How We Survived the Weekend

As you may remember, my parents decided to schedule an impromtu "family reunion" for this past weekend near my mother in law's home. Well, we went...

We arrived at MIL's house Friday night to spend time with her. Saturday afternoon was spent with FIL (they are divorced) before heading to see my family.

My brother's children were all facing sickness (fever, vomiting and diarrhea) and were delayed a bit during travel. Hmmm, should have been our first clue to cancel...

We finally met up with my parents and brother and his family about 6:00 pm. After nearly an hour of catching up they finally decided to eat supper. At 7:00 pm, the nearest restaurant (which is where they wanted to go) was packed and for a party of 13, we would have to wait about 45 minutes. With 4 kids going to bed at 9:30pm, I didn't want to wait until nearly 8pm to eat, or go to bed later since we were going to be at church the next morning. So, we drove to Shoney's which was only 2 more minutes away from their hotel. We were seated within 10 minutes. My son, Andrew (18 months) hardly ate a thing and drank a lot of water. (Should have been our SECOND clue)

After a couple of hours eating and talking, we left and headed to his mom's. They stayed to chat a bit longer ... after all, they only had 5 minutes drive versus our 20 minute drive. At least they had their GPS devices to get them back to the hotel. Did I mention, that was the talk for nearly the entire time we sat in the hotel room? We don't have one, don't need one... Dennis knows that area like the back of his hand. And they wouldn't take his word for where Shoney's was at - they had to look at their GPS for directions!

Anyway..... next morning, we showed up at church for Sunday School. Mom and Dad were there too. My brother didn't come. I sat in the nursery to feed Faith during SS. Andrew started to get irritable, so I took him with me to the church service. Brother and family then showed up. Andrew sat in my lap running a fever. After awhile, he broke into a sweat and fell asleep (third clue?)

After church we drove to the restaurant they wanted to eat at first. Got in immediately. Andrew actually ate pretty good, but was irritable off and on the entire time. We headed home after the meal, rather than trying for another church service with a fussy child. They stayed as was their original plans.

Time well spent? I don't know. Mom only asked once to hold Faith (her newest grandbaby and first time seeing her, and she only wants to hold her for a brief 10 minutes???!) and never offered to help with the others when Andrew was so fussy during the meals. We were "talked about" for having so many children so close in age. Money we didn't have to spend was spent anyway, and all to keep peace in the family.

I hope they have a wonderful anniversary tomorrow and I am glad my marriage is strong enough (and hubby loves me enough) to keep my parents from splitting us when they demand to be pampered and obeyed.