Not helpful

Yesterday was the last night Coen was gone camping so we told Lucy she could pick anyplace she wanted for the three of us to go out to dinner.

See now this is a lot of fun when we give Coen this option. He picks places that serve sushi and stir fry.

Lucy, when given this freedom, says, "I can go to CULVERS? Or MCDONALDS?"

shit.

So on the day of our little dinner, I go up to Tad on the playground and I says to him, I says,

"Hey.  Is it okay with you if I tell Lucy that McDonald's is not an option for tonight?  I mean, she can pick ANY other place. I just can't do McDonald's."
"Sure!" he says, "That's fine with me.  Want me to tell her?"
"No, no." I say. "I just wanted to make sure we're on the same page. So that when I say 'we can't go to McDonald's', you won't say 'Yes we can! We can go to McDonald's!'"
"Oh no, that's fine with me." He says again.

So when Lucy and I are ready to head home from school, I take her little hand and she jumps up and down talking about where she's going to pick for dinner. 
"McDonald's?" She asks, looking up at me.

"Honey?" I say to her. "Anyplace but McDonald's.  That's the only place we can't go." 
Her eyes immediately fill with tears.
"Well that's the ONLY place I want to go!" She says, her voice cracking.
I sigh.
"Well Lucy, we can go ANYWHERE else! We could go to Jimmy John's. Or Culvers?"
"No! Jimmy John's is a me, Coen and Daddy place and Culvers is a Grandpa and Nana place!" She says indignantly.
"We could go to that place in Tosa near Yo Mama? Or anywhere else!" I say.

Tad joins us after that and Lucy grabs his hand with her other one.  He looks down at her unhappy face.
"What's going on Lucy?" He asks.
"The ONLY place I want to go for dinner, Mama says we can't go."
"Where's that?" Tad asks.
"McDonald's."
He looks at her.  He's going to fix it. I think.
"Well let's go to McDonald's then!"

WHAT?!!!!!

I look at him incredulously.  He shrugs. "Sorry." he says.
"I SWEAR we just talked about avoiding this VERY conversation!" I shout as he laughs.

We went to McDonald's

I brought a carry-in.  An egg salad sandwich and a baggie of sweet potato chips and half an avocado. I did get a Hi-C orange drink though.

Effing McDonald's.