Just Another Family Outing!

Sometimes you just have to get out with all 6 kids - to remember why you usually just stay home. Today we were on our third or fourth day of hanging around the house, and hubby was home, so I had the great idea of taking the kids to McDonalds on the way to the store to play and have some lunch! During the school year we would often take the three littles, who were still home, but typically there were very few families there at the times we visited. Today, though, Mickie D’s was packed. This should have sent up a red flag for me with my two boys with Autism, but somehow it didn’t because we had been there not long before with one of them (again at a quiet hour) and everything had been great!

We walked in and hubby headed to the counter to order. Back in the day I would have had a strong voice in what I thought he should order, but several kids later I’m just like, ‘Bring Food!’ I corralled all of the littles into the play area, which was packed with families, and while I was get shoes off and trying to find a table I looked up to see Rosalie over at someone else’s table trying to encourage them with her puppy dog eyes to hand over their food. 

Henry is already over stimulated and starts making some very loud noises, which thankfully are somewhat hidden in all of the other noises surrounding us. Hubby comes in with food, but there are no large tables left so we have to spread out over 3 tables in different parts of the room. As I start feeding Rosalie and Henry, I see hubby across the room getting the others settled at their tables. Then, the next thing I know I am looking through the glass at my husband who is sitting next to me, but on the other side of the wall that separates the noisy play area from quiet humanity on the other side. Not that he was trying to get away from it all, but there was no where else for him to sit!

As we try to get a little more playtime in before we leave, Jason comes over and tells me, “A boy was behind me and he pulled on my shirt! He is a very bad boy and needs to be punished!” Ok., thanks, noted! Then Henry, whose noises are getting even noisier makes a gesture that makes me realize that he probably needs to go to the bathroom. I hand the invisible scepter to hubby so that he knows he’s got all five of the others who are currently mixed into the crowd and inside germ filled tubes.

Henry and I walk into the women’s bathroom, which I am hoping no one makes a fuss about, and both stalls are full. Henry tenses in my arms and starts vocally expressing his discomfort with being there, and with the sounds that are going on around him. The toilets are loud, the hand driers are loud, and I am just ready to yell for who ever is taking their sweet time in the stall to hurry it on up! By the time it is finally our turn, Henry is way too freaked out to actually produce anything, so we head back to the fun room and start to rally up the rest of the kids to go.

In my wisdom as Mom, I know that my kids are usually only good for one store or restaurant during an outing. But hubby is optimistic that we can run to the grocery store and maybe even hit Costco for a few things before we head home. We agree just to start with the store, but to divide and conquer going two separate ways with kids divided into two carts. First we have to get through the huge debate over who is going in which cart, which part of the cart, and who is walking or pushing the cart. Then as we are separating, Jason goes into a panic because he feels that we need to all stay together. I try explaining the strategy to him, and asks if he wants to go with me instead of dad, but it’s no use. He’s not buying it. We go our separate ways, and I will admit, I got the fun cart. Rosalie and Lucie are hilarious in their pretend firetruck grocery cart, and Lucie smiles and waves hello to everyone we pass, which usually brings a big smile and hello back. No one can resist Lucie’s charms! 

We get done with shopping and meet the rest of the group at the checkout line. From the other cart I hear Jason hollering over, ‘Mom! You love the girls best!” He still hasn’t forgiven me for parting ways in the store. As we are walking the full carts to our humongo van, Wyatt is walking ahead, and I notice that his jeans are halfway down his rear with his butt crack showing! I call Wyatt over and ask if he has his pants buttoned. He does, but apparently he decided to put on Jason’s jeans this morning, and oh, he also happened to forget to wear any underwear! As I help him to hike up his pants as much as possible, I am left wondering how long his crack has been showing and how many people in the store got to take a look at it while shopping!

As we load up the van and buckle everyone in the fight begins over who will hold the receipt. Jason gets out of his seat finally to grab it away from Wyatt, who begins wailing and screaming as if his most precious possession has just been stolen. This is followed by a very long interchange between Jason and Annie in the very back seat. We typically don’t let them sit anywhere near one another in the van, but somehow we got bamboozled into it again for this car ride. Jason tells Annie, “Annie, your name is Missypoo!!" "Missypoo, Missypoo!” It’s Annie’s turn to turn on the tears, and she yells back, “ Jason, stop calling my name like that!” Jason’s response? “Annie, Dad is going to spank you when we get home for covering your ears!” (Highly unlikely as he has never spanked her a day in her life!) Finally, we have pity on the poor girl and let her move to a seat up front.

Hubby looks exhausted, and all thoughts of hitting Costco are abandoned. As we get closer to home I remind my husband of our hope for the summer to take the kids to the beach, and other fun summery sort of places that happy families are supposed to go. How, I ask him, are we possibly going to do that when we can’t even make it through McDonalds and the grocery store? I am sure after some days go by, though, we will forget this day, and all that came with it, and we will go to that beach or other summery fun place. And that day, too, will be a story in the making!