I Wanted to Melt into the Floor!

My kids had not had McDonalds in 4 months. They hadn't had much opportunity here, since unlike in the US, there is not one on every corner. Well actually there aren't many corners here anyway, more roundabouts than anything. McDonalds is one of their favorite restaurants EVER. I can just barely stand it myself, even though I get a craving for a Big Mac every once in a while.

We had a been in London for the day walking around. Everyone was hungry, everyone was tired and it was starting to get a little dicey in the attitude department on everybody's part. We couldn't all agree on a place to eat and I remembered that there was a McDonalds around the corner from our hotel. Everyone can eat McDonalds, even if they don't like it. They can grin and bear it and shut their mouths so that everyone is fed. When I mentioned McDonalds the kids were super psyched.

Ok here is a the lay of the land in this McDonalds. The place to order was when you entered. It was jam packed with patrons. The small eating area was located downstairs in the basement area. I am assuming that the floors above it were probably flats. My mother and I went to order while my dad and The Man took the girls downstairs to stake out a table to eat at.

When I got the food I realized that there was no way that I could make it downstairs in one trip so I took the first tray with the girls Happy Meals to the table. Then I went back upstairs to get the rest of the food. When I got back to the table I notice LaLa was FREAKING OUT. By freaking out I don't mean crying a little. No, she was wailing. Complete meltdown mode.

"What is her deal?" I asked The Man.
"There is ketchup on her cheeseburger"
"Crap! LaLa just eat it. It is only ketchup."

Apparently this was the wrong dang thing to say. Loud scream. The Man grabs her arm and she flings herself backwards out of her chair. The Man had absolutely nothing to do with the trajectary of her motion, she was just losing her damn mind right there in the McDonalds dining room. The Man picked her up and announced that if she was going to act like this then she wasn't going to eat at McDonalds at all. He marched her up the stairs.

I took one bite of my burger and then started feeling really bad for the poor kid. I mean have you ever had a time where you were expecting something, really craving something so bad that you were just fixated on getting what you wanted and you were looking forward to it so so bad and then you got it and it wasn't what you wanted. Pure devestation. Now I know all she wanted was a PLAIN cheeseburger. No ketchup, no onions, no mustard. Just a plain meat, bun and cheese burger. I had failed her because I forgot to order it plain. It was completely my fault.

I went upstairs to see if my husband had really removed her from the premisis. He hadn't. They were standing in line to get a plain cheeseburger. I was relieved. Once she got her burger she was happy as a lark. Ate the burger faster than she has ever eaten anything and was extremely grateful.

"Daddy, that was the best cheeseburger since Missouri!"

Glad you liked it little girl. Next time though, could we spare the dramatics?