We did it. We managed to open Adam’s restaurant last Saturday on time to six breakfast guests at 9 am and about 40 dinner guests at 6 pm. It was hard work, but completely worth it.  Check out where it all started here.

It was a pretty incredible day. I could tell you all about the joy in Adam’s eyes when he would rip out a piece of paper from his Sponge Bob Square Pants memo book with another order of pancakes. Or the excitement I had when I watched the musicians set up on my back deck. Or how Chris (my husband) had to talk me off the ledge when all my wood fire pizza crust were looking like something straight out of a Salvador Dali painting.

I could tell you about the curried greens pizza I had planned that only got as far as picking the kale from my garden or the two batches of burnt bacon at breakfast. I could mention the blue cheese mayo spread for the sliders that never made it out of the fridge or the pride I had for my older son just taking over the Sundae dessert bar when he saw I was overwhelmed with other kitchen duties. But I’ll skip all that to tell you this.

EVERY kid wanted to play restaurant. Every kid was lined up when they heard me shout “Order Up!” Every kid wanted to be a part of it in some fashion. It was that excitement in all their eyes that made me think this. We’ll do this again. We’ll make it bigger and better next year. We’ll order more uniform shirts, advertise better and let all these kids experience it. They can all earn some money and learn to give it to those with less.

We raised 94.75 for the Mid-Ohio Food Bank and the boys split the rest. Everybody wins. And Adam woke up first thing on Sunday and asked when we could go get his Build a Bear (the one thing he wanted to spend his earnings on). We were the first ones in their door.

P.S. I wish there were more shots of food. But the food runners wouldn’t give me the time to take them.