Spring Break Fiasco Pt. 2

Leo's mom and Arnie are two of the most generous people you will ever meet. Leo is an only child and his mother's natural instinct is to give. Her family is her life. Leo and our kids are her life. Every woman that is reading this knows what this means and if you don't, you can send me a message and I'll tell you. When we stayed with them the first part of the trip, they invited friends over and I know these friends are very important to them but my kids, Leo and I do not know these people so it felt very forced and awkward to interact with them. I'm sure she wanted to show off the kids because she loves them so much but it felt a lot like a "dog and pony show" which put me off right away.

We stayed with them for a total of 7 days. It is no one's fault but it was too long. They mean well but it was just too much to stay at their house for that long. They wanted us to be able to relax but with my kids acting the way they were and Gia being hard to travel with, it was anything but relaxing. To give you a general idea of what it was like, there were heated discussions about Mother's Day (I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to know when I can do what I want on Mother's Day), my mother-in-law texting Nico, vacationing at their house again and what we were going to do or where we were going to eat for the next two days. They gave Nico a way too generous monetary gift for his thirteenth birthday that given his behavior on the trip was completely undeserving.

I said that all I wanted to do was go to the pool on the last day. Gia likes the water for a little bit, eats and then Leo walks her around until she falls asleep and then I can relax. Right away, the kids start up. If they weren't fighting with each other or trying to drown one another, they were splashing and just generally not being aware of the other (elderly) people around them. I warned them and said if they didn't stop, they were going to get out of the water. Three times, they had to sit out for five minutes. After the third time, I said if they didn't stop we were going back. They didn't stop. We went back. My last day, ruined again.

We got ready for dinner and I heard how my husband and children don't know how to dress for Boca Raton. This is part of the tension. We are a simple family that doesn't wear designer clothes and eating at Al's Beef or Tony's Steamers is more our speed. Target is my favorite store and a night out is at Barnes and Noble. Going to fancy restaurants or wearing fancy clothes with a toddler is just asking to be disappointed. You end up ruining other people's dining experiences and end up in stained clothes. I am okay with our lives being where they are. The trade off is worth it so...you can imagine what the dinner was like at the fancy Italian restaurant we went to. Again, a lot of sweating and not a lot of eating. When there was a big presentation of Nico's gift from them, I was done. He was such an ass the whole trip (again, not politically correct but true) that it made me a little sick to hear Leo's mom fawn all over him about how wonderful he is. The three older kids were going with their grandparents for ice cream after they paid the bill, for which I was very grateful. Leo and I left to put Gia, who was up later than she should have been, to bed and while we were walking, through the glass window, we saw, and may God strike me down if I am lying, Nico and Tommy WRESTLING in the middle of the restaurant. WHO DOES THAT??? I had my hands full but saw red and wanted to grab them both to take them home but Leo intervened (personally, I think it was because he didn't want to have to deal with them at home), talked to them and we moved on.

A little bit later, while we were putting Gia down, Arnie walked into the house. We asked why he was back so soon and he said, "Belle threw a fit because she cut her finger and demanded to come home and get a latex free band aid." WHAT???? How about saying no? Again, I was livid that my kid could be so selfish and inconsiderate. I was done. I packed all of our stuff, woke up at 5:30 the next morning and went to the airport.

To cap off this lovely trip, there was drama at the airport. After Leo tried to get through security with a pocket knife AGAIN, Gia and I got separated from Leo and the older kids (Nico and Tommy went up an escalator and I didn't want them to be alone so I told Leo to go with them). I got on the elevator and there were buttons but no words to say where they led to. Leo said we were at gate D20 so I asked someone and she said it was easier to walk (okay, I did cry in front of a flight attendant because I didn't know what I was doing). I walked ALL the way down to D20 and no Leo. I called him and he said he was at the gate. I said I was at the gate and he said, "D40?" Ugghhh...he said D20! He said I had to take the sky tram so then I had to run to the elevator, wait for the sky tram, run to D40...all with a screaming baby. I will admit that I cried, I sweated, I called Leo an F--Ass (even though it wasn't his fault) and I lost my temper. I am not proud of any of those things. I don't hear very well and Leo always talks away from me so I am sure that was what the problem was. It just reiterated to me that I must have passed on the moron gene for common sense to my children and why I am afraid for them to do anything alone.

The plane ride was great since Gia slept for most of it. On the ride home, Leo and I informed our children that since they ruined the vacation, they would be grounded for 2 weeks from hanging out with their friends and their iTouches and xBox indefinitely. When they show us they are not selfish children with entitlement issues, they can have them back.

They have since apologized for acting the way they did and I know they are good kids just acting like normal 7th graders or 3rd graders (two of the worst ages in my opinion) and I do wonder if my expectations are sometimes too high (add grandparents to the mix and it does become very difficult). This is going to be a long two weeks and I foresee a list of things they have to do in order to earn back their "toys".

For the record, this is late getting posted because I wanted to read and have it approved by Leo and for what it is worth...I edited A LOT!!!!