Day 5- Beat down by the trolley

**Blogger won't let me upload pictures, I'll try again later**

Today we decided to take the trolley through downtown St. Augustine, check out the sites and stop at a few places. We're usually pretty frugal, but considering this was a 3 day pass we figured we couldn't go wrong.

At first it was really fun. The kids were so excited about riding on the trolley, we stopped at a museum where we met a really neat family who had adopted 2 boys, then we stopped at a fun park and ate lunch.

After that we hopped back on the trolley planning to get off at the Castillo de San Marcos stop. The boys and I have read a few books about it and they were really excited. This trolley started off pretty bumpy. Still we were enjoying the pretty sites. Then the driver made a quick stop and Melia's head hit the seat in front of us. She recovered quickly.

The ride just kept getting worse. Tom the trolley man was having issues. He had many false starts at stop signs. He'd let his foot off the break then change his mind and slam on the brake. Sitting with 4 kids on a trolley with this kind of driver was going to prove to be rough. He made a false start again and Caleb and Addie went flying of the seat and smashed into the seat in front of them. I watched the whole thing but I couldn't protect them because I had Melia in my lap. Then the crying started. Then the bleeding started. Then the bump on the head started swelling. Over the loudspeaker the driver stated he was sorry and he hoped everyone was ok. We gave no indication that we were because really our kids were screaming and it was hard to assess how they were.

We would have gotten off the trolley but at this point our car was far away and we just wanted to leave. I finally found a binky for Addie and she calmed down. She ended up with a big lump on her forehead, which is now a big bruise. Caleb had it much worse, his lip is really cut up on the inside and outside and his knee also took a beating.

So we decided not to get off at the fort and finally made it to our car. The boys were really upset that they were missing the fort so I dropped Michael and the boys off and drove around so the girls could nap. While I drove I decided to make some calls about getting refunded for our trolley tickets.

Let me tell you, the Old Town Trolley tour folks were very interest in our issue and very nice. First I called the customer service lady and she gave me the number for the local office. I called the local office and I explained our issue, the manager quickly got on the phone. He asked me to come and fill out an incident form and get this....he asked if there was anything else we wanted to do in St. Augustine. He said "I'm not trying to pay you off, I just want to make sure you have a good vacation." Michael and I have been watching (obsessively) Damages and this fell right in line with the themes on show...legal liability and lawsuits. Anyway, I knew I wasn't going to sue them I just wanted my money back and for the driver to learn to be courteous and offer to help. But I did mention that the kids had hoped to go to the Alligator Farm. I didn't mention that Michael said there was no way we were going to pay that much to get in.

Anyway, we ended up with a couple of bruised kids and tickets to the Alligator Farm and also some VIP tickets to the Trolley. We probably won't go on the trolley again. Although, tonight Caleb did tell me he would go again, but now he will just hold on tight the whole time. He also asked why Tom wasn't a good driver. It's sad that he got hurt but if one of our kids had to get hurt it's best that it was him. He has a high pain tolerance and gets over things quickly. If it had been the other boy he'd still be screaming and crying.

We had a fun night back at the condo, complete with an egg hunt and a lovely walk on the beach. Michael and Caleb had a special time of the reenacting the Last Supper (the other kids went to bed early) including foot washing and bread breaking. It was pretty cute. Caleb missed having Nathan share the experience and can't wait to wash his feet in the morning.

Tomorrow we're off to the Alligator Farm....hopefully no alligators will get lose and attack us. I'm also hoping I don't have a panic attack. I have a ridiculous fear of alligators, dating years ago when I had a dream alligators dressed in clothes broke into my home and forced me to get in a car with them. I was ten at the time so it wasn't as crazy as it sounds. :)