she ran to save the treat she hadn't wanted just a few minutes earlier.

For AJ, it was just another part of "the best day of my whole life." (has anyone else noticed how many of those he has/declares?) Baseball in the driveway with Dad, followed by dinner at a restaurant, plus ice cream and a playground, followed by the UMD Bulldogs winning the national hockey championship. I could write a whole other blog post on the humor of listening to AJ cheer alongside Jeff. At least he hasn't picked up (yet) the yelling at the screen when things go wrong. And at least, on this day, everything went right.