Valentines Day at Old McDonalds

Well, it's another first for me.  In the past, Dave and I have celebrated Valentines Day in different ways.  We have done dinner at upscale restaurants, picnics in the park, picnics in our own backyard...  but I am 100% positive that before this year, we had never dined at McDonald's on Valentines Day.  In fact, I could probably count the times we've dined at McDonald's in our BV days on one hand.  (Before V's)

But this year, we decided to make Valentines Day all about the kids.  And even though we have a special loathing for McDonald's... well, the fact is that the kids love it.  And as much as I am all about healthy eating, I also believe that if we as parents take too inflexible a stance on any one issue, it will only cause the kids to crave that which is forbidden.  So we've agreed that we'll dine at McDonald's every once in a while, as a special treat.

Tino calls it "Old McDonald's," perhaps confusing the restaurant with the song about that farmer and his many animals making noise here and there.  We refer to it as "The Evil Empire."  But whatever you want to call it, the V's were overjoyed to go there.  They got a toy with their happy meal, and after they ate a well balanced meal of french fries and apples, they played on the playground equipment.

The cutest part was when Victoria was not quite tall enough to hoist herself from one step to the next, so Tino gave her a helping hand, pulling her up onto her belly, where she could then swing her legs onto the step and climb up.  A rare display of cooperation that truly melted my heart.

I don't think we'll make this our new annual tradition, but we had fun this year!