Dinner with P's family.

The dinner actually took place June 16, but I have been struggling with downloading the pictures P's sister e-mailed us. Then Nana mailed us some hard copies, and that is when our printer/scanner decided to go offline on us. Stubborn soul that I am, I managed to get P's notebook to cooperate long enough for me to download the pictures a while ago. 

We met at Datillo, an Italian restaurant, and had yummy pollo picata limone (C and I), veal parmigiana (Nana and P), spaghetti with marinara sauce (Cousin B), and peperoni pizza (SS). We usually don't indulge SS's pedestrian palate in this type of restaurant, but that pizza guaranteed us at least half an hour of silence from SS.  Plus, the menu said gourmet pizza, and that is what we used to make ourselves feel better.

As delicious as dinner was, P did not know that they have live music on Saturday nights. The singer had a very pleasant voice, but the volume was too much for such a small area. And in another struck of bad luck, we were seated very close to the singer. Add a packed restaurant, a large table of chatty Red Hat Society hens, and you have ADD hell.  I was seated across the table from C, and could hardly hear what she was saying. To my left was SS, then to her left P, across from Nana. They could have been a few cities over, forget about hearing anything. In my case is more like hearing everything. One thing that I noticed right away was that being out of the workforce for so long has really left me unable to screen out noises. It's not something I have had to do at home. OK, we go to Knott's a lot and that is continuous, high volume noise. The difference is that P is with me, and I hang on to him the entire time there. At that table, I was drowning in anxiety. JJ has the same problem, and later in the evening I sadly realized that SS may be like us more than I thought.

Initially I was too busy trying to carry a conversation with C to notice SS's discomfort. But when her behavior became appalling, I realized that this was not our normal SS. She is lucky that her aunt and cousin live so far away, and the last time she saw them was two years ago. Because if that was not the case, I would have taken her misbehaved butt to the van, told P to finish dinner at his leisure, and would have sat reading. SS has never been so jumpy.  I was about to snap at her, when it dawned on me that it was probably over stimulation at work.  I asked her if she needed a cuddle, and SS broke my heart when she answered. She looked so sad, and barely whimpered, "Please Mama." I was not done eating, but there's no way I would deny SS comfort. I held her for a while and hoped it would make things better.

A while later she went across the table and asked Aunt C if she could seat with her, but it ended up being on her. Quite a feat finding space, because C is due to deliver her third child (it's a girl!) in September. Baby J was doing a great job of stomping all over her mommy's bladder that night. Gosh, I so do not miss being pregnant. As noted before, actually developed quite the aversion to it.

All good things must come to an end, and way before the girls were ready to part it was time to say goodbye. That was after they rioted in the restaurant, and the older couple seated behind us were looking at C and I, and it was clear they were not pleased with our loud and wild daughters.  In their defense, Datillo is not a kid friendly place. But until that night we have successfully taken SS to non kid friendly places without incident. Oops.

The cousins had one more day in California before heading home to Missouri.  P and I were in shock when C mentioned that they drive 12-13 hours a day. Holy freaking drive Batman! We were discussing on the way home that we now feel bad about bragging about what a great traveler our SS has turned out to be. Seriously, except for the 14 hours flight home, we stick her in an airplane for a maximum of five hours. She has two adults devoting their entire attention to her, a suitcase full of toys, coloring books, stickers, and a DVD player. How can she not behave well under those circumstances? And of course we do not have to deal with sibling spats, and the proverbial "he/she is touching me," and the all time classic "he/she is breathing my air."  Boy, we are lame lightweights.

Nana gave SS a Hello Kitty watch, and Hello Kitty case with make up and nail polish. The latter we are keeping for when SS is old enough to use them. Thanks to her tomboyish Mama, SS has no idea what those things are.  I fear the day she does, because SS is one high maintenance chick. 

Uncle M, Grand Min and Cousin H sat out this dinner. Cousin H was not in a mood for company, and that is understandable, since the poor guy hit his chin on a table, and ended up with butterfly stitches. Little did we know that our SS was going to end up with the real deal shortly after.

Their outfits complimented each other, and it was a complete coincidence.

I really like this picture, and it happens to be the only good picture I took all night.

Taken just before they became wild and crazy, and I had to take them outside before they were outed, and banned for life.

Nana gave the girls a lei with a shot glass baby cup attached.

P, Nana and C.

Time to bid adieu. You can clearly see SS's baby cup.