One Cute Baby

Saturday evening after our beach trip, George took Bart to run errands while I bathed Drake and Skylar. After his bath, on the way up to bed, Drake found a pair of yellow plastic sunglasses in our beach bag. He had me put them on him and we had to stop and take a break on the stairs while Skylar photographed him.
He knew just how adorable he looked, too.


When we finally made it upstairs and into the bathroom, Drake insisted on keeping the glasses on while he brushed his teeth. Hey, whatever it takes to make brushing more enjoyable, I always say.




After teeth-brushing, Drake wanted to keep the glasses on for story time...




...and to drink his cup of milk, and snuggle his babies, and even to sleep in them (although we missed getting pictures of him doing these things)! When I put him in his crib, he kept asking me to put them back on him. Every time he would try to lay his head down, it would pop the sunglasses off him. Otherwise, he would have slept in them! Finally, after about twenty times of placing the glasses back on him and having them come right off again, he was content just to tuck them up under his tummy like he does his babies when he sleeps. Drake is one funny little boy. He takes after his father and older brother.

Beach pictures

Here are pictures of the children at the beach on Saturday. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day.

It was just shy of 80 degrees. The sun was warm, the wind wasn't too strong, and the water was cold until you got used to it. George got out Drake's Thomas kite and tried to fly it, but it was just too cheaply made to fly well. (Thanks a lot, Easter Bunny). Still, it was fun to try. Drake entertained himself by digging and jumping into a large hill of sand. Bart made friends with some other boys and girls around his age who went digging in search of buried treasure, and when that failed to turn up anything, sand crabs. Skylar was determined to catch a fish and rigged up a flimsy little fishing pole made of dried out reeds, sea grass, and a sharp, curved shell. George and I relaxed and enjoyed the kids enjoying themselves. George hates the sand and saltwater at the beach, and I must admit I really don't like getting sand in my bathing suit bottoms, but there is just something so peaceful about the ocean. I absolutely love going. I could sit there on the beach all day long, watching the waves and just listening to all the sounds. If I didn't have to keep an eagle eye on the children, I would take my computer or a notebook and write, write, write...If we had the choice, I would move closer to the ocean, so that I could go every day. I would live in my bathing suit in the summer, and the kids and I would spend all day out collecting shells and looking for starfish and sand crabs. If I were an artist, I would paint the colors that I saw. Once I tried, with pastels, to recapture the colors of ocean and sky, but I just couldn't get it right. I have always been drawn to the beach. There are just some places or things (like Scotland) that speak to your soul and make you come alive on the inside. I think if I could live by the ocean or in Scotland, I would be able to write again. I pray that I will get that chance.

Last Week

Last Tuesday evening, Bart had to skip karate for a second week in a row. The kindergarten and first graders at BDQ were performing stories by Eric Carle after the PTO meeting. The kindergarten performed "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". When I say "performed", well, they really didn't say or do anything. They came out while the story played on an overhead projector, dressed in costume. When I say "costume", I mean that they wore a big picture of their character. Bart was a sausage. He was pretty cute, too. After the performance, the children sang a couple of songs and danced a little. My camera batteries died, so a friend is going to send me a picture of Bart dressed as the sausage and I'll have to post it later. Mom was able to come with us to see him.
Earlier that day, I had had to take my dreaded 3-hour sugar test. Of course, it all came out OK, but it was such a pain. By the time the three hours was up, I was shaking and nauseous. I had gotten a heat flash and I thought I was going to pass out. I couldn't drive, so Mom had to drive us to a restaurant to get a bite to eat. I chowed down on hibachi steak at our fast-food Japanese restaurant. It was SO good.
Friday after school, the children and I went to pick up Skylar's friend, Hannah, who just lives up Plantation Drive from us. She came over and played with Skylar until about 7pm. The girls performed some of their recital dances. They're in all the same classes together, except Hannah is in the production company and Skylar is not. We discussed Skylar doing production company this year coming up, but I just don't think it's a good idea. It's a big time commitment, plus I think a lot of the rehearsals are on Sundays.


We had planned on getting up at 5am to go to Manteo on Saturday for the March of Dimes March for Babies. We had been planning it for months and were able to raise $170, thanks to our friends and family. However, George thought it was not wise for us to spend over $100 in gas to get there in back, plus all the meal costs. I was pretty annoyed because I absolutely HATE when we plan something and then the night before or the morning of, he's like "I don't think we should go for such and such reasons..." Did I mention I HATE that? I might hate it, but I couldn't argue that we could spare $200 at the present. So, we decided to go 45 minutes to Emerald Isle rather than the 3 1/2 hours to Roanoke Island. We let the kids play on the beach for a couple of hours and returned home to do some badly needed yard work. We'll mail the donations in, and hope that next year it doesn't cost over $50 to fill the car up with gas. I really did want to go. It's such a neat event and a wonderful experience for the family. We had even thought about taking the ferry to Roanoke, but it would've added another two hours each way to our travel time, and I'm not entirely sure it would've been any cheaper. So, next year...

Charmed Moments

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I had signed on as a Charmed Moments consultant. I'm really excited about holding my first Open House for my friend Kelly this Friday. I have four more lined up for the month of June. I really love the jewelry and I alternate my pieces every day. I've gotten a lot of compliments so far.
The website is: www.charmedmoments.com

Just Some More Happenings

The last two weeks were pretty hairy, which is why I have taken so long to update this blog. That, and my pregnant brain is very unorganized right now. Time management is not my strong point at the moment.
On Monday the 5th, I went to my OB appointment. I was scheduled to take my sugar test that day, but the person who called to remind me of my appointment neglected to inform me of this. So...I had a root beer with my lunch. Exactly what I made the mistake of doing before my sugar test when I was pregnant with Drake, when I failed and had to return to take the horrendous 3-Hour sugar test (which turned out to be perfectly fine, after over twelve hours of fasting). I knew as soon as the nurse handed me that awful orange drink that I was going to fail the sugar test. I just knew it.
I failed it. I was pretty depressed, because I really, really hate the 3-hour test. You have to go to the doctor's office fasting and drink that horrible orange drink with at least twice the normal amount of sugar this time. Then you get your finger pricked to check your blood sugar an hour later. Then you wait another hour and get pricked again. Then you wait one more hour and get your blood tested for the last time. Well, by that time, I am usually a mess. Sick, shaky, nauseous, ready to pass out. My body is just not made to go without food, especially during pregnancy. Needless to say, I was dreading it.
Tuesday was my day to help with breakfast for Teacher Appreciation Week. I'm on the Hospitality Committee for the BDQ PTO, and we're in charge of Teacher Appreciation Week. We provide breakfast for the staff each morning of that week. We also got them each a $15 giftcard, and one mom, who is a massage therapist, provided ten minute massages throughout the day. I think it was pretty nice. I love to help out, but I was going crazy. I had to make two breakfast casseroles, purchase juice and fruit, and get to school at 7am - 30 minutes earlier than I generally even wake up - to set up. Breakfast went off well. My casseroles were pretty good, I think, and the teachers were all really appreciative.
On top of Teacher Appreciation Week, I had Vanessa's birthday cake to make. And the red velvet layers were NOT cooperating with me. Like I said before, I had never made a red velvet cake before and I made the mistake of baking it from scratch. I spent so much time trying to perfect the recipe and the layers that I did not have enough time to experiment with the icing and do a good job of icing the cake. I really wanted to pipe shells around the cake, but I had not no time and the icing was cream cheese-based and would not hold its shape anyway. Plus, on the top layer, the convection bake convected a little too well, I think, and it was hard on the outside edges. Plus I blew through about five bottles of red food coloring, and that stuff is not cheap - about $3.00 a bottle or more. I was just really glad when it was over with. I learned some valuable lessons about red velvet cakes and about cakes in general. I learned that I will need more than two days to make a cake if it's one I've never made before.
Vanessa's party was Tuesday night at Rollerland. Apparently, she has always wanted a roller rink all to herself, so James rented one for her. 45 minutes later, he had all her friends show up to skate, too. The kids really enjoyed themselves, and I even got to get out and skate - briefly. I think Vanessa had a good time. It was a pretty fun idea for a grown-up party.
Wednesday was Field Day at Skylar & Bart's school. I had wanted to go and help out, but was told by one of the office staff that there really wasn't any need for parents to help out, that some local high school students would be helping. So, I was kind of hurt and disappointed when I found out that teachers did need help from parents; some had even asked parents for help, instead of parents asking them. I love Field Day. I would have jumped at the chance to help out. I have such good memories of my elementary school Field Days. So, I was disappointed, but I kept telling myself that I can't do everything, I can't volunteer every day. I was a bit disappointed, too, that Skylar and Bart didn't seem to enjoy themselves very much at Field Day. They both came home complaining about the heat and that they weren't allowed to drink much water. In fact, Skylar was feeling so badly that she started crying outside her dance studio. I think she was slightly dehydrated. At any rate, Ms. Dorrie, the studio owner and the teacher that Skylar assists, told Skylar just to go on home and rest. This is the first time she missed her assistant class; I've made sure to get her to every one because the assistant class pays for one of her other classes, and it all gets very expensive. We went home, Skylar did her homework and took it easy for awhile. Although, let it be noted that she was NOT too ill to give her brothers a hard time.
Thursday was the Mother's Day Tea for all kindergarten classes. I went to see Bart and had snacks in his classroom. He and his classmates sang cute little Mother's Day songs for us. It was very sweet. After the snacks, he and the other children horsed around a little bit. He and his good friend, Nick, tried to have an encore performance, but it was time to go, unfortunately. My mom had come for a visit, and she was watching Drake for me. Bart and I picked up Skylar from her classroom and walked her down to the cafeteria for Girl Scouts. Where I shelled out over $40.00 for her new Junior Scouts vest and books. Honestly, I don't remember Girl Scouts being so pricey, and I had good reason to be informed, since Mom was a Leader for years. Oh no. I just realized I sound like my grandmother: "When I was a girl, I had to walk three miles to school, barefoot and uphill in the snow, and gas cost a nickel a gallon..." That sort of thing. It's a scary feeling.
That evening, Mom watched the kids for George and me while we went out to eat a nice dinner at Morgan's Tavern & Grill downtown. The food was really good. It had been awhile since we went out on a date, and it was nice. Afterward, we stopped by the Kia car lot to check out some new cars. We can't really get one right now, but we are definitely going to have to upgrade to a bigger vehicle before the end of the summer. We're just in a quandry that a lot of people are probably in right now: need a bigger vehicle for a bigger family, but can't afford the astronomical gas prices on a bigger vehicle. I was horrified two weeks ago when I actually put $50.00 in gas into my van (which only has a 13 or 14 gallon tank). Ridiculous.
Saturday morning, Skylar and I went to a Modbe swimwear party at Vanessa's house. She was hosting the party for our friend, Melissa, who sells Modbe clothing. The swimsuits were SO cute! I had told myself that I would only spend about $20 or so, but I ended up spending $70. I just had to have this green bathing suit top and a cap-sleeve tee. George was not particularly happy about it. However, it's rare that I buy clothing for myself. I have a lot of clothes, but I really don't spend a lot. Mom buys clothes for me sometimes, or I will shop at Goodwill or Target. I'm also not too much bigger than I was in high school, so a lot of my clothes are 10+ years old, many still in good condition.
Saturday evening, we spent outside with the children. I had just bought a rocket sprinkler from Rachel's Discovery Toy party a few weeks ago (yes, everyone is having parties right now - is it any wonder that we're broke??), and it was a big hit. It's a really awesome toy. Even George loved it. It was definitely worth the $15 or so I spent on it. It's a plastic rocket that hooks up to the water hose and has a control attached to it. You can make the rocket go up or down with the control. You can make it hover, or go up to about 30 feet high, as in the picture below.
Unfortunately, it's after midnight and I really need to go to bed. I'll have to finish catching up tomorrow.

Weekend Happenings

George turned 28 on Friday, May 2. We tried to keep it low-key, especially after the kind of day the kids and I had on Thursday. We ordered pizza from Papa John's (a splurge, since we usually pay about $6 for a large pizza at Gina's) and Skylar and I went to pick it up and pick out a couple of movies for movie night. Then we bought a Carvel ice cream cake from Harris Teeter, which George loves. We had a real treat and ate our pizza in the living room while we watched Alvin and the Chipmunks. I brought out Bart's little blue table and a couple of kiddie chairs, and the kids ate their pizza and cake in front of the TV. Consequently, Drake thought he could eat in the living room at every meal thereafter.
Saturday, George went to help out a friend in the morning. Afterward, Skylar and I went to pick up a few essentials at Walmart (like bug spray - the mosquitoes are awful in the back yard) and then we picked up George's birthday present from the Accidental Artist. I think it turned out really nice. The colors became so vibrant after it was glazed and fired. We made a big deal of presenting it to George, who seemed to really like it. Of course, he had wanted a motorcycle, but seemed surprisingly OK with getting a $30 plate instead.
Saturday afternoon I received in the mail my consultant kit for Charmed Moments. I recently signed up to be an Independent Jewelry Consultant after attending an Open House event at Mindy's house. I really loved the jewelry and the charm bracelets and charms, and apparently the opportunities are endless in this area right now - there are only about four consultants in NC right now (5 now that I've signed up). The charms and jewelry are so affordable and so cute! I held an Open House/Kick-off Show and was really pleased with the results. Five people were interested in holding an Open House. I'm pretty excited. So, I spent a couple of hours going through all my consultant stuff and my new jewelry. I put together Skylar and Bart's charm bracelets.
Then, George and Bart went fishing, and I took Skylar and Drake to Kinston, to Leslie-Grace's dance recital. Later that night, George took Bart to a barbershop chorus concert. Skylar, Drake, and I ended up getting home a little after 11pm. Talk about tired...
Sunday morning, Skylar woke up with a stomachache, so she stayed home from church. This could be due to the fact that she had pizza for dinner Friday night, pizza for breakfast and lunch on Saturday, and Pizza Villa pizza for dinner late Saturday night. Too much of a good thing, right? George and Drake stayed home with her. Bart and I went to church. While there, our friend James asked me to bake a cake for his wife, Vanessa, whose birthday party he was secretly planning for Tuesday night. I agreed gladly. I am always looking for an excuse to practice my cake-baking/decorating skills. This time I would be making a red velvet cake, which I had never made before. Little did I know...
Sunday afternoon, George went to help a friend from work move a large playhouse to his new place. He took Bart along with him. Skylar, Drake, and I headed to Havelock High School, where Skylar was being recognized for her winning submission at the county level for the Young Authors' contest. Last year, she won for both county and state. I thought she did a great job on her submission. I watched her receive her award, then I took Drake out to the lobby where he ran around like a crazy nut until the event was over. He noticed some kids playing baseball in one of the fields nearby and he kept going to the glass doors and saying "be-ball" and indicating that he wanted to go out. Right now his big thing is that he loves to play. If you say "Do you want to play?", Drake will cry "Be-ay!!" which is how he says "play". Sometimes he will grab my hand and pull me into the playroom or try to get me to take him outside to "be-ay!!" It's really pretty cute. However, the only two places where he thinks he can "be-ay" is outside or in the playroom. If I try to take him upstairs to "be-ay" in his bedroom, he thinks it's time for night-night. I would love, love, love to know what is going on in his little mind sometimes.

What's New

The month of April was killer. We didn't have a single free Saturday all month, and it was mostly my commitments that took up our time. On top of that, it rained...and rained...and rained...Finally, on Thursday the 24th I was able to get my vegetable & fruit seedlings into the ground. They had been outgrowing their tray, but I couldn't get the ground tilled because it was always raining.
The weather turned out to be nice once the rain cleared up. The children played outside a good deal. We discovered a bird's nest inside our rowboat, which had been stored on sawhorses behind the garage after we painted it. Unfortunately, we had to move the nest when we moved the boat, so the bird flew away and left her eggs.
On Friday, April 18, Ben D. Quinn, Skylar and Bart's school, hosted a High School Musical movie night. George didn't want to go, so he stayed home with Drake and I took the older two. It was pretty fun. For $1 (proceeds went to the PTO), you got in to see High School Musical 2 on a big projector screen in the cafeteria. Cushions, blankets, and cafeteria chairs were set out for us, and popcorn, drinks, and candy were for sale. For the most part, Bart hung out with two of Sky's friends, Hannah and Kelly, who don't seem to mind Bart tagging along. Later, he found two little girls in his own grade who he went to sit with. As for me, I found a chair, kicked back, scarfed some popcorn, and enjoyed doing...nothing. Ah, priceless...
That Saturday was nuts. I had a party to go to in the morning for a friend, and then I was one of two of us Young Women leaders who had to get the Young Women to Super Saturday, which was in Havelock. I didn't get home until late. Church the next morning, and I had to teach the lesson. I was a mess. I was glad to see Monday come. Sad, isn't it?
Monday was Day 1 of the BDQ Book Fair. Drake and I went to eat lunch with Skylar at school, then took her to the Book Fair, which was held in the library. I started out telling her no books today, but I compromised by only buying two. Tuesday, I helped work the Book Fair in the afternoon, so you guessed it - more books. Wednesday, Drake and I ate lunch with Bart and allowed him to buy two books, too.
By Wednesday afternoon, what had started out over the weekend as increasingly bad allergies, turned into not-able-to-breathe-from-my-nostrils-eyes-constantly-watering allergies. I even wondered whether I had some kind of sinus infection. I was miserable Thursday for Bart's Kindergarten field trip to Parker's Strawberry Farm. It didn't stop me from helping pick nine pounds of strawberries, though. After strawberry-picking and strawberry lemonade sampling, the children loaded back on their activity bus and we followed them to Fort Totten Park for lunch. Bart introduced Drake to the play fort there, which consists of a lot of steps and a lot of slides. But Drake was fearless. He climbed right up the stairs and would've gone headfirst down the big slides if his big brother hadn't been right there to hold his hand. Bart took him down the slide every time Drake wanted to go, which was a lot.
On Friday, the children had a half-day. George was not feeling well, either, and stayed home. I held an open house for Charmed Moments jewelry company that evening. I had been introduced to Charmed Moments back in March, when Skylar and I attended Mindy's open house. We fell in love with the jewelry, and I agreed to become a consultant, since the nearest consultant is in Fremont. I had a good turnout for my Kick-Off open house. I made Skylar's favorite Strawberry Margarita cake which came out quite well. Usually, I just make it as a sheet cake, but I decided to try making a 3-inch layer and halving it before icing and decorating it. However, my first layer didn't rise enough to cut it in half, so I had to try again. Well, same thing with the second layer. I'd never had a cake just not rise before. So, I leveled the two cakes, layered them, and iced them. I used fresh strawberries and lime slices to decorate. It really looked very pretty, and tasted good, too, although my sense of smell was completely dulled from my allergies (I couldn't taste a thing while I was cooking the party food, so I had to rely on George to tell me how much seasonings, etc. to put in). Skylar and Bart went to Kory & Chris' house to spend the night after the open house, and George picked them up in the morning. Once again, I had a Young Women's function to attend.
Later that afternoon, as the children and I were out for a walk on Plantation Drive, we came across a tiny turtle on the road. Originally, we were only taking it home with us to let it loose in the backyard, but somehow, George ended up taking the children out to buy an aquarium and turtle food. Skylar and Bart had the most fun playing with their new pet. They named him "Tuck the Great". A few weeks earlier, Skylar had found an almost identical turtle right outside the front door at BDQ. Well, we ended up letting him loose at a pond near our friends', the Nicolaysens, house. That turtle was named "Tuck", after the little turtle on the Wonder Pets cartoon. That evening, we attended a church social/pig-picking and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The big kids were afraid to leave Tuck the Great at home by himself, and begged to take him with us.
Sunday, the older two children and I did some research on turtles online. We found out that Tuck the Great is a River Cooter. We also found out that he is probably going to be pooping a lot, which means a lot of cleaning of his aquarium. We are going to have to get a filter and pump. We cleaned his domicile out on Monday evening for Family Home Evening, and it was already starting to stink by the next afternoon.
On Tuesday, Bart once again did very well at karate. The class had sparring practice. Bart won a lot of his matches, but the best part was that he is starting to get more confident and use more kicks (and correctly) instead of his old stand-by, the jab to the head. Perhaps it's because he has been drinking his milk. Guess who else has also been drinking his milk? Skylar, too, has a mustache, although she used dry erase marker rather than milk.
Yesterday, I had Young Women's, Skylar had dance, and George had a business dinner to go to. So, George's dad came to pick up Skylar from dance and watch the boys for us.
This morning, I took Drake to play with some other kids his age at an activity called Fit and Fun at the West New Bern Rec Center. Several people had suggested to me that I take Drake, but I just had never been motivated. My friend, Rachel, invited us to come with her and her son, and we also invited a mutual friend, Phyllis, and her youngest son. While there, we saw several other people we knew, and we all ended up outside at Kidsville, which is a great playground right beside the Rec. It's like a huge castle/fort/maze thing, made of wood. There are all these bridges and nooks and crannies for the kids to explore and hide in. Drake had so much fun it was hard to get him to leave, even though his cheeks were flushed and he was sweating. My mother arrived for a visit just before his nap.
After the big kids got off the school bus, we loaded them all up and headed downtown. Skylar and Bart had their hearts set on painting something special for George for his birthday (May 2), at the Accidental Artist. The Accidental Artist is a great art studio downtown which is tailored to kids and adults alike (however, the clumsy and accident-prone should beware, as it's chock full of breakable ceramic items). You pay a studio fee per person painting ($6 each for kids under 12, $8 each for adults) and then purchase your choice of ceramic item to paint. Paints, instruction if needed, glazing, and firing are all included in the studio fee. The items to paint range from tiny horseshoes and chili peppers to put on magnets or to embellish plates and bowls, to napkin holders, toothbrush holders, teapots, lamps, switchplates - you name it. After much debate and some tears on Bart's part, we decided on a plate and three little ceramic figures to glue to it. The plate was $10 and each little figure was either $2 or $3. The children helped pick out colors (NC State red, black, and white were a given). Skylar painted a chili pepper to glue onto the plate. Bart chose - big surprise - a horse's head, and we selected a tiny airplane to represent Drake. We painted each child's name beside their special figure. Skylar and Bart did almost all the painting themselves. One of the workers and I only helped to print the words in white puffy paint, since it was kind of hard to squeeze the paint out evenly. Drake helped out by allowing my mom to stroll him around the block and staying out of our hair in a room full of objects he was just itching to grab.









So a couple of hours and $26 later, this is what we ended up with:



It's definitely the most expensive plate I've ever bought, but probably the most memorable one. After it's glazed and fired, the colors will be much more vibrant.




We ended the evening with what is probably what dinner is like in hell. I can't recall having such a horrible dining-out experience. We walked to the next street over, Middle Street, to find a restaurant. There are tons of good restaurants in downtown New Bern. As a matter of fact, we passed one, Captain Ratty's, but opted to try out MJ's instead, since none of us had never been there. Well, that was a huge mistake. I should have known to turn around and go back to Captain Ratty's as soon as I realized that people were rudely staring at us out the restaurant windows as we studied the menu taped to the window. But we proceeded to go inside and be seated, anyway. MJ's is a pretty small restaurant, and it was fairly crowded, but not jam-packed. We didn't have to wait to be seated, and the food descriptions on the menu sounded really good. My mom and I both ordered combination plates of fried shrimp, oysters, and scallops, $9.99 each. Bart ordered the kids' fried shrimp meal, which was about $4.75 or so. Skylar ordered a Mellow Mushroom sandwich, which we took to be akin to a cheesesteak or something, made from Angus beef, mushrooms, and melted cheese, over $7, but not a big deal, since she can really eat when she's hungry. For Drake, we ordered the mac n' cheese bites battered and fried which came with french fries and applesauce, also in the $4 range. Everything sounded really good, our waitress was really friendly. But Drake proceeded to freak out as soon as I tried to put him in his high chair. And when I tried to give him his water (from a big-boy styrofoam cup with straw and lid, no less!). And he freaked out when I tried to get him to sit down on the seat between Bart and me. And when I tried to engage him in coloring and playing with his cars. In fact, Drake pretty much freaked out the whole time. When he wasn't actually crying or shrieking, he was squealing very loudly. He has never been such a handful in public - ever. It was awful. It was like he was super-hyper or something. I wanted to tape his mouth shut and glue his butt to the seat so I could eat my meal. Well, apparently, on this particular night, the restaurant was full of rude old farts who were too old or senile to remember what it's like to have a tired, hungry toddler who doesn't want to sit down. We got stares, angry looks, and one woman even had the nerve to give me a dirty look and mutter something rude to my mother as she passed by - I did not hear it, although Skylar and my mom realized that she had said something rude. Let me tell you, I wish I had heard her. I absolutely cannot tolerate rude, ill-bred, ill-mannered behavior. So...
I was really in a bad mood by then. Then the man in the corner kept staring at me. I mean, really staring, not looking away, and not in a friendly manner, like he wanted to catch my eye. No. Just staring. Openly and rudely. So I just stared back at him when I caught him looking. And said loudly that if anyone had a problem with my child, I would be happy to pinch him so he could cry a little louder. Honestly, I was just trying to get him fed and eat my own dinner. And on top of everything, it wasn't as though this was some fancy-schmancy eatery. For Heaven's sake, the Olive Garden is fancier than this place, and I've never had a problem taking my kids to the Olive Garden.
Now, to get to the food...I thought, well, rude people, cramped restaurant, but the food surely had to be good. It smelled delicious, it sounded delicious on the menu, it wasn't terribly cheap. Imagine my surprise when the waitress brought out our plates. I had - LITERALLY - three shrimp (not even jumbo shrimp), three oysters, and four scallops (they must have liked me since my mom only got three scallops on her plate). Nine pieces of seafood, not jumbo, not huge, just normal-sized seafood. Bart's kids' plate consisted of five tiny fried shrimp, which he ate in about a minute and a half and moved on to grazing from my plate - as if I had enough for even myself. Poor Skylar had to wait until we were almost done with our food until hers even came out of the kitchen. When it did, she didn't even eat half of it, it was so disgusting. And she is not a picky eater by any means. She will eat a soggy, left-over cookie that Drake has been clutching in his sticky little hand if she's hungry enough. But she wouldn't even touch the rest of her meal. That's pretty bad. Of course, the true test would have been if George was with us. If he had refused to eat Skylar's meal, then we would have known it was horrendous. George is part goat, I'm convinced. He will eat anything. Anything. He has been known to eat chicken that has been left out all night. He has a stomach like a tank.
Well, by this time. I had to take Drake outside. He was just not eating, and he was inconsolable. He must have sensed the unwelcoming vibes from the restaurant, because after a few minutes of shrieking, he was content to sit on my lap on a bench right outside the door, but he protested vigorously to going back inside until I mentioned going back in to get the stroller and going bye-bye. Eventually, I took him back in. I still had half my meal left - four whole pieces of seafood - and I was hungry. Well, it was just pointless to even try to finish. I felt sorry for our waitress because she was so friendly and polite. I refused to give her a hard time about the food because I knew that she couldn't do anything about the pathetic portion sizes and the molasses-speed of the cooks in the kitchen. I've worked in enough restaurants over the years to know what a waitress has no control over. Besides, my boys were being so loud that I just wanted to leave as quickly as possible and never come back again.
To complicate things, Bart dropped his new toy from Nana (a clip-on ID badge, you know the kind that pulls out on a little string and snaps back in), between our booth and the one behind us, and try as we might, we could not reach it without moving the huge benches. Never mind that I had warned him numerous times to put it away and to stop snapping it. So that was a tragedy in itself - he howled all the way back to the car. I was thoroughly sick and tired of everyone by the time we got home. And it didn't help matters that I had totally and completely forgotten to pick something up on the way home for George to eat. I felt so bad to have forgotten him, but I really just wanted to get home, send the kids to bed, and possibly die.
I felt really bad, too, that my mom had treated us all to dinner - not a very inexpensive dinner, either - and it absolutely 100% sucked. Even the Pepsis were horrible and watered-down. I felt bad enough that I called and spoke to the restaurant's manager to see if it was typical to pay basically $1 for each piece of seafood on a combo platter. It was. She offered us free dessert the next time we came in for dinner. I left my name, but I have no plans on returning to MJ's. Ever. And I plan on discouraging everyone I know from ever going there. It was absolutely unacceptable. It really made me wonder whether the rent on the exclusive downtown commercial space is so astronomical that the management is forced to drastically cut portion sizes to make up the difference. Maybe the drawbridge being closed really is hurting the downtown businesses. But somehow, I'm pretty sure if we'd just gone to Captain Ratty's up the street instead, we would have had a much more positive dining experience. Maybe it was just a bad night at MJ's. I won't be going back to find out, though.
And while I'm on this rant, I just wanted to ask what on earth is wrong with people these days (or maybe it's just in New Bern???) that they will give young mothers dirty looks when they take their children into dining establishments other than McDonalds? This has happened to me on another recent occasion, this time at Carolina Bagel, which I love. They have awesome bagels and cream cheeses and to-die-for quiche. But two friends and I found that we were decidedly unwelcome with our children during lunchtime. Not that anyone pointedly told us we were obnoxious, but it was implied in the attitude of our waitress and a neighboring waitress, as well as another customer who was gossiping with yet another waitress (none too kindly) that apparently it was "kid's day out". I have also never had a waitress give orders to my children before - such as holding Bart's food from him until he sat back down in his seat. Sorry, lady, but I give the orders when it comes to my kids. And while I'm paying for that food, you'll give it to him even if he's standing on his head, juggling the salt and pepper shakers. Come on. Let's be real here. No one appreciates some other (non-related!) adult telling your child he can't eat until he sits down - that's my job, thank you, and I've earned it!! What happened to service with a smile - a polite smile, at that - not one through clenched teeth that clearly implies if she had her way, she would ask me to leave and take my undisciplined brats with me? Unacceptable. Has anyone else experienced something similar to this? I know when I am in a restaurant and I notice that someone's kids are being a little rowdy and boisterous, I generally try to just ignore the noise. After all, there isn't a single one of us that wasn't a rowdy, boisterous kid at some point in our lives. And most of us have been in the position of desperately trying to calm an upset child down in a public place so as not to disturb others around us. Let's just all try to be a little more understanding. Instead of being put out and giving the offending party nasty looks and snide remarks, let's try to remember how it feels to be a parent of young children, OK?
All right, I guess I'm done ranting. Like I said before, though, I just cannot abide people are blatantly rude to others. I'm done for now. Really.