A 2 for 1 Special: Deluxe Town Diner and Artesani Park

One of our favorites spots is also the ultimate FoodieMommy find: The Deluxe Town Diner in Watertown. We headed their this past weekend when the weather couldn't have been more glorious. What parent wouldn't love a restaurant where the food is fabulous and the hostess smiles as she welcomes your toddler, puts him in a special seat and hands him crayons? In our case, she also helped to guide us in placing the infant car seat in the booth so that our baby could enjoy the surroundings. The din of the restaurant alleviated any stress that the infant would disturb others and the action kept our toddler entertained. Have I already said how good the food is?

This is definitely not your greasy spoon. At lunch they offer Greek salads with excellent feta and olives, Reubens that are light on the mayo and heavy on flavor. They have many veggies options (vegetarian sausage, anyone?) My toddler, who is allergic to eggs, eats their enormous and tasty bagels. At breakfast they have 5 types of pancakes, ranging from potato to buckwheat, blue corn and regular corn. We come for the sour cream pancakes (pictured above). They are truly as big as a plate and so rich that we can barely make it through the short stack of 2. They are incredibly moist and flavorful. I am convinced, though, that what puts them over the top is the generous portion of salty butter that oozes its way through. They are worth every calorie. We still haven't made it for dinner but the offerings that range from tofu stir fry to mac and cheese sound fabulous.

Full from breakfast, we drove less than 10 minutes to arrive at our next destination: Artesani Park in Brighton. Although I have fond memories of coming here as a child, it is even more wonderful as a parent with young children. First, I love that there are 2 playgrounds side by side. The first, is used by older children who can climb and slide. The second, pictured at the top of this post is in excellent condition for toddler fun.

However, as much as R. loved the tunnels, swings and slides, his highlight was the pool. It is a shallow pool designed for the toddler set, though bigger kids clearly also love the sprinklers that are operating all summer long. There are bathrooms, showers and plenty of lifeguards. The water is clean (at least in the morning) and the level is just right for a child who is learning to love to splash and play.

My favorite part of the day was when R. decided to have lunch (the rest of his bagel.) We sat on a bench in the shade and enjoyed the beauty of the Charles while he ate. We talked about the wildlife (ducks, geese, pigeons and sparrows), the River (as people went by in motorboats, skulls, kayaks and canoes) and urban life (the mix of people walking, rollerblading and biking). R. was enchanted and we were relaxed.