Birthday Parties, Father's Day, and All the Trimmings

We had a packed weekend. Grandma and Grandpa (aka Papa) Sladky arrived Friday night. After Miller went to bed, my mom and I started prepping food for Saturday's party. The boys were doing chores and had to play tow truck with a friend.

Saturday was the big party. Miller turned 2 and my dad turned 60. Since we were in MN on their actual birthday, we had a party here with friends a few weekends later. I wonder when Miller has just one party what he will do?

I won't bother you with the details of my Party City balloon pick-up (it's on FB) but I almost predicted it would happen. I placed my order for a 9am pickup assuming they would be running behind. Well, when I showed up at 11am, they hadn't done it. It was marked for 9pm. Toss in the worst customer service and you can tell what kind of mood I was in when I left.

The party was great. Miller had fun, received a ton of great presents, and finally got his Jeep. I will try to load video and pictures later. Jess was our photographer since our camera stinks. Alice, Johnny, and Norah all got to ride in the Jeep. Alice was an excellent driver. Miller's still getting the hang of "steering."

Sunday I cooked a big breakfast (thanks for the help dad, one day I will be able to make eggs like you). Then we cleaned up and headed out for Miller's 2 year old pictures. Again, another bad rant on FB with details. Kiddie Kandids was where I used to go (inside Babies R Us). They were always quick, decent prices, and you got your pictures that day. Today, I was surprised to hear their company was bought out by another. The photographers were horrible. The wait was horrible AFTER our session was over (1 hour  and 45 minute for the painful ordeal to be over...which until I pick these pictures up on July 3rd...yes, you read that right, no printing on site, I won't consider this over). The lady was super rude, the pictures were horrible and while the two argued with each other, they missed some great opportunities with Miller.

I ordered the bare minimum because honestly, I don't know how quickly I will try to do this again and I needed the 2 year old pictures.Just getting her to take my order was painful enough. They tried to upsell me a $300+ package comprised of several photos. I struggled to find one good one in the bunch. Then they wanted to add this and that. I got a little short with them. Then they switched ladies and the other one started trying to show me other pictures. This is about the time I got nasty.

I ordered an 8x10 for us, and a few 5x7's for the Grandparents and Great Grandma Donna. I didn't get any for the aunt and uncles because a) they don't print them in 4x6 anymore which is what I have been sending and bought frames for and b) they weren't that great of Miller. In addition, that order I just described, was screwed up. You order them by the sheet and I said I needed 1 8x10 and 2 sheets of the 5x7. Nope, she didn't ring me up correctly. Then she had to call tech support to figure out how to add one more sheet onto my order. Two payments, two trips to the register, and more frustration than you can imagine. To top it off, she tried to blame the other lady for all the bad pictures, the computer for being slow, and then me for not giving the correct order.

I have the district managers number and will be calling first thing tomorrow morning. I know there isn't a way they can rectify the situation other than another sitting with different photographers and free prints for my original order. Since I know that is highly unlikely, Sears or JC Penny's will receive my business from now on. Blankety blank blank blank Kiddie Kandids.