a visit with my brother, part 2.....(embarrassing moments)

Well Friday night we headed out to eat. Chris wanted Uncle Julio's but got voted down. Right down the street in Ft. Worth's swanky art district was this place...

 And they took us. When they suggested eating at a market, I was thinking Quincy Market in Boston. It's like a food court in a mall. Sure that will work- let's do it.

The place was packed and they were gearing up for Friday night grill outside and live music. This place is an experience not just a store.

Well I was a little surprized to find where we were eating was  pretty much a huge deli section. Filled with fresh and gourmet food. Translation- nothing my kids like to eat. The choices were a bit overwhelming. For some reason we started at the drinks. Where I found this....

My given name being Lorina, I thought it was cool. It was strong stuff. Good, though.

This is the year of food for me and so I was loving this trendy upscale "market". This was no Duncan Walmart. Here is the cheese section

And this was in one of many kiosks full of gourmet stuff. Yes, it was fun. Yes, I jealous for 5 min- wishing I lived near civilization again. But the traffic is horrible in the city and who would pass up seeing things like this everyday?  ...

Don't get that in the city.

Well I had 3 kids with me, a stroller that wouldn't work properly and suddenly 3 glass bottles and several boxes of deli food. I don't like taking my kids to Walmart, I was suddenly wondering why we choose this place.

They let you sample everything and I then understood why Chris brought me here. I tried all kinds of new things- it was so chaotic I couldn't even tell you what I tried, but I loved it.

The kids were hungry and we finally found enough things the kids would eat- though Cady didn't touch the coconut chicken tenders.

We rode the elevator upstairs to a quieter eating area Chris and Rachel knew about. But more problems when we didn't have the microwave and fountain drinks or bottle opener on that level, having to lug everyone back downstairs to do these things. ARgh! by the time I sat down I was done. Eat or don't eat, your choice but I am sitting down.  Chris, Rachel and I sat together. The girls sat behind us and the boys at a bar several feet away.

We tried to talk about the loss of Chris' and I's uncle that week or their upcoming mission trip or balsamic vinaigrette .  They had some- I am so sold on my recipe I didn't even try it. But look what I did find later....

Remember it from the balsamic craze? Just when I thought they had discontinued it. I found it again. I bought several bottles!

I was enjoying a delightful chicken salad when I heard a sound. Unsure of what it was I turned around to the girls table- Charis had gotten out of the stroller and sat with the girls. Then taken the lid off her fountain drink. She has a fascination with ice. Well she had spilt it. And not only had she spilt it on herself and  the floor but she spilt it by the railing that overlooked the massive, ritzy "market". And to my extreme horror there were people underneath that railing getting soaked. Looking up and saying, "I think it's a small child."

Yes a small child who is too smart for her overwhelmed mother.  A small child who climbs everything, a small child who has yet to develop fear or manners. A small child who just spilt sprite on some poor lady's high dollar boutique hat.

My children have annoyed people in dressing rooms, turned off lights & climbed displays.  Silas evacuated an entire hotel by pulling the fire alarm , Charis pulled down my shirt and flashed everyone in McDonald's and used to spit up on everyone and thing in site. Silas and Charis have both dropped their pants and peed in public several times - I thought maybe we'd done it all. I thought we were passed embarrassing moments. Nope.

What do you do?