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It all started about fourteen years ago.
I came from a dysfunctional family that never did anything together, and, as a result, I always tried to do things with my family once my wife and I had children. We went to zoos, shows, miniature golf, vacations and fairs. In fact, you name it, we did it.
When our "final child" was two, I read an article about how creating a family tradition was an important thing. Never one to ignore "pop psychology" I jumped on the concept.

First I had to decide what the "special event" would be. Well, my kids loved to take car rides, so, there was a part of the puzzle. Oh, and also, the whole family loved going out to eat. That was it! Every Sunday, after church, we would get in the car and drive out of town, and, eat at a restaurant. Then, we would go to the park and relax with a walk, or, by throwing the ball around, or, well, something. Now, what restaurant should we go to? There was a restaurant about twenty miles away that was near a park. The kids liked it because it had a "secret fancy side" that was tucked away from the main restaurant. That was where we went if we wanted to eat from the more expensive menu.
The next Sunday we were off. We attended church and then I said "Surprise; we're going to out to eat out of town!" The kids cheered, and, I could see my wife was pleased because all of a sudden she didn't have to cook. All the way to the restaurant the kids talked and sang and laughed; we all were in a very good mood. When we first entered the restaurant, there was a hall we followed to the left. Just as it started to curve, there was a very "subtle door" to the right which took us into a beautifully decorated room. It was a Grecian motif and there were beautiful pieces of artwork as well as plaster-like busts. The food was wonderful. I got to eat catfish (I would end up getting that every week!). There were fun things that the kids loved to order like tableside "Flaming Pita Cheese" It seemed like the time just flew by. When I said that we were going to do this every week there was a collective cheer.
And, so it went, week in and week out we did the same thing. It got to the point that after we ate we would go to the park and play games such as football, baseball, and, "kickball". As our kids got older, our afternoons at the park evolved into "parent versus child" competition. It was a good thing my wife and I won often in the first couple of years because once the kids could beat us, they never let up.
Ultimately, as our

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