A Little Breakfast Story

I seriously can't believe that with all the stores, shopping, restaurants and things to do in the city, I managed to leave my sister's house with $13.00 in my pocket! I think that part of the reason there was so little spending was that I had grocery money to supplement my spending while visiting family. That really helped. But another reason my spending was down was because of the kids. This was my first trip to visit my sister that I had two children with me. I have been out to see her 5 different times, either by myself, or with just one child. But with two, there are many more considerations to take.

Kids need time to play. If I kept them cramped up in a stroller or in a shopping cart all day, I would have two whiney, cranky minions, waiting to explode. So we did other things besides just shop. We took them to parks, we played with the in the back yard, we took walks around the neighborhood. We really only went shopping that one day at Woodfield. We went in with a plan and made the most of our time there.

So what did I do with the rest of my Fun Dollars? I chipped in at breakfast. I had already gone through all of my grocery money, and it was the last day of our visit. My sister and her husband took us to a cute Greek restaurant in Hanover Park . It's kind of a tradition that we go out to breakfast at least once when I visit them. This time (they live in a new neighborhood since our last breakfast outing) The Omega House hosted our family breakfast.

Carrick and Uncle Dan, chillin' at Omega House.

My favorite item on any breakfast menu is the crepes.  From IHOP to local bistros, crepes win. This time, I chose the Crepe Suzette with strawberries and Grand Marnier. Holy cow, these crepes were amazing! And, for the first time in breakfast history, my crepes were bigger than the pancakes! They were enormous! Three of them! They covered the entire plate! I gladly handed my brother-in-law $13.00 to cover my breakfast (and Carrick's) after finishing two of the monstrous, fruit-filled delicacies. I took the third one home and kept it in the fridge. For dessert that night, I sliced it up and served it to everyone, bite-sized.

The next day, I departed on the 8:10 Amtrak out of the Naperville station. With Fun Dollars still in my pocket, I made a trip to the snack car for a few breakfast treats. Since I didn't get coffee that morning, I bought the last Starbucks Frappucino left. Carrick wanted a blueberry muffin, so I snagged one for him, as well as a box of doughnut holes for us all to share. The kids munched their little hearts out as the train glided down the rails.

Breakfast two days in a row, with some Fun Dollars left over, not bad. I found my shoes for the wedding today...to be continued....

Breakfast at Omega House- $13.00
Breakfast on the Amtrak- $9.00
Balance (last) pay cycle- $12.00

Happy Spending!