Pool Day Disaster
Last weekend, we tried to take all of the kids to the pool. It was really warm and the kids wanted to cool off outside. It’s usually a fun day and I know I like taking the kids there because they get exhausted after swimming and being in the sun. We also wanted to eat dinner at the pool, so I was really looking forward to that as well.
The pool session started off as usual. My wife had our 1 year old son L with her. He was happily splashing in the water. Our 6 year old daughter E was happily going all over the pool exploring and playing. Our 4 year old son C was trying to do the same, but sometimes had problems staying afloat. He needed to still figure out how to swim properly, but he was still having fun.
I ended up watching L for a few minutes because he wanted to come to be. He tried to walk to me on the steps and ended up stepping towards me, but didn’t realize the steps dropped. He fell into the water and I picked him up right away. He was a bit surprised that happened and I’m glad he didn’t get traumatized by the water.
L wanted to get out of the pool after about an hour and I ended up playing with E and C for a while longer. I threw them in the water after catch them and we were all tired from playing. Now it was time to shower up and get to dinner. This is when disaster struck.
The place we ate at wasn’t particularly busy. It was about half full and even though I was assuming that the kitchen would take a while to get our food out because of our last experience almost a year ago, I was still optimistic. That dinner would go well. The last time we ate there, L was only a few months old. It took about 30 to 40 minutes to get our food and I remember he was crying so hard and wanted to leave. I was rocking him in his car seat in the aisle for that long and trying to soothe him. It was a rough go.
This time was much worse. When we sat down and ordered the food, it took almost an hour for anyone to let us know what was going on. I had to walk up and ask someone where the food was because my kids were having a meltdown. I never expected the food to take more than an hour to come out with the restaurant being half full. It was also a simple order of sandwiches and fries, with my wife having a salmon bowl that is mostly assembling the bowl instead of cooking a full dish. When someone went to check on the food, they said that it wasn’t quite ready. Once it was ready, they brought out everyone’s food, except for mine. At least my kids were eating after an hour, but I unfortunately was not. I asked them to forget about my order because I didn’t know how long it would take.
Right after I told them that, they went to just grab the sandwich I ordered and brought it out without the fries. They said the fries were coming. It took another 15 minutes for the fries to come, but that point at least everyone was done eating. My wife wanted to eat dessert and C was anxious to get some. He had another meltdown because he didn’t want anyone to start eating the dessert before he was done with dinner. It was a very trying dinner to say the least.
We all made it home eventually after that disaster. I don’t think I’m going to eat there for a long time. The food is mediocre, the prices are high, and if the convenience isn’t there, really doesn’t make sense. It’s also hard to deal with really extreme circumstances with three young kids. I think the next time that it takes over an hour to get my kids fed at a restaurant, we should go get Chipotle. I’ll never say no to Chipotle and they will have your food ready in just a few minutes. And it’s healthy-ish. Can’t beat it.
