Mini-vacation and meltdowns

Michael and I left the kids with Amy and Eran on Monday after our legoland visit and scooted off to a fancy modern hotel on the beach in Santa Monica.  As Michael said it was all very "design within reach" and unnecessary by my standards.  We had no plans but to hang out, see movies, and take naps. Before we checked in we saw "Ted" which was fun.  Then dinner at thai place around the corner where the food was good and service was terrible (two other tables who came in 15 minutes after us were actually done eating before we got our food.)  We visited the jacuzzi and pool before dinner.  The pool was small but very warm and we both wished the kids were there to enjoy it with us.

After sleeping in on Tuesday, we went out to coffee at a little hole in the wall place on Ocean Blvd. Many foreigners and hipsters there.  Once again, food was good, but service, not so much.  We took a short stroll through the Santa Monica Place which was unrecognizable.  They gutted it and made it into an outdoor mall, just extending the 3rd Street Promenade. I knew only a handful of the stores in it. Strange. Then it was on to our next movie. I saw Magic Mike and Michael saw Moonrise Kingdom, the latest Wes Anderson movie.  Then back to the hotel for reading, pool sitting and tv watching.

At 7, we met us with Rachel and Jeremy, Michael's niece and nephew from different siblings.  They were both delightful and appeared incredibly lucky and/or successful. Rachel was a working photographer for a clothing store with locations on Abbot Kinney and Melrose. Jeremy did PR from his home office for video game makers.  We were both impressed with how well they were doing.

Then back to the hotel where I took lots of nyquil (since I now had Michael's cold) and fell asleep for about 10 hours or more.  After a quick dip in the jacuzzi, we packed up and went back to Amy's.  

The View from Our Room

                        Pool at hotel.

Breakfast at Cora's

At Amy's, everyone was getting ready for the big parade, a small walk through the streets near her house with kids on bikes and scooters.  Amy was doing face-painting and all the kids seemed happy.  But then minutes later, Elizabeth was hysterical about her face paint or her bike decorations or something else and refused to go to the parade.  She threw a hissy fit but I wasn't dealing with that shit, so I started threatening her to do what she hates the most...her hair.  (She prefers the ratted hair nest look rather than a pony tail or anything else and I've learned this is very important to her.)  Everytime I took her helmet off to start, she would pull it together but then freak out again minutes later.  They all did the parade ok, but the all three kids melted down.  Miranda was upset about her face paint and kept saying she was frightened.  Elizabeth was refusing to do anything at the block party and Parker was sulking because he was thirsty and drinks were not yet available and he refused to walk the 2 blocks back to Amy's to get one.

So after being home less than 45 minutes, I was already fed up with the kids and told them that if they didn't pull it together, we would go home.  They didn't.  So we did.  

We went back to Amy's, packed the car, gathered all the stuff from house, threw the bikes in and took off.  I was pissed, Miranda was hysterical, Elizabeth seemed to be pleased, which made me want to turn the car around and go back and Parker was indifferent.  We missed the dinner that evening with my parents and brother and everyone else and we missed the fireworks, which were to be their first.

I don't know what was going on, but I'm guessing they were all just tired from staying up late and lots of activity. Elizabeth fell asleep immediately in the car; Miranda cried for about an hour "I WANNA GO BACK! I CHANGED MY MIND!"  Then about an hour later, everyone was fine and happy to be going home.

Back at home, they were in good spirits, went to bed early, and woke up in good moods.  Perhaps we should have stayed and road it out and all would have been well.  Who knows.