The Real Vacation- Part 3

(Who knew that a 24 hour trip to Monterey could turn into a 4 part mini series?!)

    Everyone woke up in a decent mood on Sunday. (I say decent because we do have a teenager and we all know how they can be in the mornings. Especially when their little brother wakes them up by jumping on the bed that they are sharing.). Our plan for the day was to hit up the breakfast buffet at the hotel, then head to the beach in Carmel, have lunch at Cannery Row Brewing Company, followed by a couple hours of play time at Dennis the Menace Park and then we would head home.  Everyone was showered and dressed and Howie and Nolan had walked across the street and got Starbucks for Emma and I while we were getting ready so we were all in great moods now. It was now time to walk downstairs for breakfast.  

    World War 4- the battle between the quilt and pillow and Gillian had begun.  We sent the other two kids downstairs to the safety of the breakfast buffet while Howie and I began hostage negotiations. 5 minutes later we were walking out the door without the quilt and pillow! We won! Woohoo! We kick butt at this parenting stuff! That’s right, who’s your mama who’s your daddy!!  We are awesome!!! Ya!!! 

    Umm...not so fast.   I sat her down at the table the other two kids had saved for us and walked over to grab a plate to get her food.  Next thing I knew Gillian was running after me stomping, spitting and yelling.  Just picture how a 2 year old throws a tantrum in public.  We all see that and chuckle because we’ve “been there done that”.  Well when a 19 year old does it in public no one chuckles.  It’s quite awkward. Quite humiliating. I’m often surprised (and thankful) that people don’t call security on her or me.  I walked over and grabbed her arm and kept her as close to me as possible while walking through the buffet line to get her food. I got her back to the table and got her situated and tried to get back up to go get my food but she wasn’t  having any of that. So my wonderful husband brought  me bacon. All is now almost right in the world.        

      We manage to get through the rest of breakfast without any more drama and I was eventually able to go get my own plate of food by myself. I really just needed more of that bacon!  As we were finishing up the last of our food Howie declares that he will be taking away all of Gillian’s “stuff” when we get back to the room.  He’s done with it. It causes too much drama and she’s like an addict and it needs to be ripped away from her. Emma, Nolan and I freaked out even though I knew he was totally right. None of us wanted to deal with the backlash that would come from this.  It took a lot of convincing, but in the end we all agreed that ripping everything from the clutches of her hands was best. Howie ran up ahead of us to the room to hide the quilt and pillow in his bag.  She had been taking about it nonstop all through breakfast and couldn’t wait to get back up to the room to have it. Oh boy, was she in store for a big surprise!.......to be continued.