I'm not tired, so I'm posting

So this story was hee-haw funny to me tonight, but mostly because I think I was really tired.  In fact, I know I was tired because I fell asleep at 8pm and took a 2 hour nap, and thus I'm now wide awake in a quiet house and posting.  Combination of too many late nights and adjusting to having all three kids home all day.  Anyway.

At about 2:30, Hi-Hat decides we should go to the pool.  I agree.  However, Rella really needed a nap after being up in the middle of the night to eat a bowl of cereal and have a lengthy wide-awake 2-year-old chit-chat with Geof, who was not so wide awake.  Anyway.  She needed a nap.  So I told Hi-Hat he could start getting things ready, and we would go when Rella woke up and Daddy came home.  About a 2 hour wait.  Then I realized we would need to eat dinner (because aren't you supposed to swim on a belly full of pork loin?).  Pool trip would have to be pushed back a bit longer, but not too much since I had dinner ready at 4:30.  Ridiculous.  Plates hit the table, and it turns out that even a nice long evening at the pool is not enough incentive to cajole three children into eating pork loin.  Rella was literally running to the front door announcing that she wanted to go to Chick-fil-A for "chicken and boo-shies."  Fancy started the waterworks.  The green beans were too spicy (they were not spicy).  The pork hurt her teeth to chew (it was actually cooked quite nicely, not dried out like I often do it for fear of undercooked pork).  The rice.  Well the rice dared to have those black long grains that must, to  her, look suspiciously similar to her beloved bugs.  More screaming from Rella because I put ketchup and mustard on her plate to help her eat the pork.  She wanted the condiments squirted on her napkin.  Meanwhile, I think Hi-Hat was realizing that his sisters were ruining the chances of the trip, so he's shoveling in the meal announcing that "this is the best meal ever, Mom!" (hoping flattery might get him somewhere?).  Thoughts ran through my mind of me jumping up, whisking the girls plates away from them and hurling them into the sink and sending them to their rooms.  But I did not.  I'm not sure exactly what we did, but it was decided in the end that Geof and Hi-Hat would go to the pool and I would stay home with the girls.  Once Fancy saw that the gears were in motion for the boys to leave without her, she started to inhale her dinner.  She got all chipper and says, "Mom? This is magic.  Before the beans were spicy and the meat hurt my teeth.  Now they taste great!  They changed!"

OK. So dinners have been eaten (except for Rella, but at least she licked the condiments off her napkin).  Everyone is suited up .  Bags packed.  Head outside.  I start herding kids into the van.  Not sure why since the pool is 10 houses down the street.  Geof says, "oh? we're driving?"  Kids are already buckled in, so we drive.  Get to the pool, and the pool is closed.  Pool cleaning people are there with machines and hoses and nets.  I assume a malfunctioning swim diaper and a mortified parent were involved, but whatever the problem, pool was closed.  It is now a little after 6:00.  Geof whips out his handy dandy new iphone (seriously, how did we function without it before 2 days ago?), and we look up the community pool that we hear has a great sprayground and wading pool.  Got the hours, directions, fees, and off we go - all just wearing our swimsuits.  We will only have about an hour at the pool, but so much effort put in so far that we were not giving up.  After a stop at the bank, because this new-to-us pool is not free, we make it to the park.  Hmmmm.  Looks somewhat quiet.  Sprayground and wading pools are closed.  OK.  We have been on the road for about half an hour, and the kids have been disappointed twice.  Bed time is approaching but we need to find something fun for the kids.

Frozen treat it is.  How about Goodberry's?  Lots of chatter about that.  Hi-Hat decides he would rather go to Sunset Slush.  We don't have our slush cups in the car.  Would have to go home and get them.  So back on the Goodberry's idea.  But we're all in swimsuits and I really don't want to eat there in my swimsuit.  So how about we pick it up and take it home.  Well if we're taking it home, why not just go to the grocery store and buy a gallon to bring home?  Well if we're going home anyway, why not just get the slushy cups?  Hi-Hat - "I want to go to Sunset Slush!"  Fancy insistent from the back - "I want to eat mint chocolate chip AT Goodberry's!"  Geof from the driver's seat, "This is the most ridiculous trip ever!"  Me from the passenger seat, "WE'RE NOT EATING AT THE ICE CREAM STORE BECAUSE MOMMY DOESN'T HAVE ANY PANTS ON!!!!"

And the story would have ended at our neighborhood pool if we had just decided to walk.