To start: the reason we were all heading out to this fancy restaurant was to celebrate Rose's birthday. Being the family person that she is, Rose wanted to share this day with just family; hers, my brother's, and Jayson and Elaine (who are like family to them.) Anyway, yes, that meant the kids and all. At first, Amel and I were going to find a sitter for the kids, but when Amel heard that Jay and Elaine were bringing their kids, we decided to bring ours. Plus, I thought this would be a neat experience for them. If I had only known!
We met up at their house because we were going to be driven by limo. My brother and Rose really went all out and graciously gave us all a ride to the restaurant. Since there were so many of us, we had to take two. Rose's family went in one limo and my brother's family went in the other. Guess which limo had all the kids? Yes, our limo. We had Ricky, Juliet, Zoey, Jaylen, Elijah, Jared, Tre, and Jayden.
I wish I had gotten a picture of my kids' faces when they got in the limo. They were so impressed and so happy to be in there. Their excitement made Amel and I laugh. The whole ride to the restaurant they kept touching everything, opening drinks, and just having so much fun. Poor Zoey was strapped to her carseat (so were Jayden and Jared), so she ended up taking a cat nap.
We got to San Francisco in good time. There wasn't even any traffic in Berkeley! Did I mention what restaurant we went to? One of my favorites: Crustacean. Why did we dare to bring our kids to this wonderful restaurant? Actually, I know my reason, it's because we weren't paying for it. : )
Anyway, there are two tables, and of course, we're at the table with ALL the kids. Here's where the fun begins. Juliet has a fit because she wants to sit next to Jaylen after telling me that she wanted to sit next to Ricky. They are both on opposite sides of the table, so it wasn't easy to switch it up. Plus, Elijah wanted to sit next to Jaylen too and didn't want to move from his spot. After a few minutes of whining, Amel finally gets up and has a little talk with her. This is at the same time that my brother takes Darian from the table and has a little chat with him as well. The conclusion to this is that Juliet can sit next to Jaylen and Elijah has to sit on Jaylen's other side.
Next, the food comes. I get the chicken. Amel gets the crab, and Ricky gets the prawns. We decide to share our noodles with the girls. It turns out that both Ricky and Juliet wanted the crab. So poor Amel is working to get the crab meat out...for the kids! I'm sure if she knew what it was, Zoey would have wanted some too. So, the kids are bugging Amel for crab and Zoey is just demanding to be fed, so there's very little eating happening for Amel and me. Plus, these kids seem to automatically get food on the floor. I don't know how this happens, but after a meal, there is always food on the floor.
So, imagine all this happening at the same time as Elijah breaking out because he's allergic to something, Darian having yet another fit, and Ricky and Tre laughing really loudly about something and kids at different times having to use the restroom. Whew!
Finally, it's time for dessert. The kids get this wonderful orange sorbet served in an orange, but of course, they don't want that. They want Jaylen's chocolate cake, which she eventually shares.
Two hours later, our bellies finally full almost to bursting, we leave Crustacean. Now, I'm sensitive to snootiness. If someone is being snooty towards me, I could usually sense it. Though, I have to admit that I got none of that from the Crustacean staff. They were very kind to all of us, even the kids. They didn't seemed fazed by the noise or the mess that we made. But even so, I don't think I want to show my face back there for a very long time.
The ride back home is another story, so you'll have to wait for that.
Here are some pictures from that night. These are mostly the kids that were at our table.
My sweet girl
Boy...did she make a mess!
Bubba, Jaylen, and Buggy Bug
Patners in crime Ricky and Tre
My sister MaryJoy and niece Aleysia
GOLDEN NUGGET: Learning that kids and fancy restaurants don't mix...and we didn't have to spend a dime! : ) Thanks, Bro! Thanks, Rose!
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