One of those hectic evenings tonight. It's what happens when you have kids. Running around to do after work, then our oldest daughter had another concert at her high school. By the time it was over we didn't feel like cooking so off we headed to Plaza Jalisco for some of their delicious Mexican food. This painting is on one of the walls there.

Okay, so you caught last night's post. Wild paint job huh? Well, walk about two or three blocks from there and this is what you'll see. Sorrento Ristorante Italiano. My wife and I ran across this place completely by accident one evening last summer. It was very warm out and we had our dogs with us. No problemo! They had tables set up outside. Hook the leashes under the table legs and reach for the menu. The food was unbelievable. Not like your typical Americanized Italian food either, this was the real deal. The owner Franco, yep he's the real deal too. Evidently he's from Sorrento, thus the name and the beautiful mural. He looks like a character right out of a movie. Out he strolls with a bottle of wine in one hand and glasses in the other. What a charmer too. He heads straight for the ladies and proceeds to "turn on the smooth." Over all a very good experience and one more colorful Olympia business.

Last night Santa and a few of his local helpers, ie the Tumwater Fire Department pulled their classic fire truck out of the garage and headed for the streets. The whole thing was pretty simple. Donate food, get a candy cane. Actually our youngest daughter who's head you see here managed to get her picture taken with Santa on the fire truck. It really is for a good cause, and the community has always responded generously.

Guess what? We picked up my Mother in Law's puppy today. First on the agenda, a bath with good old oatmeal shampoo. Next, on to her new home where she had a bowl of food. This, is what happened shortly after her meal. So far life's not too tough for this little girl. Next, Mom gets to name her. Actually she's of the belief that once she gets to know her, the dog will name herself. Right now it would be "Sleepy ".

Remember Chloe? That cute little dumplin' at the playground? The one you thought was so adorable? Well, Chloe's mom and my wife had some running around to do this afternoon, which they do from time to time so I watched Chloe. After the girls got back we decided to go out to dinner. Where should we go? Hmmm.......teriyaki sounds good. I went and changed my out of my work shirt and into a clean one and off we went, and that's where the real story begins. Trying to be the helpful guy I carried Chloe inside the restaraunt and held here while the six of us ordered our meals. Once that was done we headed to the big booth in the corner, my wife, our two daughters, Chloe situated on my right hip, and Chloe's mom. We get to the booth where our daughters and Chloe's mom sit down. As I'm taking Chloe off my hip to set her in the booth I feel something. Then I look down. Yep, the lower right side of my shirt is soaked. I look at Chloe, she looks at me and smiles. My wife says "Honey do you want to run home and change real quick? We don't live that far." "No, that's okay I don't mind if you don't" I said. So I slid on into the booth with Chloe situated on my left between myself and her mom. Things went pretty well for a while. They brought our food to the table and we all started to eat. Evidently Chloe thought I needed a bite of her orange. The trouble was it didn't make it into my mouth, it sort of bounced off my forehead and hair. Okay, fine. No problem. Back to eating again. Gee, she sure is concerned with feeding me her food tonight. Next she offers me a tempura fried something or other. I didn't want any of that so I said "no thank you". A second after I turned the other way to talk to my wife the tempura fried thing flew by my eyes and right into my Pepsi. Yum. Anyway, you get the picture. Peed on shirt, sticky orange forehead, food particles in the Pepsi and I ended up finding rice stuck in the hair on my arm. Don't get me wrong, I'm not whining or complaining. Once in a while that's just the way it's going to go with kids. She's a real cutie and she can sit by me anytime. That is unless my own daughters get jealous. That will probably be a story for another day.